(BIVN) – In a message issued on Sunday morning, the County of Hawaiʻi reported 48 active cases of COVID-19 on Hawaiʻi island.

Today’s radio message was issued later than it is normally issued, and featured the voice of Hawaiʻi County Mayor Harry Kim.

The State of Hawaiʻi indicated yesterday that there are 52 active cases on the Big Island. The next State update will be posted at noon today.

From the Hawaiʻi County Civil Defense on Sunday morning:

On today’s update of COVID-19, the number of active cases, on Hawaii Island, monitored by the Department of Health is forty-eight. There are twelve new cases of Coronavirus on Hawaii Island. These cases are now isolated and monitored by the Department of Health. At this date, for Hawaii Island, two of the four reported from yesterday’s hospitalizations have been released as recovered and the two who remain are reported doing well. Thank you!

Hawaii Island has seen large daily increases of positive cases for the past three weeks. Health data shows the majority of these new cases have been identified as Hilo based gatherings where people failed to practice preventive measures. An example of this is the huge gathering of remembrance recently held in east Hawaii. It has also been reported that people in social gatherings, such as beaches and parks, are disregarding the policies of prevention. The Police Department will be stepping up their enforcement of the prevention policies.

A review is underway to see what policy changes need to occur to address the growing spread of this virus. At this time, indoor and outdoor gatherings are limited to no more than ten (10) persons. This does not apply to family gatherings of the same household, nor to faith based worship services. For any questions, please call Civil Defense at 935-0031.

We must all get together, this is a serious situation developing in Hilo and only you can help stop the spread of this virus. We need your help in following the guidance of prevention.