THE number of fatalities from COVID-19 has risen to 381 - an increase of 38 according to data released by officials over the weekend.

Late last night, an update reported an increase of 27 deaths, cases that had previously been classified as deaths under investigation.

That is in addition to 11 deaths reported on Friday.

The earliest of the deaths reported last night was on April 16, with the latest being on August 24. A further 20 deaths remain under investigation. A total of 108 confirmed cases were also recorded in the data released last night for Saturday.

On Friday, the Ministry of Health reported 11 more COVID-19 deaths and 223 new cases. The data is contained in the ministry’s August 25 and August 26 dashboards which were released Friday morning. The 11 new deaths and 161 cases were recorded on Wednesday while 62 more cases were recorded on Thursday. Ninety-one more cases were recorded on Friday.

The news comes as more than 13,000 Bahamians were vaccinated in the past week, with Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis welcoming the increase, while cautioning more deaths will occur as many remain unvaccinated.