Health Minister Kim Wilson appealed to Bermuda’s residents to “think of all our safety first this holiday weekend, and stay put”, as the total number of active cases of COVID-19 jumped to 537, with 75 new confirmed cases confirmed this evening.
Since the last update, health officials received 2,151 test results.
But the number of patients in hospital suffering from the coronavirus has climbed to five – with three in critical care.
“Please stay in your bubble this Easter weekend,” insisted Minister of Health, Kim Wilson.
“Now is not the time to be irresponsible, to gather in groups outside of your immediate household, or have parties.
“All week, we have been stressing this message because if you do not follow this guidance, we are going to see higher numbers of people contracting the virus, getting sick and dying.
“We must all do our part to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Follow Public Health guidelines, wear a mask, practice good hand hygiene, maintain physical distance and download the WeHealth Bermuda app. If you haven’t already, register to get vaccinated.”
And she reiterated again that “vaccinated people are at less risk”.
“They will be less ill and have mild symptoms or no symptoms at all. Vaccinated persons are better off than non-vaccinated persons because vaccinated persons will not get severely ill,” said Ms Wilson.
Three of the new cases are classified as imported by two residents who arrived on JetBlue B62231 from New York on March 26, who tested positive on their Day 4 test.
“One non-resident who arrived on British Airways BA 2233 from London on 26 March 2021 and tested positive on their Day 4 test,” a spokeswoman said.
“Twenty-four (24) of the new cases are classified as local transmission with known contact as they are associated with known cases.
“The additional 48 new cases are classified as under investigation. These cases are among residents with no currently identified link to other known cases or history of travel in the past 14 days.
“Additionally, since the last update, there were 14 recoveries.”
Of the 537 active cases, 532 are under public health monitoring and five (5) are in hospital with three in critical care.
“Since March 2020, Bermuda has recorded 1,292 total confirmed cases of COVID-19; out of those, 743 persons have recovered, and 12 persons have sadly succumbed to COVID-19,” the spokeswoman added.
The source of all cases is as follows:
· 245 are imported
· 856 are classified as local transmission of which:
o 764 are local transmission with known contact/source and
o 92 are local transmission with an unknown contact/source
· 191 are under investigation
It was also noted that “of the over 200,000 test results reported, the mean age of all persons tested is 43 years (median: 42 years), and the ages range from less than one year to greater than 100 years”.
In closing, the Minister said: “Please think of all of our safety this holiday weekend, and stay put. I wish everyone a happy and healthy Good Friday.”
