The current seven-day average for confirmed positive cases in the island is around 118, with the overall trend of confirmed cases increasing.

That’s according to the government’s weekly Covid-19 surveillance report.

The report also states that the most recent seven-day daily average test positivity rate is 35.2%.

The percentage of PCR tests from people who’ve taken the lateral flow test is also slightly increasing, with percentage of UK arrival tests slightly decreasing over the last two weeks.

Of positive PCR tests, 91% are from people who have taken a lateral flow test.

Meanwhile, the effective reproduction number (Rt) this week was 1.66, a fall from 1.87 last week. This indicates that the rate of increase in cases may be slowing.

The report also states that daily and weekly deaths continue to show a level trend overall.

In the 24 hours before the Courier went to press, there were 113 new cases discovered on the island, bringing the total number overall to 936.

At Noble’s Hospital, there were nine patients with the virus, but none in the ICU.

Of the new cases, 29 were still pending investigation. This comes after new Covid guidelines were implemented last week by the government.

Guidelines include face coverings being made mandatory on public transport and in healthcare settings, unless under 12 years old or exempt. Face coverings are now also ’expected’ in other settings, such as retail premises and schools.

This is the government’s response to the newly emerged omicron variant, which was discovered in southern Africa recently.