Brunei continues COVID-19 vaccination with China's Sinopharm donations

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Brunei resumed the COVID-19 first-dose vaccination on Thursday after receiving the Sinopharm vaccines from China days ago.

Due to a shortage of supply of COVID-19 vaccines following thousands of locally transmitted cases detected since August, the Brunei government had to temporarily suspend the first-dose vaccination from Sept. 1.

A total of 100,000 doses of Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine and 102,400 syringes donated by the Chinese government arrived at Brunei on Sept. 12.

Brunei's Second Minister of Foreign Affairs Haji Erywan and Minister of Health Haji Mohd Isham both expressed thanks to the Chinese government for contributing the Sinopharm vaccine in need on behalf of the Sultanate.

According to Haji Mohd Isham, with the Sinopharm vaccine donation from China and the incoming AstraZeneca vaccine from Japan, at least 100,000 more people in Brunei can be fully vaccinated.

According to Brunei's Ministry of Health, the vaccination appointment slots for those affected by the first-dose postponement will be automatically shifted and they will be given priority in stages.

The health ministry said the National Vaccination Program is implemented with the aim of providing COVID-19 vaccine injections to all the citizens and residents in Brunei, including foreigners residing in the country.

Brunei reported 109 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, bringing the national tally to 4,675.

All the new cases are local infections. While the source of infection of 60 local cases is still under investigation, four new clusters have been detected and two clusters have been closed following no new cases in the clusters for 28 days, which brings the total number of active clusters to 84.

Currently 1,502 active cases are being treated and monitored at the National Isolation Center, with 10 of them in critical condition and 25 other patients under close monitoring.

Brunei also reported 156 recoveries on Thursday. There have been a total of 3,144 recovered patients and 29 deaths so far in the country.