COVID-19 Update 7 December 2021

Since the last update, the Ministry of Health received 6109 test results, and 9 were positive for the coronavirus, giving a test positivity rate of 0.1%.
These results are from testing done on:

·                  Wednesday: 2 positive out of 1455 results (0.1% positivity)

·                  Thursday: 3 positive out of 2071 results (0.1% positivity)

·                  Friday: 0 positive out of 1697 results (0.0% positivity)

·                  Saturday: 4 positive out of 886 results (0.5% positivity)

8 of the new cases are classified as imported with a history of travel in the previous 14 days.
The additional new case is classified under investigation.

Additionally, there have been eight recoveries and 0 deaths since the last update.
There are 31 active cases, of which:

·         31 are under public health monitoring

·         0 are in the hospital
Since March 2020, Bermuda has recorded 5760 confirmed coronavirus cases, out of which 5623 have recovered, and sadly 106 COVID related deaths.
The source of all active cases is as follows:

·         26 are Imported

·         2 are classified as local transmission

·         3 are Under Investigation
Active cases by vaccination status, transmission, and type:

·         Imported cases: 96% are fully vaccinated, and 4% are not vaccinated

·         Local/Under Investigation cases: 40% are fully vaccinated, and 60% are not vaccinated

·         Of the active cases where typing is available, 95% are Delta, 5% are Omicron.
Genome sequencing was undertaken on the active cases, and while most of them are of the Delta variant, one case is the Omicron variant. The sequencing was done by MDL lab, and it indicated the presence of Omicron in one imported case that arrived over the weekend. 

The source of all confirmed cases is as follows:

·         717 are Imported

·         5032 are classified as local transmission of which:

o   3079 are Local transmission with known contact/source and

o   1953 are Local transmission with an unknown contact/source

·         11 are Under Investigation
The source of all confirmed cases is as follows:

·         709 are Imported

·         5030 are classified as local transmission of which:

o   3079 are Local transmission with known contact/source and

o   1951 are Local transmission with an unknown contact/source

·         12 are Under Investigation

The seven-day average of our real time reproduction number is below .25
As investigations proceed, transmission categories may change. For information regarding age distributions and overall transmission categories, please refer to <https://www.gov.bm/coronavirus-covid19-update> https://www.gov.bm/coron….

We have completed week 47 of vaccinations. Since January 11th, Bermuda residents have received a total of 107,427 vaccinations.
Of the 107,427 vaccinations given as of December 4:
·  52% are women and,
·   48% are men

86.8% of all residents over the age of 65 years have had at least one vaccination, and 85.2% are fully immunized.

To date, 71.9% of the population has been vaccinated (1 dose), and  70.3% of the population has been immunized (2 doses).

Additionally, 24.1% of the population has received a booster.
Minister of Health, Kim Wilson, JP, MP said, “Overall, I can say things are improving; however, to help reduce the further spread of the virus, I encourage everyone to be cautious and avoid the three “Cs”: closed spaces, crowded places and close contact settings. This is especially important as we come up to the festive season.

“Each of us has a role to play in stopping the spread of the coronavirus. Follow Public Health guidelines, continue to wear a mask indoors and outdoors if you cannot physical distance, practice good hand hygiene, maintain physical distance and download the WeHealth Bermuda app.”