Bandar Seri Begawan [Brunei], October 12: Nearly all COVID-19 fatalities in Brunei were patients with Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) or risk factors, a senior health ministry official said.
According to the local daily Borneo Bulletin on Tuesday, Ong Sok King, head of the Non-Communicable Diseases Prevention Unit of the Ministry of Health, told a health workshop that more than two-thirds of premature deaths (deaths before 70 years old) in the sultanate are caused by NCDs, with the most common being cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, chronic respiratory diseases and cancer.
During the pandemic, over 75 percent of COVID-19 deaths with severe COVID-19 symptoms had NCDs or risk factors, she said.
Ong said Brunei is projected to become an aging society, with 14 percent of the population aged 65 and above by 2035, amid an increasing NCD burden as older people are at higher risk of chronic diseases.
"Over the past five decades, we have seen changes in the 10 leading causes of death in Brunei, shifting from dominantly communicable diseases to NCDs," she added.
Source: Xinhua
