Brunei reports record high daily Covid-19 cases third straight day

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Aug 21 (Xinhua): Brunei reported 197 new Covid-19 cases on Friday night (Aug 20), another record daily rise, bringing the national tally to 1,333.

According to Brunei's Ministry of Health, all the new cases are local infections. While the source of infection of 74 new cases is still under investigation, 119 cases are related to nine active clusters already identified and the other four local cases are related to one new cluster confirmed on Friday.

It also marked the third consecutive day with record daily cases since Aug. 18, when the country recorded 97 cases and 190 cases for the next day.

All new cases in the active clusters are individuals who are currently being quarantined and were found to be in contact with several confirmed cases.

There are currently 979 active cases being treated and monitored at the National Isolation Center, with three of them in critical condition requiring respiratory assistance and 20 other patients under close monitoring.

Before the detection of the new local cases on Aug 7, Brunei had kept a record of 457 days without community infections.

Brunei also reported eight recoveries on Friday. There have been a total of 351 recovered patients and three deaths reported from Covid-19 so far in the country. - Xinhua