Health Minister Kim Wilson disclosed that Bermuda’s testing centers are being overwhelmed, after the island recorded a further 108 cases of COVID-19, bringing the number of active cases to 396.
The numbers came from a batch of 3,038 test results, producing the highest single-daily total since records began a year ago.
Just one of the new cases was imported – by a passenger arriving on a JetBlue flight from New York last Friday.
A further 35 cases are classified as local transmission, while 72 are under investigation.
One of the current active cases is in hospital, while six carriers have recovered from the condition since the last update on Saturday.
Active cases have skyrocketed in the last 10 days, with the island recording more than 200 new cases last week alone.
In a statement on Monday night announcing the latest figures, Wilson said that testing centers were now overwhelmed by demand and that many of the current crop of cases were under investigation.
Premier David Burt has said some seniors in rest homes have yet to be vaccinated because their children have refused to give consent.
Burt said in an online conversation about the pandemic that he was saddened by the number of people who have failed to give consent for their parents to be vaccinated.
He said: “No one can force it – it is not for us to force – but it is very concerning for our most vulnerable population there are children who will not consent for their parents to be vaccinated. In a setting like that if there is one seeding of a contagious virus it can have an impact, an outbreak.
“The truth is we don’t have all of our seniors in rest homes vaccinated and the way this new strain is spreading it is likely that, just as there are cases in the prison, there will be cases in rest homes,” he added.
Burt also confirmed online that an outbreak of the contagious UK variant of the virus had made its way into Westgate, the island’s maximum-security prison at Dockyard.
The number of cases was not confirmed but TNN News reported five infections among inmates, causing all prisoners to need testing.
Bermuda has so far recorded a total of 1,136 COVID-19 cases. Twelve people have died, including three in rest homes.
CMC
