The number of active COVID-19 cases in the country dropped to 89 yesterday. Seven new cases – four locals and three imported – and 18 recoveries were also recorded.
With the latest cases, the national tally of confirmed cases is 15,506.
This was said by Minister of Health Dato Seri Setia Dr Haji Mohd Isham bin Haji Jaafar during a press conference yesterday.
The minister said the new cases were detected as a result of 932 laboratory tests conducted in the past 24 hours showing the rate of positive case of 0.8 per cent.
Eighteen cases recovered yesterday, bringing the number of recoveries in the Sultanate to 15,317 cases. The bed occupancy rate at isolation centres is 2.3 per cent.
Among the cases being treated at the National Isolation Centre, one in Category 5 is receiving treatment at the intensive care unit, requiring artificial ventilation and an additional heart-lung machine (ECMO). No cases are in Category 4.
For COVID-19 vaccination, 94.5 per cent of Brunei population has received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, 93.3 per cent with two shots and 21.6 per cent three jabs.
Minister of Home Affairs Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Kerna Dato Seri Setia (Dr) Haji Awang Abu Bakar bin Haji Apong and Minister of Health Dato Seri Setia Dr Haji Mohd Isham bin Haji Jaafar during the press conference. PHOTO: JAMES KON
AUSTIN, TEXAS (AP) – Tesla delivered a record 936,000 vehicles last year, up 87 per cent from its 2020 delivery count, the company said.
The Austin, Texas-based electric vehicle company announced its fourth-quarter production and delivery results on Sunday.
The carmaker said it delivered 308,600 vehicles in the final quarter of 2021, which is also a record for the company and thousands more cars than Wall Street analysts expected.
Wedbush Securities analyst Daniel Ives said the numbers are “jaw-dropping” given the ongoing global chip shortage affecting the automotive industry.
Ives said the production increase was likely boosted by growing demand from car buyers in China, as well as broader enthusiasm for electric vehicles.
A 2021 Model 3 sedan charges at a Tesla dealership in the US. PHOTO: AP
With the reduction of COVID-19 cases, more mukims are in the green zone with no new infections in the past week, from December 26-31, 2021. No mukims are in the red zone, which indicates over 80 new cases or orange zone for 41-80 cases.
Minister of Health Dato Seri Setia Dr Haji Mohd Isham bin Haji Jaafar, during a press conference yesterday, said, “Alhamdulillah, there are no mukims with over 40 cases. Twelve mukims (30.8 per cent) had between one to 40 cases and 27 mukims (69.2 per cent) had no cases at all.”
WASHINGTON (AFP) – United States (US) President Joe Biden on Sunday reassured his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky that Washington “will respond decisively” if Russia moves to invade its pro-Western neighbor, the White House said in a statement.
With a Russian military buildup on Ukraine’s borders, Biden “made clear” to Zelensky during a phone call that the “US and its allies and partners will respond decisively if Russia further invades Ukraine,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.
The show of US support for Ukraine comes days after Biden warned Russian President Vladimir Putin of severe consequences if Moscow launches a military invasion.
In his call with Zelensky, Biden also stressed Washington’s commitment “to the principle of ‘nothing about you without you’,” in an apparent reference to the need to include Ukraine in negotiations about its own future.
Zelensky tweeted afterwards that he appreciated the US’ “unwavering support” and that the call “proves the special nature” of the two countries’ relationship.
United States President Joe Biden. PHOTO: AP
High-ranking US and Russian officials are due to sit down on January 9 and 10 in Geneva to discuss the crisis.
Earlier this week, Biden spoke to Putin, the two leaders’ second conversation by phone in three weeks as tensions mount over Ukraine.
Discussing the call with Putin on Friday, Biden said: “I’m not going to negotiate here in public, but we made it clear he cannot – I’ll emphasise, cannot – invade Ukraine.”
