The health ministry of Brunei Darussalam has said on Tuesday (Dec 8) that Brunei has not yet begun official discussions with Malaysia on establishing a Brunei Malaysia green lane for essential travel between the two countries.

The Health Minister YB Dato Seri Setia Dr Hj Md Isham Hj Jaafar has confirmed that Malaysia has not yet made a formal request to resume limited bilateral travel arrangements with the Sultanate.

Malaysia had showed its concern to establish a green lane arrangement for essential travel as early as June.

The proposal for the Brunei Malaysia green lane arrangements was raised again on Tuesday (Dec 8) when Malaysian Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin expressed his hope that Brunei would also consider to establish a reciprocal green lane to revive the economic activities between the two countries.

His remarks were delivered after meeting the outgoing Brunei High Commissioner to Malaysia Dato Paduka Hj Alaihuddin Hj Awg Mohd Taha.

Singapore was the first country for which Brunei agreed to resume its limited international travel in September.

YB Dato Seri Setia Dr Hj Md Isham Hj Jaafar has said that the green lanes with Singapore is working well, but remember that Singapore is slightly different as it is a low-risk country and has very minimal COVID-19 transmission in the community. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 community spread is still high in Malaysia especially in Kuala Lumpur, Sabah and Selangor. So these are two different risk categories.

The Malaysian Ministry of Health has reported 1,012 COVID-19 cases and 4 deaths in the past 24 hours. The country has reported a total number of 75,306 confirmed cases, 388 deaths and 64,056 recoveries.

In regard to COVID-19 transmission in Brunei, the country has reported a total number of 152 confirmed cases which are under treatment and 3 patients have lost their lives due to the virus. However, 147 patients who tested positive to the COVID-19 have completely recovered from the virus, as of Wednesday (Dec 9).

Brunei recorded a new imported COVID-19 case on Tuesday. The latest case is a 39-year-old man who arrived in Brunei on November 27 from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia by Royal Brunei flight BI874. He showed no signs of infection and is currently hospitalized in the National Isolation Center.