A Royal Bermuda Regiment soldier has tested positive for the “after he was involved in an exercise over last weekend, he Regiment has confirmed, adding that “training for part-time soldiers had been suspended for three weeks as a precaution.”
This comes as the island has experienced a surge of new confirmed cases, with more than 100 so far this month, including 41 new cases announced today.
RBR Commanding Officer Lieutenant Colonel Ben Beasley said the “affected soldier had been quarantined and troops he may have come into contact with over the weekend were being contacted with health advice.”
Col Beasley said the “case was the first to hit Warwick Camp since the Covid-19 pandemic hit the island a year ago, and “added the RBR had enforced strict social distancing, mask wearing and hand sanitation since the first cases surfaced on the island.”
Col Beasley said: “Despite our soldiers being on the frontline in the battle against the coronavirus for more than a year, we have done extremely well in protecting them.”
He highlighted that “most soldiers were part-time and could still be exposed to coronavirus risk in their civilian lives.”
Col Beasley added: “We are working very closely with the health department and we will continue to support the civil authority by manning test and vaccination centres and as quarantine marshals.”
“The infected soldier was in contact with around 30 other soldiers over the weekend and spent one night in a shared barrack room,” a spokesperson said.
“But Lt Col Beasley said that barracks, which could accommodate up to 40 soldiers in normal times, had been restricted to about a dozen troops as a precaution against Covid-19 spread.
“He added that most of the training the infected soldier was involved in had been carried out in the open air, which cut the risk of spread.”
