Another 75 cases of Covid-19 were confirmed today with active cases now totalling more than 500.

Five people are also now in hospital - with three in critical care.

Minister of Health Kim Wilson tonight implored people to stay in their bubble over the Easter Weekend.

“Now is not the time to be irresponsible, to gather in groups outside of your immediate household, or have parties,” she said.

“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.

“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.

“Please think of all of our safety this holiday weekend, and stay put. I wish everyone a happy and healthy Good Friday.”

Three of the new cases are classified as imported by two residents who arrived on Jet Blue B62231 from New York on March 26 and tested positive on their Day 4 test. One non-resident who arrived on British Airways BA 2233 from London on March 26 and tested positive on their Day 4 test.

Twenty-four 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.

There are currently 537 active cases, of which;

· 532 are under public health monitoring and;

· Five are in the 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 mean age of all confirmed positive cases is 41 years (median: 39 years), and the ages range from less than one year to greater than 100 years.

The mean age of all currently active cases is 39 years (median: 39 years), and the ages range from less than ten years (age group: 0-9 years) to greater than 80 years (age group: 80-100 years).

The mean age of all hospitalised cases is 62 years (median: 55 years), and the ages range from less than 60 years (age group: 50-59 years) to greater than 80 years (age group: 80-100 years).

The mean age of all deceased cases is 75 years (median: 77 years), and the ages range from less than 60 years (age group: 50-59 years) to greater than 80 years (age group: 80-100 years).

The source of all cases is as follows:

* 245 are imported

* 856 are classified as local transmission of which:

* 764 are local transmission with known contact/source and

* 92 are local transmission with an unknown contact/source

* 191 are under investigation

A spokeswoman for the health ministry said: “As investigations proceed, transmission categories may change. Today’s update has nine cases moving from under investigation to local transmission with known contact/source.”

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.

The seven-day average of our real-time reproduction number is 1.94.

Bermuda’s current World Health Organization (WHO) country status is “Community Transmission”.