SHANGHAI (CNA) – The Chinese commercial hub of Shanghai is pushing ahead with a mass testing initiative as it tries to curb a new spike in COVID-19 infections, but some districts were easing lockdown rules in an effort to minimise disruptions. More details in Saturday’s Borneo Bulletin.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) – Samoa will go into lockdown from today as it faces its first outbreak of COVID-19 after a woman who was about to leave the country tested positive. More details in Saturday’s Borneo Bulletin.
VIENTIANE (XINHUA) – Laos registered 1,508 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, exceeding the 1,000 mark for the first time since January 19, bringing the national tally to 150,639. More details in Saturday’s Borneo Bulletin.
Izah Azahari
A two-week extension has been placed on online learning and teaching as well as via home learning pack (HLP) from March 21 to April 2, subject to the date of the first day of Ramadhan.
Minister of Education Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Hamzah bin Haji Sulaiman said this at the press conference yesterday, adding that “the extension applies to kindergartens, pre-schools to Year 6 with less than 50 students, as well as Years 7 to 13 secondary schools, colleges and sixth form centres under the Ministry of Education (MoE), including private and international schools, as well as those under the Ministry of Religious Affairs (MoRA)”.
“Special consideration will be given to educational institutions that apply for face-to-face learning to prepare students for their international examinations. They will have to adhere to the standard operating procedures (SOP) in place,” the minister said, adding that the “MoE will continue to work closely with relevant parties in ensuring the safety and well-being of educators is maintained”.
Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Hamzah extended gratitude to educators for their continued commitment in ensuring the smoothing-running delivery of education to students in challenging situations.
He also thanked parents and guardians for their support in working closely with schools to ensure their children do not fall behind in their studies.
James Kon
Bangar Police Station personnel yesterday apprehended four suspects for allegedly smuggling 18 boxes of raw meat (weighing 360 kilogrammes) and 12 boxes of chicken tails (weighing 120 kilogrammes) from Jalan Bangar headed to Jalan Labu, near the National Service Programme (PKBN) Training Camp.
Police personnel pulled over two suspicious vehicles at 11.45am, resulting in the discovery, the Royal Brunei Police Force (RBPF) said. The suspects were all local, comprising three males and one female, aged between 40 and 46.
The case and evidence have been handed over to the Royal Customs and Excise Department (RCED) and Halal Food Control Division in Temburong District.
The RBPF will continue operations to curb criminal activities, particularly smuggling attempts.
Members of the public with information on suspicious activities can contact police hotline 993 or the nearest police station.
James Kon
The first shipment containing 5,040 packs of Molnupiravir, the oral anti-viral treatment for COVID-19, arrived in the Sultanate from Singapore last night.
The Ministry of Health (MoH) has procured 25,000 Molnupiravir packs from Merck, a United States (US) manufacturer.
The US Food and Drug Administration and Brunei Darussalam Medicines Control Authority (BDMCA) have green-lighted Molnupiravir for emergency use authorisation (EUA). High-risk COVID-19 patients will be given access to Molnupiravir to reduce the risk of developing severe symptoms. A doctor will first assess a patient to determine if he/she is a suitable candidate. Each pack lasts for five days.
Lyna Mohamad
Minister of Primary Resources and Tourism Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Ali bin Apong yesterday officiated a Doa Selamat ceremony marking the official opening of the new Veterinary Laboratory for the Department of Agriculture and Agrifood.
Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Primary Resources and Tourism (MPRT) Hajah Tutiaty binti Haji Abdul Wahab, deputy permanent secretaries at the MPRT, acting director of Agriculture and Agrifood and senior officers from the Department of Agriculture and Agrifood also attended.
The ceremony opened with a recitation of Doa Selamat by Haji Hanafiah bin Haji Mahmud, before the minister performed the ribbon-cutting ceremony and signed a plaque. After a video presentation on the background of the lab, upgrade objectives and lab facility details, the minister toured the new building.
Located at the Terunjing Agricultural Development Area (KKP Terunjing), the building comes under the management of the Veterinary Laboratory Services Unit (UPMV), Livestock Industry and Veterinary Services Division.
The unit will implement animal disease control and livestock food security support programmes including tracing and identifying animal/livestock disease as control and eradication of animal/livestock disease and analysing of livestock processed food to trace contamination of pathogen. It will also be responsible for analysing the medicinal residues and physical quality test to monitor livestock production quality, and to support the monitoring programme for livestock food towards producing quality livestock production.
Established in 1978 under the supervision of the Veterinary Clinic in Jalan Kumbang Pasang, the unit later moved to the building beside the Bolkiah Camp in Jalan Berakas, and was known as Animal Disease Research Laboratory.
In 1988, with the addition of the inspection scope and the compact condition of the lab, it was then moved to the Brunei Agriculture Research Centre in Kilanas, with a name change to the Diagnostic Laboratory.
The Diagnostic Lab expanded the existing inspection scope, such as the clinical pathology, turning the lab into a referral centre for livestock health status.
In 1997, the Diagnostic Lab had a name change to UPMV, which remains until today.
UPMV is the only national veterinary lab responsible for providing support for the increase in livestock industry production and towards the accreditation of the department as a Competent Veterinary Authority (CVA).
