Bandars Rivegawan-Ministry of Health (MoH) stopped publishing updates on the number of active COVID-19 cases and new infectious diseases on Wednesday.
In a social media post, the ministry said it would not report new cases of coronavirus daily from June 22 because Brunei’s “early endemic stage has ended.”
However, other information such as ICU patient counts, recovered cases, and vaccination statistics will continue to be provided.
In response to a request for comment on whether MoH will disclose a weekly average of new COVID infections, the ministry said it would address coronavirus-related questions at its next press conference on Monday.
The ministry did not explain the rationale behind the decision to stop daily updates of infection numbers, but said health officials had previously focused on hospitalization to manage the virus as endemic.
The move to stop reporting new cases of coronavirus daily occurs when Brunei has seen an increasing trend of new infections over the past week.
The number of COVID cases per week increased by 46% from June 13th to 19th compared to 2,691 cases in the previous week, resulting in 3,930 infections.
Last week’s number of cases accounted for 13% of the March peak, which was facilitated by the Omicron BA.2 variant.
As the sultan transitioned to a new normal state of living with the virus, MoH previously stated that relaxation of public health measures contributed to the increase in cases.
Brunei lifted most COVID curbs at the end of the early stages of the epidemic on May 31st. There was no social gathering capacity limit and all students were allowed to resume face-to-face learning.
