The sharp rise in active cases of the coronavirus in Bermuda has prompted an increase in online orders for groceries.

Carl Vincent is the co-owner of DropIt Delivery, which offers grocery delivery and pick-up through Lindo’s supermarket in Warwick. He said: “There has been an increase in people needing delivery because they are in quarantine. That has been the real cause of growth.”

He added: “Every family unit under quarantine becomes a group of people who become reliant on other people for the period they are under quarantine.”

Mr Vincent said another recent driver of demand involves people who are ordering groceries well in advance of the day they require them.

He said: “They are placing orders not for today, but they are ordering in case the panic does happen. They are ordering on Monday for a Friday, or for next week, to ensure that they have groceries and/or they don’t have to wait in line.”

A company spokesman for MarketPlace stores said they have experienced a “significant increase” in online orders for both pick-up and delivery.

He added: “You can attribute the increases to the surge.”

The spokesman said that MarketPlace was “well-prepared to handle the increase”.

Grocery pick-up is available from MarketPlace stores in Hamilton, Heron Bay, Shelly Bay, and Somerset, and from Modern Mart, in Paget.

Delivery from those stores is also available through Sargasso Sea.

Zach Moniz is the manager of Lindo’s supermarket, which offers grocery delivery.

He said demand for the service increased “as soon as numbers started to rise”.

Mr Moniz said people who are elderly, and those who are in quarantine for the coronavirus, are driving the increased interest in online orders.

He added: “We are not at an unmanageable level yet, but it’s creeping up.”