James Kon
Brunei Darussalam yesterday detected a surge of 42 new cases, comprising 38 local transmissions and four imported cases in the second wave of COVID-19 infections, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 406.
In addition to three active clusters previously identified, two additional clusters were identified yesterday.
The source of infection for the new clusters are still unknown.
“Four of the new cases are related to the TOTAL cluster reported yesterday. Meanwhile, 29 new cases are related to Case 363 reported on Sunday,” Minister of Health Dato Seri Setia Dr Haji Mohd Isham bin Haji Jaafar said during a press conference yesterday.
The cluster is known as the Chung Hua KB cluster.
“Five new cases are related to Case 364 reported yesterday. This cluster is known as the ABCi cluster,” he said.
“At the same time, four new cases are imported cases, which are members of one family that arrived from Africa via Kuala Lumpur on July 30.
“Contact tracing for all these new cases is currently ongoing. All identified close contacts are required to undergo mandatory quarantine and the RT-PCR SARS-CoV-2 test.”
The minister also mentioned the recovery of 11 cases treated at the National Isolation Centre (NIC), bringing the total of recovered cases to 305.
“Currently, 98 active cases are being treated at the NIC, and all are doing well.
“In the past 24 hours, a total of 1,197 samples have been tested for the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which brings the total number of laboratory tests conducted since January 2020 to 157,892.”
Given the increase in the number of cases and close contacts, Dato Seri Setia Dr Haji Mohd Isham said, “The Ministry of Health (MoH) is trying its best to provide the best possible service and care for the public. In this regard, the public is requested to give their utmost cooperation by being patient and understand that services are currently trying to meet a very high demand.
“Please speak politely, considerately and prudently with health workers and other frontliners such as at the Health Advice Line 148, hospitals and health centres, vaccination centres, and swabbing centres.
“The MoH will not hesitate to take legal action against any threats or violence made against health workers and other frontliners.”
He also asked the public to give priority to those in need of medical services such as sick individuals and contacts of positive cases who require swab tests.
“Swab tests will not be conducted on those with no symptoms and do not meet test criteria,” he added.
