The Premier criticised “negligence” in the fight against Covid-19 and last night highlighted a case where some people had got the vaccine but left an elderly relative unprotected.

David Burt said: “Those persons have gotten their vaccine, but their parent, living in their house, over the age of 90 – they have not bothered to take them to get the vaccine.

“The virus comes to their house, and the parent succumbs to the illness.”

He added that new cases of coronavirus infection probably peaked two weeks ago.

Mr Burt said that the “metrics are moving in the right direction”.

But he warned: “We are a long way from being out of the woods.”

Mr Burt said: “We know from experience that two weeks after new cases peak, we see a peak in the hospital, and two weeks after that, we typically see an increase in deaths.”

He predicted more people would be admitted to the hospital and that “more will succumb to this deadly virus and variants in the coming weeks”.

Mr Burt said: “Those are some of the most difficult words I have had to say as a leader.

“But they describe the harsh reality we face.”

Mr Burt emphasised that “we are going to have to live with the coronavirus”.

He said: “It’s important that we understand that this pandemic will continue for the foreseeable future and we must do our part individually.”

Mr Burt appealed to people to take personal responsibility for the safety of themselves and their families.

He warned: “This outbreak is largely impacting the Black community, where vaccinations rates are far below average and underlying health conditions are proportionally more prevalent.”

Hospital figures showed that 94 per cent of people admitted to hospital during the recent outbreak were Black.

Mr Burt said that the Government’s campaign to encourage people to get vaccinated would continue.

He added: “We do believe it’s having an effect, as we have seen a marked increase in the number of persons registered to receive the vaccine.”

Mr Burt said that he was optimistic that up to 1,500 people would have signed up for the jab in September.

He added that the seven-day average for positivity rates along with the real time reproductive numbers for the coronavirus were dropping.