BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Brunei (Reuters) – Brunei said on Tuesday six people had tested positive for the coronavirus after the tiny Southeast Asian nation reported its first case a day ago.
The first coronavirus patient in the sultanate was a 53-year-old Bruneian man who returned from the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur on March 3 and started showing symptoms four days later, Brunei’s health ministry said.
He was one of 90 Bruneians who attended a mass gathering of Islamic missionaries at a mosque in Kuala Lumpur. The health ministry has quarantined more than 20 individuals who came into close contact with the man, and is urging Bruneians who attended the gathering to come forward for testing.
In neighboring Malaysia, the prime minister’s office said 12 more people tested positive on Tuesday, taking the total to 129.
(Reporting by Ain Bandial and Rozanna Latiff; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
