Brunei has not found any new Covid-19 sub-variants

At the daily press conference in the capital, Minister of Health Dato Seri Setia Dr Mohd Isham Jaafar stated that no instances of the novel Omicron sub-variants BA.4 and BA.5 have been discovered in Brunei.

"When compared to the prior BA.1 and BA.2 sub-variants, the sub-variants do not show harsher consequences in symptoms," the minister said, adding that the previous BA.2 sub-variant is the most widespread in the Sultanate.

The new Omicron sub-variants have lately been found in neighbouring nations, and they have also expanded widely in the West, with a little faster rate of dissemination than the previous sub-variants.

Although reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) swab testings have reduced, the minister stated that the government is continuously monitoring the issue through genetic sequencing.

"If any positive instances with the appropriate CT-Value are discovered, genomic sequencing can be performed."
"We've sequenced 800 to 1,000 cases from RT-PCR tests on average since the beginning of the year," the minister stated.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday night (May 18), Brunei reported 300 new Covid-19 cases, increasing the national total to 145,521.

298 of the new instances were the result of Antigen Rapid Test (ART) tests that were submitted to the government, and two were the result of 343 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) laboratory tests that were completed in the previous 24 hours.

Pfizer, BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca, and Sinopharm had given three doses of Covid-19 vaccine to 68.8% of Brunei's population as of May 17.

In Brunei, 1,823 active cases are currently being treated and monitored, with 143,477 COVID-19 recoveries reported.

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