James Kon
Nearly 70 per cent of the populace had been administered the COVID-19 booster shots, as of Monday, said Minister of Defence II cum Acting Minister of Health Pehin Datu Lailaraja Major General (Rtd) Dato Paduka Seri Haji Awang Halbi bin Haji Mohd Yussof at the daily press conference yesterday, with coverage rate at 69.7 per cent.
Monday also saw 234 first doses of the vaccine being administered to children aged between five and 11, bringing the tally to 33,809 doses or 78.8 per cent coverage rate.
Meanwhile, 985 children in the age group have received the second dose, bringing the total tally to 16,439 doses or a coverage rate of 38.3 per cent.
The Sultanate also recorded 246 new COVID-19 cases yesterday, bringing the national tally of confirmed cases to 147,021.
Of this, 245 cases were detected through antigen rapid tests (ARTs), while one of the 454 RT-PCR laboratory tests performed in the past 24 hours returned positive.
There were no COVID-19 fatalities reported in the last 24 hours.
“No cases are found in Category 5 requiring treatment in the intensive care unit, and there are no cases in Category 4 requiring respiratory assistance and close monitoring,” the minister said.
He added that an additional 223 cases have recovered, bringing the total number of recoveries to 145,166. The number of active cases stands at 1,633, 12 of whom are receiving treatment at hospitals, while 1,621 are undergoing home self-isolation.
Minister of Home Affairs Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Kerna Dato Seri Setia (Dr) Haji Awang Abu Bakar bin Haji Apong and Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office and Minister of Finance and Economy II Dato Seri Setia Dr Awang Haji Mohd Amin Liew bin Abdullah were also in attendance.
