HAMILTON, Bermuda (CMC)— Bermuda announced three more coronavirus deaths on Wednesday night after Premier David Burt issued a stark warning, saying residents who do not get vaccinated against COVID-19 “have elected to have a higher risk of serious illness”.

Despite the warning during Wednesday’s media briefing, Burt acknowledged that Bermuda is “heading in the right direction” in controlling the pandemic. 

He, however, said a night-time curfew would remain in effect until the end of the month.

The three fatalities raised the death toll from the virus to 95.

But health officials said active cases have dropped to 474 from the 658 at the last update on Monday. It showed that there were just 12 positive cases out of the latest batch of 3,149 test results, giving a test positivity rate of 0.4 per cent.

One new case came from overseas while the rest are local transmission or under investigation.

There have been 193 recoveries since Monday.

The number of hospital patients with the virus remains at 37, but there are now eight people in intensive care, down from nine on Monday.

Health Minister Kim Wilson said 67.1 per cent of residents were fully immunised with two doses, but the number rose to 80 per cent for those aged over 65.

Wilson said that while there had not been “a flattening of the curve”, the number of active cases was falling significantly.

She said that “things are getting a little better as we are making progress”, but added that “we still have ways to go”.

Dr Wesley Miller, chief of staff of the Bermuda Hospitals Board, said that the virus was “trending towards the lower numbers in the community”.

In all, Bermuda has recorded a total of 5,548 cases of the virus since March of last year.