The Government of Bermuda has reinstituted several restrictive measures to combat a new, aggressive outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19). 

Premier David Burt, in an address to the nation on Saturday (March 27), said that the Kent variant of COVID-19, which originated in the governing United Kingdom, has spread at such an alarming rate that the health sector is struggling to keep up.

“Our island is at a serious juncture as our public health system is being significantly challenged. The teams are struggling to keep up with contact tracing and the work that is necessary to control this outbreak. The severity of this outbreak and impact on individuals and healthcare systems could be further magnified if we do not arrest its current spread,” he said.

“We will, over the coming days, look at what adjustments are necessary in light of vaccinations status and others. But on a broad level – now is the time for a shift of behaviour. This situation is very serious and we must all take personal responsibility for our actions, and collective responsibility as a community to protect our brave frontline healthcare workers,” the premier argued.

The new measures, which were approved after an emergency sitting of Cabinet and come into effect as of 6:00 am on March 28, include: 

•  Churches/indoor religious services, excluding funerals, are closed to congregants but open to a max of 10 clergy or those persons required to facilitate services for broadcast.
• Indoor dining is prohibited except for hotels, whose indoor dining is restricted to hotel guests only. Outdoor restaurants and bars can remain open.
• Indoor gyms are to be closed, as well as bowling alleys, indoor cinemas, museums, or any other indoor place of public resort. Outdoor facilities such as golf courses, tennis courts, parks, and outdoor gym equipment can remain open. The Bermuda Aquarium, Museum and Zoo (BAMZ) is also closed to the public from Sunday, March 28 until further notice. 
• Retail stores to be restricted to 20 per cent of approved fire occupancy at any one time. 
• To minimise the mixing of school-age children, where Bermuda has seen a significant level of cases, schools and camps are to be closed. However, licensed daycare facilities will be allowed to open following strict public health guidance and will be visited by public health officers.
• Remote working will now be mandatory where at all possible.
• Organised sports are being moved back to stage one of Bermuda’s ‘Return to Play’ protocols, with immediate effect. Stage one, according to the Ministry of Sport, applies only to outdoor sports as gyms and all indoor recreational facilities are closed under the public health emergency measures. Additionally, stage one allows only non-competitive training for exercise and technical development. Guidelines include: individual activities, groups of 10, no contact will be strictly enforced, individuals need to maintain the six-foot physical distancing, and no fans will be allowed.

All other regulations that were in place previously, will remain so, including personal care services, which are allowed so long as masks do not have to be removed. The nightly curfew also remains unchanged from 11:00 pm to 5:00 am.

Since March 20, cases of COVID-19 have skyrocketed—with 108 new infections confirmed today (March 29), bringing the island’s cumulative total to 1,136. 

A further 108 new cases were confirmed in the last 24 hours, its highest figures to date, which also eclipsed the previous 81 cases confirmed just a day prior.

Bermuda is now managing 395 active cases of the coronavirus, while 728 persons have fully recovered from the infectious disease. Premier Burt, however, warns that the caseload over the coming days will be “staggering”.

“They will look very staggering, but that’s because we’re casting a very wide net… this is very transmissible, so one person, if they are positive, is spreading it to a number of people far more than what we were seeing in our previous outbreaks,” he argued on the Shirley Dill Show.