BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, April 12 (Xinhua) -- The Brunei government announced on Tuesday that the country will extend its early endemic phase until April 30.
The country announced moving to the endemic phase under its National COVID-19 Recovery Framework in December last year, with local infections dropping gradually after the country imposed the strictest social distancing measures, including work from home for government and private sectors and a curfew.
However, Brunei has been witnessing another surge in new COVID-19 cases, with the national tally rising almost tenfold to nearly 140,000 cases in the third wave of infections in the country since January this year.
According to a statement from Brunei's COVID-19 Steering Committee, some existing COVID-19 guidelines were also updated.
The sale of antigen rapid test (ART) kits through vending machines provided by the government will be ceased as ART kits are readily available in shops at affordable market prices.
Under the updated guidelines, transport operators, who are on duty to travel across the border to transport goods, are only required to obtain a negative ART result at least twice a week and are no longer required to obtain a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test every two weeks.
The COVID-19 Steering Committee said that the government would continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation where the guidelines will be updated from time to time for the safety of the country's citizens and residents.
Brunei reported 250 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, bringing the national tally to 139,061.
As a country of 420,000 people, Brunei has recorded less than 1,000 new cases for 20 straight days since March 24 after the daily increase during the third wave of infections in the country reached its peak on March 3 with 4,885 cases.
As of April 11, 62.4 percent of Brunei's population have received three doses of COVID-19 vaccines.
The COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer, BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca, and China's Sinopharm are administered in Brunei.
Currently, 2,532 active cases are being treated and monitored in Brunei, where 136,313 recoveries from COVID-19 have been reported. ■