BY James Kon

Some 254 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine were administered to children aged between five and 11, bringing the total number of first dose vaccination administered to 34,755 or 81 per cent of the age group.

Meanwhile, the COVID-19 booster rate stands at 70.6 per cent.

This was said by Minister of Health Dato Seri Setia Dr Haji Mohd Isham bin Haji Jaafar at the daily press conference on Tuesday, adding that some 605 second doses of the vaccine were administered to children in the same age group, bringing the number of second dose administered to children to 20,946 or coverage of 48.8 per cent.

The minister also said the Sultanate recorded 279 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, bringing the national tally of confirmed cases to 148,674.

Of the new cases, 277 were detected through antigen rapid test (ART) screenings and two from the 318 RT-PCR laboratory tests performed in the past 24 hours.

No COVID-related fatalities were reported in the last 24 hours.

On the latest number of cases in Categories 4 and 5, “there are no cases in Category 5 requiring treatment in the intensive care unit, and one case is reported in Category 4, requiring respiratory assistance and under close monitoring”, said the minister, adding that 215 have recovered, bringing the total number of recoveries to 146,854.

Meanwhile, there are 1,597 active cases, with six receiving treatment in hospitals and 1,591 undergoing self-isolation.

In conjunction with the Royal Brunei Armed Forces (RBAF) 61st anniversary, Dato Seri Setia Dr Haji Mohd Isham also said, “Let us be grateful to Allah the Almighty for the invaluable service of the RBAF to the peace and security of our beloved country.

“Happy 61st anniversary to all members of the RBAF.”

Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Health Haji Maswadi bin Haji Mohsin also attended the press conference.

-- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin