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HEALTH AND FITNESS
With the availability of vaccines, he highlighted
“we can be more aggressive with openings,
especially the border and hopefully by then, it
will be near normal”.
He also added, “With this experience of
COVID-19, I think that there are some positive
changes like how we dealt with mass gatherings
and how we behave in public, where people have
improved their ethics in terms of sneezing and
coughing. The wearing of masks is no longer
something bizarre. Hopefully it will become a
positive trend for people. Hopefully people will
become more responsible when they are not
well, like with fever or u, they should stay at
home. It is ne for them to stay at home because
our culture can sometimes be dif cult, especially
when there is a wedding reception where it’s like
an obligation for us to attend.”
BruHealth
To better trace and detect COVID-19 outbreaks
in the community, BruHealth was introduced
as a one-stop mobile application for anything
COVID-19 related in Brunei Darussalam. Users
must scan a QR code at business premises or
locations, and entry to the premise is determined
by the event code of the user.
BruHealth contains an overview of Brunei and
the global COVID-19 situation, including latest
statistics and trends. The app has a personal
assessment code that re ects the infectious
risk of the user and will determine the type of
activities the user can take part in.
The self-assessment tool on BruHealth is
used only as a reference. It does not provide
any medical diagnosis, treatment advice and
medication guidance.
The app also has frequently asked questions
related to COVID-19 and displays the activity
trace of the con rmed cases in Brunei and
locations of medical resources.
MoH will be introducing new features of
Online Personal Health Records, Online Visit
Appointment and Online Consultation on the
BruHealth app to improve health management
among the public.
Minister at the Prime Minister’s Of ce and
Minister of Finance and Economy II Dato Seri
Setia Dr Awang Haji Mohd Amin Liew bin
Abdullah highlighted that these additions will
allow the government to acquire data in assisting
the MoH and other stakeholders to have a more
complete picture of the health status of citizens
and residents of the country.
These features will assist in predicting infection
rates, provide medical resource mapping for more
effective planning, especially in the provision of
healthcare infrastructure, and help draft better
public health policies.
He also attributed the success of the app’s
expansion to the Ministry of Home Affairs
(MoHA), MoH and Ministry of Transport and
Infocommunications (MTIC) as well as IT
Protective Security Services Sdn Bhd (ITPSS),
Dynamik Technologies Sdn Bhd, Uni ed National
Networks Sdn Bhd (UNN) and EVYD Technology.
Legislation
Since the COVID-19 outbreak was reported in
early January 2020, His Majesty’s Government
has implemented several preventive and control
measures to ensure public safety.
The Infectious Diseases Act (Chapter 204) came
into effect on January 30, 2020. Some instructions
have been issued under Chapter 62 (A) of the Act.
Any individual found violating instructions under
the Infectious Diseases Act will be imposed
composed nes of up to BND5,000. They can
be brought before court, and if convicted,
can be ned up to BND10,000 or six months’
imprisonment or both.