BY James Kon

Minister of Health Dato Seri Setia Dr Haji Mohd Isham bin Haji Jaafar urged the public to remain calm despite the slight growth in COVID-19 figures over the last few days, noting that “over 99 per cent of the cases are in categories 1 and 2”.

The slight increase “is expected” in view of the relaxing of COVID-19 measures starting June 1, 2022, which includes the dropping of restrictions on public gatherings and there being no age limit for mosque congregants.

Dato Seri Setia Dr Haji Mohd Isham advised the public to continue practising social responsibilities such as wearing face masks, isolating from others when feeling unwell, and to get the COVID-19 booster shot.

Brunei Darussalam on Thursday recorded 390 new COVID-19 cases, pushing the national tally to 151,950. Of this, 382 cases were detected through ART screening, while eight of the 339 RT-PCR laboratory tests performed in the past 24 hours, returned positive.

Two Category 4 cases are under close monitoring and receiving respiratory assistance.

“A total of 312 cases have recovered, bringing the total number of recoveries to 148,922 cases. There are 2,804 cases, 15 of whom are being treated at hospitals, while the remaining are under home self-isolation,” the minister said.

As of Wednesday, 65 first doses and 881 second doses of the COVID-19 vaccine were administered to children aged five to 11, bringing the total number of first dose vaccinations to 83 per cent, and 62.9 per cent for the second dose. Some 71.4 per cent of the populace have received the booster shot.

-- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin