Bandar Seri Begawan, Aug 8 (IANS): The Brunei government announced stricter social distancing measures after the country reported seven new locally transmitted Covid-19 infections, the first since May 6, 2020.

According to the Ministry of Health on Saturday, the control measures were reinstated for two weeks with immediate effect, including closing religious places, schools switching to online learning, no dine-in for restaurants, and closing indoor and outdoor sports facilities, leisure centres and cinemas, reports Xinhua news agency.

Meanwhile, to address the concerns on the spread of the Delta variant around the world, including in Brunei, the Ministry of Health now required that face masks be worn at all times, especially indoors or in crowded places, and cover the nose and mouth.

The directive is applicable to all individuals regardless of their vaccination status.

With the seven new local cases, as well as one fresh imported infection, Brunei's national tally increased to 347.

According to the Ministry of Health, five of the seven local cases had no history of travelling abroad in recent months, and were related to a monitoring centre in Brunei.

The remaining two local cases have unknown origins of infection with mild symptoms but no overseas travelling history.

The imported case is a 37-year-old man who arrived in the country on July 30 from the Middle East via Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The Ministry said that contact tracing for the new cases is underway.