BY Rokiah Mahmud & Adib Noor

Travellers planning to enter Brunei Darussalam from April 1 will be exempted from providing a negative RT-PCR test and undergoing mandatory self-isolation, provided they have proof of recovery from COVID-19 in the past 90 days.

This was said by Minister of Health Dato Seri Setia Dr Haji Mohd Isham bin Haji Jaafar during the daily press conference on Sunday, adding that among the valid documents is a recovery certificate showing they have been infected and recovered from the virus in the past three months.

“The only requirement is to undergo an antigen rapid test (ART) screening on arrival in the Sultanate, which costs BND20 per person,” said the minister.

Dato Seri Setia Dr Haji Mohd Isham also said there are currently nine patients in Category 4 and another one in Category 5, taking up 3.8 per cent of the treatment capacity at the National Isolation Centre (NIC).

Meanwhile, 792 new cases were reported on Sunday, bringing the tally to 131,403 since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Of the figure, 695 derived from ART results uploaded to the BruHealth app, while 97 were from 2,670 RT-PCR tests performed in the past 24 hours.

The minister also shared that 1,560 cases recovered on Sunday, bringing the total recoveries to 124,465.

In addition, he said, the bed occupancy rate at isolation centres nationwide is 3.1 per cent, with 122 out of 6,736 active cases receiving treatment at isolation centres and hospitals.

The remaining positive cases are undergoing home isolation.

As of March 26, 60.8 per cent of the population had received three doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, Dato Seri Setia Dr Haji Mohd Isham added.

Enforcement personnel also detected four violations during the movement restriction order from midnight to 4am on Sunday. Mas Ridzuan bin Pungut and Pawez Ahamad were found breaching the stay-at-home directive and mask mandate in Brunei-Muara District.

-- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin