One hundred and twenty-three new cases of coronavirus were announced on Wednesday out of 46, 347 PCR and rapid tests.

No deaths were reported.

There are 81 in hospital with the virus, of whom 35 are in serious condition. The ministry reported that 67.86 per cent of those receiving treatment for Covid-19 are unvaccinated.

As for Wednesday’s coronavirus tests, PCR tests accounted for 4,773 and identified the following positives: 17 from 218 contact tracing tests, four from 2,123 airport tests, 26 from 2,149 tests taken privately and six from 187 hospital tests.

The government’s free screening programme – restricted to eligible groups – carried out 20,002 rapid tests and identified 23 positives.

The 21,572 rapid tests taken privately – typically from the unvaccinated who are ineligible for the government’s free screening programme – identified 47 positives.

Notably, no positives were identified from the tests carried out at care homes while seven people tested positive at secondary schools.