The answer is with us, the people of Brunei.
The first wave of the pandemic stormed the Sultanate in March 2020.
We were not that ready then to battle the raging virus. Daily caseloads of Covid-19 in the country rose, putting our health care system under pressure. Our education system and social economy too were impacted by the pandemic.
We immediately went on high gear
to stabilize the critical situation. We put the country under semi lockdown. We imposed restrictions on people's movement, interactions, gathering in public places, temporarily closed mosques and other places of worship, schools, malls,
marketplaces, shops, and offices in efforts to put the spread of the virus under control.
We decisively took action to ease
the pressure on our health care system by setting up quickly isolation centers
to care for those infected in categories 1, 2, and 3.
It was a hard battle but with
people strongly behind the government efforts, we amazingly were able to prove our resilience and emerge from the
shock of the first wave Covid pandemic.
Lives return to almost normal for
almost over a year after months of vigorously battling the pandemic with the
'Covid Zero approach'
Then came August 2021, Covid-19
cases spiked at their highest in 15 months: 42 new cases to bring up the total
confirmed cases to 406.
This time we were ready.
Brunei again immediately went into semi
lockdown and began her fight to bring the Covid pandemic under control. Within
over three months, Brunei managed to tame the spread of the virus at the same time launched a massive vaccination drive to achieve herd immunity in the Sultanate.
We did it once and we did it twice. No reason
now that we could not this time around.
Brunei shall emerge stronger from
the shock of the second wave Covid-19 pandemic that hit the nation over three
months ago, in sya Allah.
On the path of living with Covid
On this auspicious day (Friday),
Brunei with her highly vaccinated population begins its journey on the path out
of the pandemic.
The nation is now moving forward,
albeit in phases to adapt and live with the Covid-19 virus that will be around
forever like SARS, H1N1, and other influenza-like
illnesses.
As of yesterday, over 90 percent
of the population have a single dose vaccination while over 70 percent have
double dose vaccination.
Only 21 new cases were recorded
yesterday with active cases going down to 444 out of which only five cases in
category 5.
With the reopening of businesses and places,
the loosening of
restrictions for dining establishments, workplaces, and entertainment venues, Covid-19 cases - driven by over-excitement, complacency, and
carelessness - are expected to spike in the coming days and months.
Unless we behave well, contained our excitement, strictly follow the MOH Covid SOP and
follow the lead by the government in living with the Covid-19, then we will not be
far from reaching the endemic stage. In sya Allah.
