Brunei's COVID-19 transmission rate remains low in past week: health minister

Bandar Seri Begawan [Brunei], September 14: Brunei saw a slight increase in the number of new COVID-19 cases last week, with a daily average of about 179 cases compared to 169 cases per day in the previous week. However, the infection trend shows transmission remains low, Haji Mohd Isham, the country's health minister said.
According to the local daily Borneo Bulletin on Tuesday, the health minister said at a weekly briefing that 51,405 Antigen Rapid Test (ART) test results were uploaded to the government platform within one week, with 2.4 percent of them being positive.
Currently, no hospitalized case is held in the intensive care unit and two cases still require assisted breathing.
As of Sept. 12, 78.2 percent of Brunei's population have received three doses of COVID-19 vaccines, while 10.1 percent have taken the fourth dose.
The COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca, and China's Sinopharm are administered in the Southeast Asian country.
The health minister also said that mask-wearing will become optional both outdoors and indoors starting Sept. 15, with a high vaccination rate and natural immunity in the Sultanate.
However, those who show symptoms are still required to wear masks in public. Face masks are still mandatory at government and private health facilities, including hospitals, clinics, ambulances, swab and injection centers, and if required, by event hosts.
Operators of restaurants, eateries, cafes and stalls are still required to wear face masks.
Source: Xinhua