Following the discovery of the country’s first locally transmitted cases in almost a year, Brunei established severe controls to limit the spread of Covid-19.
The health ministry announced Saturday that seven community infections had been discovered, prompting the government to suspend all places of worship and postpone social gatherings for two weeks.
During this time, mass events were likewise confined to groups of 30 people as school classes were shifted online and restaurants were forbidden from serving dine-in customers.
Only three people have died from the coronavirus since the outbreak began in the tiny Islamic sultanate.
More than half of the virus’s 347 illnesses were imported, and the virus’s spread was slowed by strict border restrictions and quarantine measures.
Since May of last year, five of the oil-rich country’s first local illnesses have been traced to a government-run virus monitoring center.
The ministry added in a statement that “this cluster is presumed to have been exposed to one of the imported cases in Brunei.”
According to the government, the source of infection for the other two could not be determined.
On Saturday, another imported case was reported: a guy who traveled from the Middle East via Malaysia on July 30 before developing symptoms on Tuesday.
Brunei has been spared the devastating coronavirus outbreaks that are currently wreaking havoc on Southeast Asia’s health systems.
Its only land border is with Malaysia, which has seen roughly 1.25 million illnesses and over 10,000 deaths so far.
The country’s immunization program has also been slowly improving, with roughly 32% of the country’s 450,000 residents receiving at least one vaccination.