The US leader added, in remarks to reporters during a holiday stay in Delaware, that he had “made it clear to President Putin that we will have severe sanctions, we will increase our presence in Europe, with NATO allies” if Russia invades Ukraine.
Psaki also said in Sunday’s post-call statement that Biden reaffirmed “the US’ commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
The US leader additionally “expressed support for confidence-building measures to de-escalate tensions in Donbas and active diplomacy to advance the implementation of the Minsk Agreements.”
Under the Minsk agreement – brokered by France and Germany – Ukraine agreed to carry out political reforms while Russia agreed to end its support for pro-Russian separatist rebels.
The mobile COVID-19 vaccination clinic for house-to-house service will be conducted at several mukims this week to administer COVID-19 vaccines for people with limited mobility or are bedridden.
Minister of Health Dato Seri Setia Dr Haji Mohd Isham bin Haji Jaafar, during a press conference yesterday, said the house-to-house service will be from 9am to 2.30pm.
Yesterday, the clinics visited Mukim Gadong ‘A’, Mukim Gadong ‘B’, Mukim Berakas ‘A’, Mukim Berakas ‘B’ and Mukim Mentiri.
The service will be available in Mukim Bato Apoi, Mukim Bokok, Mukim Bangar, Mukim Amo, Mukim Mentiri, Mukim Lumapas, Mukim Kota Batu and Mukim Liang today.
Tomorrow, it will continue in Mukim Pekan Tutong, Mukim Keriam, Mukim Telisai, Mukim Serasa, Mukim Kilanas, Mukim Berakas ‘A’, Mukim Berakas ‘B’ and Mukim Liang, while January 6, the service will be available in Mukim Telisai, Mukim Pekan Tutong, Mukim Keriam, Mukim Tanjong Maya and Mukim Berakas ‘B’.
On January 8, the clinic will arrive in Mukim Pekan Tutong, Mukim Keriam, Mukim Tanjong Maya, Mukim Berakas ‘B’ and several mukims in Kampong Ayer.
The minister said the patients eligible for the house-to-house service will be contacted by the Ministry of Health. They will be required to share their identity card or passport details and Bru-HIMS number.
KUALA LUMPUR (AGENCIES) – AirAsia Group Berhad has proposed changing its company name to Capital A Berhad, the operator of Malaysia’s flagship budget airline said in a stock exchange filing yesterday.
The airline group said the proposed name was approved by the Companies Commission of Malaysia and is now subject to shareholders’ approval.
BRASILIA (AP) — Passengers on the cruise ship MSC Preziosa had to wait more than six hours to disembark at Rio de Janeiro on Sunday due to an inspection by Brazilian health authorities that confirmed 28 cases of COVID-19 on board – 26 passengers and two crew members.
Rio’s health secretariat said in a statement that among those who tested positive, people living in Rio or the nearby region can quarantine themselves at home. Others must first isolate in hotels, and there was no information provided about who would pay for the
costs.
After the inspection, MSC Preziosa was authorised by federal health regulator Anvisa to continue operating. Other passengers were waiting to embark for Bahia. The ship had set out from the Brazilian resort of Búzios.
In a statement to the Associated Press, MSC said it applies “protocols that are stricter and stronger than in any other travel industry”, adding that only vaccinated people are allowed to board, and that it conducts regular tests on passengers and crew members.
A passenger arrives to board the cruise ship MSC Preziosa in the Port Area of Rio de Janeiro. PHOTO: AP
LOS ANGELES (AFP) – One person has been found and two are still feared dead following a devastating Colorado wildfire that wiped out swaths of several towns and forced thousands of people to flee with little notice, officials said on Sunday.
Of three reported missing “one of those persons has been accounted for alive and well”, Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle told journalists, adding that a search was ongoing for the remaining two.
Hot debris that has been covered by snow has however hampered recovery efforts, he said.
The so-called Marshall Fire, which was sparked in a tinder-dry landscape, was fanned by winds gusting at more than 160 kilometers an hour on Thursday.
