Bermuda has recorded its first child case of COVID-19 after a 10-year-old tested positive for the disease.
Health Minister Kim Wilson told a media briefing that the youngster was one of two positive cases of the illness out of 2,140 test results that had come back since Sunday.
Wilson said both were contacts with identified cases of the illness — one a resident, one a visitor. But she gave no further details.
She said the child was quarantined for two weeks with parents and that there was no public health risk.
The two people who passed on the infection have been isolated as well.
The news brought the island’s total number of cases to 177 with the sources of two cases under investigation.
Wilson said six visitors had tested positive for the coronavirus between July 1 — when the airport reopened to regular commercial traffic for the first time since March 20 — and September 5. Four tested positive on arrival at the airport and two tested positive on day 4.
Premier David Burt said the latest round of results — among more than 51,000 tests carried out so far — kept Bermuda highest in the Americas for per-capita testing.
He said the island ranked sixth in the world for test numbers after it edged past the United Arab Emirates.
The news came as the island’s stricter travel authorisation regime came into effect at midnight on Tuesday.
Wilson said the new rules, which included the requirement for travellers to upload a valid clear PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test result, had been brought in because there had been “a couple of instances” where travellers had attempted to upload fake tests.
Nine people have died from COVID-19 in Bermuda.
CMC
