“I am extremely sorry to report that Bermuda has recorded an additional COVID-19 related death,” said Minister of Health, Kim Wilson, JP, MP. “This is distressing news, and my heartfelt sympathy goes out to the family and friends who are now grieving the loss of their loved one.”

The Ministry of Health received 1570 test results since the last update, and 23 were positive for coronavirus, yielding a test positivity rate of 1.5 %.

Two of the new cases are classified as imported. One was a resident who arrived on Jet Blue B62231 from New York on 6 April 2021 and tested positive on their Day 14 test. The other was a non-resident who arrived on British Airways BA 159 from London on 20 April 2021 and tested positive on their arrival test. 11 of the new cases are classified as local transmission with known contact as they are associated with known cases.

The additional ten 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 85 recoveries.

There are 782 active cases, of which:

●        751 are under public health monitoring and

●        31 are in hospital with 7 in intensive care;

Since March 2020, Bermuda has recorded 2284 confirmed cases of coronavirus, out of which a total of 1479 have recovered, and 23 persons have sadly succumbed to COVID-19.

For information regarding age distributions and overall transmission categories, please refer to https://www.gov.bm/coronavirus-covid19-update.

The seven-day average of our real-time reproduction number is 0.74.

Bermuda’s current WHO country status remains “Community Transmission”.

“While the number of new positive cases is going in the right direction, please know that this virus is still quite serious,” explained Kim Wilson, JP, MP, Minister of Health. “If we mix households and ignore public health guidance, the number of positive cases will surge, especially among the unvaccinated. It is worth repeating that for the unvaccinated people in our community, their risk of developing serious disease after being infected is greater. In fact, none of the people hospitalised during this current outbreak were fully immunized, which supports evidence over the years, with polio and the measles, for example, that vaccines do work.”

“I encourage everyone to pull together to stay at home, and of course, please get vaccinated. Talk to your unvaccinated friends and family and encourage them to speak to their doctor and consider the pros versus the cons about the COVID vaccine.”

“Remember that the Bermuda College Vaccination Centre is accepting walk-ins this week for anyone over the age of 16. The hours are Thursday and Friday, 8 am to 8 pm, and Saturday and Sunday, 9 am to 3 pm. You don’t need to register online – you can just show up. Again, going to and from your vaccination is allowed under the current restrictions.”

“Each of us has a role to play in stopping the spread of the coronavirus. Please, Bermuda, 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. If you are unsure about the COVID-19 vaccine, please go to reliable sources or speak to your doctor for more information to help you make an informed decision.”