Nine-hundred ninety-four Covid-19 recoveries announced on Wednesday was the first time active case numbers fell since April 5 — it had been 23 straight days of a deteriorating outbreak, in spite of a nationwide travel ban imposed in the first part of the month, and a lockdown in the capital in the latter.
The reprieve, for now, remains a single-day blip. Thursday and Friday saw new cases outstripping recoveries again — with the country’s two highest daily infection numbers yet, at 880 and 761, against 288 and 166 recoveries, respectively. Active cases are at a record-high 8,150.
Phnom Penh continues to see the bulk of new cases: 2,934 were announced in the past week. And Pur Senchey and Meanchey districts remain the worst-hit areas in the capital, recording 852 and 656 new cases for the week, according to City Hall data compiled by VOD.
They are areas with a high concentration of factories and workers’ accommodations, which have been among the centers of the current outbreak — the Labor Ministry said this week that more than 200 factories had workers testing positive.
Four out of seven communes in Meanchey have been declared red zones, with the other three classified as “orange” under new three-color lockdown measures. Pur Senchey, though it has seen the most cases recently, has just one red-zone commune alongside three orange and three yellow.
Since implementing the new system on Wednesday, City Hall has already added four more villages, all in Toul Kork district, to red and orange classifications. The lockdown of Phnom Penh, as well as Kandal province’s Takhmao city, has for now been extended to May 5.
Around the country, Preah Sihanouk province again had the second-most infections, though followed closely by Kandal and Banteay Meanchey, which both saw a spike in cases this week.
Phnom Penh districts / Provinces
