BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Feb 28 (NNN-ANN) – Brunei reported 3,962 new COVID-19 cases yesterday, bringing the total tally to 59,447.
As a country of 420,000 people, Brunei saw its daily cases exceeding the 3,000 mark for six consecutive days since Tuesday – also the latest in a series of record-breaking days for COVID-19 infections, in the country.
The newly recorded cases were all local infections, the health ministry said.
The ministry said earlier, the country is going through the third wave of COVID-19 and the number of cases is expected to increase beyond the total reported during the second wave, with the Omicron variant of the virus replacing the Delta variant as the dominant variant.
As of Feb 26, 54.2 percent of Brunei’s population have received three doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, while more than 94 percent of Brunei’s population received at least one dose.
The COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer, BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca and China’s Sinopharm are administered in Brunei.
Health Minister, Haji Mohd Isham said earlier, at a press conference that, the country will not re-impose strict restrictions on social and economic activities.
The restrictions were imposed during the second wave, to flatten the curve and buy time to procure vaccines and coordinate inoculation, the minister said, adding that, with over 94 percent of the population fully vaccinated, the government is confident with the move to the Endemic Phase under its National COVID-19 Recovery Framework.
According to the health ministry, four more patients died in the past 24 hours, bringing the death tally to 121.
Currently, 28,304 active cases are being treated and monitored in Brunei, where 31,022 recoveries have been reported.
Meanwhile, some 124.52 million Brunei dollars (about 92 million U.S. dollars) have been allocated, to address the COVID-19 pandemic, in the country’s proposed budget for the 2022-23 financial year, which will come into effect on Apr 1.
The pandemic budget allocation was meant to increase vaccine supply, improve BruHealth (a local health tracking application), procure medical equipment, and purchase Antigen Rapid Test kits and essential items for isolation centres and laboratories, and pay allowances for the frontliners.
“The government will continue to support the economic recovery of the nation, affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes giving priority to comprehensive public healthcare,” Haji Mohd Amin Liew, Brunei’s minister at the Prime Minister’s Office and second minister of finance and economy, said, at the 18th Legislative Council’s budget deliberation session.– NNN-ANN
