Gibraltar records highest new Covid cases since pandemic began
Gibraltar recorded the highest number of new daily Covid-19 cases on Thursday since the start of the pandemic, with 183 positive cases detected.
There are now 1,052 active cases within the community, with 1,012 residents and 40 visitors currently infected with the virus.
Including cross frontier workers the number of positive cases detected on Thursday rises to 232, with some 49 cross frontier workers making up this figure.
This is the largest increase in Covid-19 cases Gibraltar has seen since March 2020, when it recorded 180 new cases on December 30, 2020.
The Contact Tracing Bureau is currently grappling with the surge and the Gibraltar Government this morning urged the local community not to jam the phone lines and wait for their call.
“Please do not phone the Contact Tracing Bureau,” the Government said on its Twitter.
“This jams the phone lines and stops Contact Tracers from being able to work effectively.”
“If you test positive please follow instructions in your text message, self-isolate immediately and have info ready.”
“The CTB will call you ASAP.”
But despite the high rate of infection, hospitalisations remain low with three patients in the Covid ward in St Bernard’s Hospital and one resident in ERS.
Among the new cases on Thursday, eight were visitors to the Rock while 175 were residents.
Government statistics revealed 45 of the new resident cases were close contacts of an existing case.
There are currently 1,356 people self isolating, with a further 215 test results pending.
During the week there have been long queues for people waiting to get tested at the Mid Town testing facility, with people in cars exceeding a waiting time of over one hour during busier periods.
Meanwhile over the past 24 hours, 23 people recovered from the virus.
Omicron continues to be the prevalent strain in Gibraltar, with 129 residents and nine visitors contracting this variant.
Nine residents have the Delta variant, while there are 902 results pending.