BY James Kon

The total number of active cases in Brunei stands at 1,871 with another 342 new cases reported on Friday. Five of the cases are receiving treatment at hospitals and 1,866 are undergoing home self-isolation.

This was announced by Minister of Health Dato Seri Setia Dr Haji Mohd Isham bin Haji Jaafar at the daily press conference on Friday.

Of the new cases, 339 were detected through antigen rapid test (ART) screenings and three from the 223 RT-PCR laboratory tests performed in the past 24 hours. This brings the national tally of confirmed cases to 149,679. No COVID-related fatalities were reported in the last 24 hours.

On the latest number of cases in Categories 4 and 5, the minister said, “there are no cases in Category 5 requiring treatment in the intensive care unit, with one case reported in Category 4, requiring respiratory assistance and under close monitoring”. He added, 301 have recovered, bringing the total number of recoveries to 147,585.

Dato Seri Setia Dr Haji Mohd Isham said as of Thursday, some 179 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine were administered to children aged between five and 11, bringing the coverage rate of the first dose vaccination administered to 81.7 per cent of the age group.

Meanwhile, the COVID-19 booster rate stands at 70.9 per cent.

The minister added some 1,025 second doses of the vaccine were administered to children in the same age group, bringing the rate of second dose administered to children to 53.2 per cent.

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

-- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin