Bermuda yesterday recorded another five Covid-19 cases, bringing the number of active cases to 21.

All of the new cases, which came from a batch of 479 test results, were classified as local transmission through contact with known cases.

The results mean that active coronavirus cases have more than quadrupled since February 15, fuelling fears that the island is on the verge of a third wave of the virus.

Government has reimposed a night time curfew with effect from last night because of the emerging outbreak, which has been linked to the more virulent UK variant of the disease.

It is understood that the latest surge sprang from a house party held two weeks ago. That incident is now under police investigation.

Kim Wilson, the health minister, last night urged the public to cooperate with the department’s contact tracing team in to limit the spread of the virus.

Ms Wilson said: “Please be truthful with information as it pertains to your close contacts. We need honest information to trace and contain any potential spread. Your cooperation may well save a life.

“Once again, I will remind everyone that contact tracing is critical to ensuring that everyone exposed to the coronavirus gets tested and, if necessary, quarantined. Please cooperate with our contact tracing team. This team is trying to prevent the spread of the virus. Also, knowing your Covid-19 status is important even if we are not dealing with an outbreak. Get tested! And get tested regularly.”

Earlier, David Burt, the premier, said he regretted having to reintroduce the curfew – but that the actions of a few had affected the entire island.

He said: “No one likes this stuff – no one likes it – people want to live normal lives.

“But we have seen the impact of having to bury people. We have seen the impact of the challenges we have with public sector workers who don’t necessarily want to go and teach in our schools because of contracting the coronavirus. We have to make decisions that are for the greater good of the country.”

“From the very start, I have always stated that it only takes one person to set us as a country back. One person to cause harm to our economy. One person who can set off the chain of events that will have more students getting set back on their education by not being able to go back to school.

“One person who can cause a chain of events that can cause an outbreak that can put persons in the hospital or, unfortunately, lead to more dire consequences, as we have seen recently.”

The latest results mean Bermuda has now recorded 718 total confirmed cases of Covid-19. Of those, 685 people have recovered, and 12 people have died.

The source of all cases is as follows:

 211 are imported

 507 are classified as local transmission of which:

 415 are local transmission with known contact/source and

 92 are local transmission with an unknown contact/source

 None are under investigation

The seven-day average of Bermuda’s real-time reproduction number is approaching 1, and the current country status remains “sporadic cases”.