Proud record: Brunei without local case for 264 days; minister receives award for Covid-19 success

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Jan 22 (Xinhua): Brunei has recorded 261 days without Covid-19 local infections and it is considered to be one of the best Covid-19 record in the world.

It's national tally of 175 cases up to Sunday (Jan 24), is also one of the very lowest in the world.

For the health ministry's efforts, Minister of Health Dato Seri Setia Dr Haji Mohd Isham bin Haji Jaafar (pic) on Sunday received the BRC Henry Dunant Leaders Award in recognition of his excellent work in helping to curb the Covid-19 outbreak in the country.

Brunei Darussalam Red Crescent Society (BDRCS) President Haji Mohd Suhaimi bin Haji Ibrahim presented the award during a ceremony at the Al-’Afiah Hall of the Ministry of Health.

Meanwhile, Brunei only reported one new imported case of Covid-19 since Friday (Jan 22), bringing the national tally to 175.

According to Brunei's Ministry of Health, the case is a 50-year-old man who arrived in Brunei on Jan. 8 from Britain via Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He had a sore throat on Wednesday and is currently being monitored and treated at the National Isolation Center.

Meanwhile, the contact tracing for this case has found that he does not have any close contacts since he has been quarantined as soon as he arrived in the country.

With the detection of this latest case, there are three active cases being treated at the National Isolation Centre and all patients are in stable condition.

A total of 34 imported cases have been confirmed since the last local infection case on May 6,2020. At present, Brunei has recorded 264 days without Covid-19 local infections.

Meanwhile, 551 individuals are currently undergoing mandatory self-isolation at the monitoring centers provided by the government, who have arrived in the country after traveling abroad.

There have been three deaths resulted from Covid-19 in Brunei and a total of 169 patients have recovered. - Xinhua