A surge in cases in Brunei traced to a flight from London.

Well, relatively speaking as the country of 440,000 people have had 3 deaths and 172 cases so far.

The Scoop reports on 3rd January 2021:BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN — Brunei detected the highest number of daily coronavirus infections on Sunday with 15 imported cases from London, bringing the overall COVID-19 tally to 172.

The health ministry said the new cases were part of a group of 81 people who arrived on a Royal Brunei (RB) Airlines BI004 flight from London on December 21.

The ministry could not determine whether the 15 patients were infected with the more transmissible B117 variant, which was first discovered in the UK.

During a press briefing, health minister YB Dato Seri Setia Dr Hj Mohammad Isham Hj Jaafar said healthcare workers were not able to send test samples for genetic sequencing due to low viral load among the patients.

The test samples can be genetically sequenced if their cycle threshold (CT) value is 20 or lower, he said.

A CT value of 20 or lower indicates high viral load in the infected person’s nasal swab test samples.

More COVID-19 imported cases are expected in the coming weeks as Brunei continues to receive foreign arrivals, who were approved by the Prime Minister’s Office to enter the country for essential travel.

Another RB flight has been scheduled to arrive from London on January 4.

“Even though we are receiving foreign arrivals, we have procedures in place and new arrivals from countries with high community spread are required to self-isolate for 14 days and they would be tested on the 10th or 12th day of their isolation,” said YB Dato Dr Hj Md Isham.

The new cases surpassed the previous record of 14 daily coronavirus infections reported on March 13.