COVID-19 claims another Bermudian life

COVID-19 has claimed the life of another Bermudian, with the number of confirmed fatalities associated with the virus now standing at six.

As at April 27, one more positive case of COVID-19 had also been identified, taking the number of confirmed cases to 110.

David Burt, Bermuda’s Premier, reaffirmed the need to increase testing as quickly as possible, and said the government is working hard to ensure its infrastructure can handle this increased amount of tests.

Over the weekend of April 25-26, Bermuda 380 tests through its new drive thru facility. “This increase in testing has enabled us to provide many of our essential and critical workers with the reassurance that while they have been on the front lines they have not contracted COVID-19, and I'm grateful for that outcome and for their service and sacrifice,” Burt said.

He said Bermuda’s new model for testing, in which tests are run through a government owned lab, has saved the government around $180,000.

“If [testing] was done via the traditional method, via doctor's referrals and through insurance companies, the bill to the country for these tests would have been in excess of $200,000. But, with the model that we have chosen, these tests to date have cost the government less than $20,000,” he said. Bermuda has processed, or is currently processing, 667 tests at the government lab, he said.

Meanwhile, the Department of Workforce Development confirmed it had received an additional 1,803 applications for the COVID-19 unemployment benefit, bringing the total to 11,001 as of April 27. Since the fund was launched on March 25, 5,008 people have been paid the benefit, totalling over $7.7 million.