BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN – The Ministry of Health has jumpstarted its vaccination drive, inoculating over 15,000 people since resuming first dose jabs on Thursday.
Figures from MoH show that 15,370 doses were administered from September 16-18, meaning 54.4 percent of the population have received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine, while 34.8 percent are fully vaccinated.
MoH was forced to suspend first dose jabs for two weeks following a vaccine shortage (although it continued to administer second dose jabs during this period) but vaccine donations from China, Australia and Japan have allowed the ministry to restart its programme.
During a press briefing on Sunday, health minister YB Dato Dr Hj Mohd Isham Hj Jaafar told citizens who had previous bookings cancelled to check their SMS or BruHealth app for a rescheduled appointment.
The rescheduling is currently being carried out in stages and some people may have missed their slots, he said, as some bookings have been moved forward and others were transferred to different vaccination centres.
He added that 438 people failed to attend their appointments on Saturday.
The health ministry is aiming to accelerate vaccinations to 10,000 doses per day, in order to get 70 percent of the population fully vaccinated by the end of the year.
90 new cases reported
Ninety new cases were reported on Sunday, bringing the cumulative number of COVID-19 cases to 5,047.
The total number of recovered people has risen to 3,457, whereas the number of people with active infections stands at 1,558.
Nine people remain in critical condition, with another 24 people under close monitoring in the Intensive Care Unit.
MoH said it will continue with surveillance testing in high density areas — such as commercial areas, housing schemes and foreign workers’ dormitories — as it tries to assess the scale of current outbreak.
On Saturday night, authorities carried out over 300 swab tests at a commercial complex in Rimba.