Brunei's Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah waves to the crowd during a meet-and-greet event in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei, Aug. 1, 2021. Brunei held a ceremony of meeting and greeting the Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah and other members of the royal family at the Taman Sir Muda Omar Ali Saifuddien in the capital on Sunday, with the Sultan witnessing a special performance by around 300 participants. The meet-and-greet event was attended by around 2,000 people, which is also part of an annual tradition during birthday celebration of the Sultan, who turned 75 on July 15 this year. (Photo by Jeffrey Wong/Xinhua)
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Brunei held a ceremony of meeting and greeting the Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah and other members of the royal family at the Taman Sir Muda Omar Ali Saifuddien in the capital on Sunday, with the Sultan witnessing a special performance by around 300 participants.
The meet-and-greet event was attended by around 2,000 people, which is also part of an annual tradition during birthday celebration of the Sultan, who turned 75 on July 15 this year.
One of the unique features of this event is the chance for the local people to personally meet the monarch and demonstrate their unwavering loyalty to him. The meet-and-greet event was held in the Brunei-Muara District, the sultanate's main administrative district.
Prior to this, similar meet-and-greet ceremonies were held in districts of Temburong and Tutong. Belait will be the last district to have a similar ceremony for the royal birthday.
Unlike last year, this year saw the meet-and-greet ceremonies successfully held in Brunei as the country has basically brought COVID-19 pandemic under control with no local transmitted cases for more than one year.
Brunei reported one new imported COVID-19 case on Sunday, bringing the national tally to 338.
According to Brunei's Ministry of Health, there are currently 55 imported cases being treated and monitored at the National Isolation Center. One patient has been admitted to the Intensive Case Unit for monitoring while the rest are in a stable condition.
Brunei has recorded 457 days without local COVID-19 infection cases since the last local case on May 6, 2020.
There have been a total of 280 recovered patients and three deaths reported from COVID-19 so far in the country.
The health ministry also said that as of July 31, 134,829 individuals had received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, accounting for about 29.7 percent of Brunei's total population.
Brunei previously announced that COVID-19 vaccines, including those from Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca, China's Sinopharm would be administered in the country.
All Brunei citizens and residents, including foreign nationals with a valid identification card, can receive the COVID-19 vaccination for free. Enditem
