Ministry of Health COVID-19 Update December 29, 2020

Good Day Members of the Media,
There were 2805 test results received by the Ministry of Health since the last update and 14 were positive for COVID-19.
Six of the new cases are classified as imported with details as follows:

• 1 non-resident who arrived on BA 2233 from London on 13 December 2020 who tested positive on their Day 14 test having been in quarantine as a contact of a case identified from the same flight
• 1 resident who arrived on BA 2233 from London on 17 December 2020 and tested positive on their Day 8 test
• 1 non-resident who arrived on BA 2233 from London on 23 December 2020 and tested positive on their Day 4 test
• 1 resident who arrived on Jet Blue B62231 from New York on 26 December 2020 and tested positive on arrival
• 1 resident and 1 non-resident who arrived on BA 2233 from London on 27 December 2020 and tested positive on arrival

Five of the new cases are classified as local transmission with known contact/source as associated with a known cases.
The remaining new cases are classified as under investigation. These cases are among residents with no currently identified links to other known cases or history of travel in the past 14 days.
Additionally, since the last update, 27 cases have recovered.
Bermuda now has 595 total confirmed positive cases. Their status is as follows:
There are 164 active cases, of which:

• 159 are under public health monitoring and
• 5 are hospitalized with none in critical care;
• a total of 421 have recovered, and
• the total deceased remains at 10.

The mean age of all confirmed positive cases is 43 years (median: 40 years) and the age range is less than 1 year to greater than 100 years.
The mean age of all currently active cases is 38 years (median: 33 years) and the age range is less than 5 years (age group: 1-4 years) to greater than 80 years (age group: 80-100 years).
The mean age of all hospitalized cases is 59 years (median: 54 years) and the age range is less than 40 years (age group: 30-39 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 age range is 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:

• 157 are Imported
• 354 are classified as local transmission of which:
• 328 are Local transmission with known contact/source and
• 26 are Local transmission with an unknown contact/source
• 84 are Under Investigation

As investigations proceed, transmission categories may change.  Today’s update has 1 case moving from under investigation to local transmission with known contact/source.
The seven-day average of our real time reproduction number is less than 1 (0.53) and Bermuda’s current country status is “Clusters of Cases”.
The Minister of Health the Hon. Kim Wilson said, “I want to issue a reminder to people who are scheduled for a COVID-19 test to please turn up at your scheduled appointment time; this will prevent gatherings of people waiting to receive a test and ensure a more orderly system of testing.
“Additionally, I wish to remind travellers that those returning to the island without a pre-arrival test will now have to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet and pay a $300 fee.”