BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Aug 18 (NNN-ANN) – Brunei reported 65 new COVID-19 cases yesterday, including 61 local infections and four imported cases, bringing the national tally to 852.
According to Brunei’s Ministry of Health, while the source of infection of 18 new cases is still under investigation, 30 cases are related to nine active clusters, already identified and the remaining 13 local cases are related to two new clusters confirmed yesterday.
Meanwhile, three of the four imported cases arrived from Manila on Aug 4, and the other one is a one-year-old child from a family arriving from Africa, via Kuala Lumpur, on July 30. Four other members of the family also tested positive on Aug 9.
All new cases in the active clusters are individuals who are currently being quarantined and were found to be in contact with several confirmed cases.
The health ministry said, contact tracing for all new cases is still actively running, with a total of 12,755 people identified as close contacts of the recently confirmed cases, an increase of 1,518 individuals from the previous day.
There are currently 516 active cases being treated and monitored at the National Isolation Centre, with two of them in critical condition, requiring respiratory assistance and seven other patients under close monitoring.
Before the detection of the local cases on Aug 7, Brunei had kept a record of 457 days without community infections.
There have been a total of 333 recovered patients and three deaths reported so far, in the country.– NNN-ANN