As the blaze raced through the towns of Superior and Louisville, just outside the state’s biggest city Denver, tens of thousands of people were forced to flee with little notice.
Shocking aerial footage showed whole streets as little more than piles of smoking ash, destruction that appeared almost total but somehow left a few homes oddly untouched.
The cause of the blaze is still under investigation, with a search warrant in one location announced on Saturday.
“There’s no news yet on the ongoing investigation into the source of the fire,” Colorado Governor Jared Polis told CNN on Sunday. “It’s being done professionally in conjunction with the FBI, with forensic expertise around it.”
MONTREAL, QUEBEC (AP) – Quebec proceeded with the first of three planned closures of non-essential retail stores on Sunday as the provincial government tried to curb a new wave of COVID-19 driven by the highly infectious Omicron variant.
Hospitals and health-care resources in Quebec and Canada’s remote northern communities are also being stretched as case numbers explode.
Quebec Premier Francois Legault announced last week that the bulk of the province’s stores would be closed for the next three Sundays, with the exception of pharmacies, convenience stores and gas stations.
President of the Quebec Federation of Chambers of Commerce Charles Milliard urged the government to lift the measures as soon as possible.
“The last thing businesses need during these difficult times is additional restrictions,” Milliard said in a statement. “We must leave the choice to businesses to open or close at the time that makes the most sense for them, their employees and their customers.”
The closures came as Quebec reported 15,845 new COVID-19 cases, as well as 13 additional deaths linked to the virus.
The Health Department said the number of hospitalisations linked to the disease rose by 70 to 1,231. It said 162 people are in intensive care, an increase of nine.
A woman walks by a closed store in a shopping mall in Montreal. PHOTO: AP
Quebec City’s main hospital network said it will postpone half of its surgeries and medical appointments starting tomorrow due to the spike in COVID patients.
President and CEO of the CHU de Québec-Université Laval told a news conference that as many as 10,000 medical appointments could be delayed, allowing roughly 50 nurses to also be redirected to the
pandemic’s ward. The hospital network said 783 health-care workers are in isolation, in addition to the 600 nurses already missing from the workforce before the pandemic’s fifth wave hit. The strain caused by the growing number of cases is exacerbated in remote communities where health care is already limited.
Bearskin Lake First Nation, a fly-in only community in northern Ontario, declared a state of emergency on December 30 when 43 residents tested positive for the virus.
By Sunday, 169 people had confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19, more than 40 per cent of the total population.
“That’s a crisis,” Nishnawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Derek Fox said in an interview.
Outbreaks in remote communities are also affecting Nunavut, northern Quebec and Labrador.
Nunavut confirmed another 22 cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, bringing the total to 196 in just 10 days.
Nunavut is discouraging all non-essential travel within the territory and has banned non-essential travel to and from several communities, including Iqaluit, Rankin Inlet, Arviat, Igloolik and Pangnirtung.
Travel bans are also in place now in Nunavik in northern Quebec until mid-January, with only critical or essential travel allowed into or out of the region’s 14 villages.
Minister of Health Dato Seri Setia Dr Haji Mohd Isham bin Haji Jaafar yesterday reminded the public that hospital visits are only permitted for critically or terminally ill patients and only two immediate family members at a time.
The minister said the recently updated visitor and carer policy in government hospitals is aimed at safeguarding the well-being of visitors, patients and hospital staff from exposure to COVID-19.
Dato Seri Setia Dr Haji Mohd Isham said visitors are requested to comply with all instructions given by hospital staff.
The minister said, “The Ministry of Health cannot emphasise enough that the number of people allowed to visit critically or terminally ill patients at intensive care unit (ICU) or cardiac care unit (CCU) or regular wards are two immediate family members at a time.”
He iterated that antigen rapid test (ART) certificates must be shown to hospital staff prior to entering ICU, CCU or regular wards. However, one carer is permitted for any patient according to the guidelines.
