Another seven people have died of Covid-19, it was announced last night.

The grim news pushed the number of pandemic fatalities up to 52 and there were 182 new cases.

There are 1,612 active coronavirus cases, with 65 people in hospital, 14 of them in intensive care.

Kim Wilson, the health minister, said: “This is very sad news and I extend heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of the deceased during this difficult time.”

She added: “This outbreak is serious and I am sad to see where we are today. This is heartbreaking.

“More people are getting quite sick, more people are being hospitalised and more are dying.”

The island’s death toll from the virus stood at 45 on Wednesday, with 58 in hospital, 14 in critical care and 1,547 active cases.

Six of the new cases were people with a history of travel in the previous 14 days.

The other 176 new cases were classed as either on-island transmissions or under investigation.

The positive cases were among 4,982 results that came back to health officials from tests carried out on Tuesday and Wednesday – a positivity rate of 3.7 per cent.

There have been 110 recoveries from the illness since the last update.

The King Edward VII Memorial Hospital has had 17 new admissions with Covid-19 since Wednesday and eight people were discharged.

Ms Wilson warned that vaccination reduced the risk of severe illness but did not mean “zero risks at all”.

She told the public: “Even if fully vaccinated, your personal health is a key factor in determining whether you will develop full protection, get ill with Covid-19 and, if you do, whether you are at risk of becoming sick enough to be hospitalised or be unfortunate enough to die.”

Ms Wilson appealed to everyone to practice sensible public health measures, limit their movements and remain in household bubbles as much as possible.

The seven-day average of the real time reproduction number is 1.02.

A total of 82 of the active cases came in from overseas and 317 were classed as on-island transmissions with known contacts.

The sources of the other 1,213 active cases are under investigation by public health officials.

Of the current active cases, 36 per cent of the local or under investigation cases are for people who were fully vaccinated, and 64 per cent are not vaccinated. Ninety-five percent of the imported cases are fully vaccinated.

Bermuda’s population is currently 66 per cent vaccinated.

The island’s country status remained at “clusters of cases”, but the Government said that the numbers met the criteria for “community transmission” – an increased incidence of on-island acquired, widely dispersed cases with many not linked to specific clusters.

Ms Wilson said: “We must be mindful of where we go, what we do, who we are with and how careful we are at all times.”

For more Covid-19 data, see Covid-19 In-depth.