Bermuda recorded another 18 cases of Covid-19 over the weekend, bringing the total number of active cases to 75.

The figure represents one of the biggest daily totals in months, and suggests the spread of the virus is snowballing.

The Ministry of Health this afternoon said that 1,458 tests were taken over the weekend. Of the 18 positive test results, 13 were said to be spread by local transmission. The other five are under investigation, and a spokesman said they were among residents with no history of travel.

Bermuda now has 306 total confirmed positive cases. Of the 75 active cases, 73 are under public health monitoring and two are in hospital. One patient remains in critical care.

The seven-day average of real-time reproduction has jumped from 1.08 to 1.12 and Bermuda's country status of “clusters of cases” is now under review.

In the wake of the latest results, Kim Wilson, the health minister, urged the public to cooperate with health officials in keeping track of the virus.

She said: "I want to reassure members of the public that when a contact tracer reaches out to you, any information that you provide will be kept private and used only for outbreak investigation.

"Positive cases are allocated a case number; and that is how they are referred to during internal discussions. Therefore I would like to ask persons who are contacted by our contact tracers to please be forthcoming with information as it pertains to your close contacts.

“We need this to be able to trace the potential spread of the virus and potentially save lives."

The average age of all confirmed positive cases is 49 years and the age range is 0 to 101 years.

The average age of all deceased cases is 74 years and the age range is 57 to 91 years.

The source of all cases is as follows:

• 128 are Imported

• 140 are Local transmission, with known contact/source

• 21 are Local transmission with an unknown contact/source, and

• 17 are under investigation