A record 89 positive cases of Covid-19 were recorded yesterday, bringing the total number of active cases to an unprecedented 737, the health ministry said tonight.

Twenty people were in hospital, down from 21 yesterday, and five people remained in critical care.

The ministry said the positive results came from 2,018 tests, giving a test positivity rate of 4.4 per cent.

One case was imported from a resident returned from Atlanta on Delta Air Lines flight 584 on April 1, who tested positive on their Day 4 test.

Eighteen of the new cases were classified as local transmission with a known contact or associated with known cases, but 70 were under investigation, meaning they had no currently identified link to other known cases or history of travel in the past 14 days.

There were 23 recoveries since yesterday.

Since March 2020, Bermuda has recorded 1,586 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 14 deaths.

The mean age of all confirmed positive cases is 41 years (median: 39 years) and the ages range from less than one year to greater than 100 years.

The mean age of all currently active cases is 41 years (median: 40 years) and the ages range from less than 10 years (age group: 0-9 years) to greater than 80 years (age group: 80-100 years).

The mean age of all hospitalized cases is 61 years and the ages range from less than 30 years to greater than 80 years.

The seven-day average of Bermuda’s real time reproduction number is above 1 (1.18).

Bermuda’s current WHO country status is Community Transmission.

Kim Wilson, the health minister, said: “Today is World Health Day. I must first recognise, highlight and appreciate the hard work of every healthcare professional who has worked in any capacity over the last year in Bermuda to help stop the spread of the coronavirus.

“Each person should be thanked and applauded for the long, tireless hours they have worked to help keep Bermuda safe. I encourage everyone who knows a healthcare professional to send them a note, a text, or a WhatsApp message of thanks and support.”

She added: “We each have a role to play, whether it is helping to reduce healthcare costs or stopping the spread of the coronavirus. To this end, gym users are reminded that all indoor gyms are closed.

“Given the highly contagious nature of this variant of the coronavirus, we must each act as though we may have the virus and think those we interact with may also have the virus. Therefore it is important to continue to wear your mask, maintain physical distance, practice good hand hygiene and download the WeHealth Bermuda app.”