BY Izah Azahari & James Kon

Filling the arrival declaration form is a requirement for all passengers boarding a plane to Brunei Darussalam, said Minister of Home Affairs Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Kerna Dato Seri Setia (Dr) Haji Awang Abu Bakar bin Haji Apong at the daily press conference on Monday.

This was in response to a question on what would happen if inbound travellers did not complete the arrival declaration form prior to arrival in the Sultanate.

The minister spoke on the importance of filling in the declaration form and reminded all passengers to complete the form prior to boarding an aircraft.

Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Kerna Dato Seri Setia (Dr) Haji Awang Abu Bakar also shared updates on the COVID-19 situation in the country.

He said 297 new cases were detected on Monday – 294 from antigen rapid test (ART) screenings and three from 282 RT-PCR laboratory tests performed in the past 24 hours.

With the latest infections, the national tally of confirmed cases stands at 144,956 cases.

The minister also announced that a COVID-19 patient passed away but it was not due to the coronavirus.

Some 272 cases were declared recovered, bringing the total number of recoveries to 143,060 cases. There are currently 1,675 active cases, 15 patients being treated in hospitals and 1,660 on home self-isolation.

Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Kerna Dato Seri Setia (Dr) Haji Awang Abu Bakar disclosed that there are no cases in Categories 4 and 5.

With the vaccination centres not operating on Sunday, the inoculation statistics remain unchanged from those revealed in the previous day’s press conference – 74.4 per cent of children aged five to 11 have received one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and 23.1 per cent with two doses.

Some 68.4 per cent of the population have been administered three doses of the vaccine.

-- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin