Bermuda’s Covid-19 status has been upgraded from “clusters of cases” to “sporadic cases” by the Pan American Health Organisation, it was revealed last night.

Kim Wilson, the health minister, said the change was “good news for Bermuda and represents the progress we have made in decreasing our number of positive cases”.

The announcement came as two more people tested positive for the coronavirus.

One arrived on the January 11 flight from the Azores and tested positive on Day 8.

The second case was classed as an on-island transmission with a known contact.

The two were among 540 test results that came back to health officials.

A total of nine people have recovered since the last update,

There are 54 active cases, with 50 under public health monitoring and four are in hospital, but none in intensive care.

The number of cases detected on the island since the pandemic hit stands at 686 and the death toll remains at 12.

A total of 476 cases are classed as on-island transmissions and 196 came in from overseas.

The number of cases with a known contact stands at 394, 82 have no known source and 14 cases are under investigation.

One case has moved from being under investigation to on-island transmission with a known contact and two cases have gone from being under investigation to on-island transmissions with unknown contacts.

The seven-day average of the real time reproduction number is less than 0.31.

Ms Wilson said the island’s new rating by PAHO would be taken up by the World Health Organisation.

But she warned the public to continue to use social distancing, wear masks and wash their hands on a regular basis.

Ms Wilson also appealed to people to download the WeHealth Bermuda contact tracing app.

The link for iPhones can be found here, and for Android phones here.

The WeHealth information page is available here or by e-mailing covidapps@gov.bm.

Ms Wilson said the ministry was taking registrations for the coronavirus vaccine against from the two top priority groups.

Registrations are being taken at this site.

People aged 80 and above qualify for group 1A, along with care home residents, frontline healthcare staff and emergency services personnel.

Group 1B includes people aged 65 or more and those classed as extremely vulnerable, such as people undergoing chemotherapy or with severe asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Ms Wilson said the registration form took about two minutes to complete.

She added that information was kept private by the Government.

Ms Wilson said: “When you submit your registration form, you will receive an auto-generated submission receipt.

“Your submission will be kept on file, and you will be contacted as appointments become available.”

She added every submission would get a reply and there was no need to resubmit details.