The department has implemented measures to realise this role, which among others, is to obtain the accreditation of ISO/IEC 17025, increase the scope of laboratory testing services of interest, and meet the needs of importing countries.
The department – through the 11th National Development Plan budget allocation – in tandem with the Research, Analysis and Referral of Animal Disease Centre programme implemented the veterinary lab upgrade project with the objective of meeting the international guidelines relevant to lab analytics, which include International Standard of ISO/IEC 17025 and the Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) standard.
It also enables the lab to safely conduct tests on animal zoonotic diseases, with the construction of the Biosafety Laboratory Level 3 (BSL3).
The new lab will be able to implement plans to include laboratory tests of interest, while meeting the needs of importing countries. It can also prepare the country to deal with problems arisen from the spread of infectious animal diseases.
Livestock operators keen on securing a lab inspection and analysing services can acquire more details from the official Department of Agriculture and Agrifood website or call the Veterinary Lab line at 8965122.
SOMA, JAPAN (AFP) – Four people were reported dead and over 100 injured in Japan after a powerful overnight earthquake rattled large parts of the east coast and prompted a tsunami warning, authorities said.
The 7.4-magnitude quake off the coast of Fukushima derailed a bullet train, opened cracks in highways and threw products from shelves in shops. A tsunami warning for waves of up to a metre in parts of northeast Japan was lifted in the early hours of yesterday, after authorities recorded water levels up to 30 centimetres higher than usual in some areas.
Multiple smaller jolts continued to hit the region into yesterday morning, straining nerves just days after Japan marked the 11th anniversary of the massive quake, tsunami and nuclear disaster in the area.
“This is really ironic. Exactly a year ago, we also had a similar-scale earthquake,” store employee Yoshinari Kiwaki told AFP.
“When we felt the tremor last night, we already knew what we would have to work on here in the morning,” the 62-year-old added, saying it would take around a month to get the store back in business.
The jolts also rattled the capital and temporarily plunged parts of Tokyo and other areas into darkness.
Blackouts hit around two million homes in Tokyo and elsewhere in the immediate aftermath of the quake, but power was progressively restored throughout the night. Some 30,000 homes were still without power yesterday morning, with another 4,300 without water.
Elsewhere, some damage was reported, including the collapse of a stone wall at the site of Aoba castle in Sendai, and a Shinkansen bullet train derailed north of Fukushima city.
There were no injuries in the derailment, but 75 passengers and three staff on board were trapped for four hours before being able to escape the train. Several dozen people were still at an evacuation centre in Soma, where 82-year-old Yuzuru Kobashi was collecting food and water.
Some of his roof slates fell off in the quake, but he told AFP he cannot climb up to fix emergency tarpaulin in place because of his age.
“So instead of using tarps to cover the roof, we are using them to cover important items in the house so they won’t get wet when it rains,” he said.
Japan sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, an arc of intense seismic activity that stretches through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.
The country is regularly hit by quakes, but it remains haunted by the memory of the 2011 catastrophe which left 18,500 people dead or missing, most in the tsunami.
Around the stricken Fukushima plant, extensive decontamination has been carried out, and no-go zones now cover just 2.4 per cent of the region, down from 12 per cent, though populations in many towns remain far lower than they were before.
Rokiah Mahmud
A ceremony was yesterday held at the Bolkiah Garrison to witness the flag hand over to personnel of the 18th International Monitoring Team Mindanao Negara Brunei Darussalam (IMT-M NBD) and the 4th Independent Decommissioning Body Verification, Monitoring, and Assistance Team (IDB VMAT) in Mindanao, Philippines.
Acting Commander of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces (RBAF) cum guest of honour Brigadier General Dato Seri Pahlawan Haji Abdul Razak bin Haji Abdul Kadir presented the flag to Commander Md Zouhdy bin Haji Abdul Razak, RBN as the 18th IMT-M NBD delegation head, and Lieutenant Colonel Hairin bin Japar as the 4th IDB VMAT delegation head.
Brunei Darussalam is deploying five RBAF officers and one Royal Brunei Police Force (RBPF) officer to the 18th IMT-M NBD, along with four RBAF officers to the 4th IDB VMAT in Mindanao.
As part of regional cooperation, the Sultanate will continue to provide assistance to ensure the neighbouring state’s peace and stability. These missions are held to oversee the ceasefire agreement between the Philippines government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), as well as the process of decommissioning the MILF’s forces and weapons.
Deputy Commissioner of Royal Brunei Police Force (RBPF) Sulaiman bin Alidin, deputy service commanders, directors and commandants, defence attaché of the Philippines and Malaysia, as well as Ministry of Foreign Affairs representatives also attended.
CHICAGO (AP) – Former Empire star Jussie Smollett was released from jail following six nights behind bars after an appeals court agreed with his lawyers that he should be free pending the appeal of his conviction for lying to police about a racist and homophobic attack.
He got into an awaiting SUV, but his attorneys said Smollett, who is Black, was the target of a racist justice system and people playing politics.
The appeals court ruling came after a Cook County judge sentenced Smollett last week to immediately begin serving 150 days in jail for his conviction on five felony counts of disorderly conduct for lying to police.
In an outburst immediately after the sentence was handed down, Smollett proclaimed his innocence and said, “I am not suicidal. And if anything happens to me when I go in there, I did not do it to myself. And you must all know that.”
