Premier David Burt confirmed two more positive cases of COVID-19 in Bermuda as of Saturday night, bringing the total number of cases to 144.
The two new cases turned up in the latest round of 143 test results received by the Ministry of Health this weekend.
Speaking ina live question-and-answer session on the Bermuda Government’s Facebook page, he said of the three most recent cases, two were young people.
“This means that persons are finding themselves in places where they are probably not being as careful as they need to be,” said Mr Burt, who noted that wearing a mask was “particularly, particularly important”.
Overall, he said the island has fared well, although we are not out of the woods yet.
“I think Bermuda has done a reasonably good job.”
But he said: “There have been some persons becoming a little bit more lax and it’s important that we don’t do that.”
In the lead up to the planned reopening of the airport next month, he said British Airways, Delta, WestJet and Air Canada were likely to resume service in July.
Those commercial airline flights will also deliver overseas mail, although “there will be certainly less flights than we had before”.
The Premier also noted that some hotels may not be able to reopen with low airlift to the island.
Arriving passengers will have to take nasal swab tests at the airport, although saliva tests are expected to be available within the next three weeks.
And antigen tests, which detect the viral proteins that trigger the production of antibodies as a result of infection, may be available at the hospital before the end of June.
According to the Premier, a shipment of antibody tests are due to arrive next week to be offered with nasal testing.
Passengers will be tested before and after their arrival. Returning residents will also have to be tested.
Residents will be allowed to quarantine at home while they wait for their results.
The same rules apply to cruise ship passengers when the cruise line industry reopens.
