UPDATED — The Health Ministry has announced that people must wear masks in public gatherings of two or more people in areas facing an outbreak, as the Phnom Penh governor said authorities would begin working on educating residents about the rules before handing out penalties.
Cambodia reported its second death from Covid-19 on Friday, eight days after its first official death was announced on March 11 and about a month into the largest community outbreak the country has seen.
Kvim Mok, 31 years old and due to give birth, lay in the Ratanakiri provincial hospital for 21 hours, receiving little care, as her condition deteriorated, her brother says.
Some residents of locked-down Kandal province villages say they must stay home and are being checked by police and health officers daily after more than 80 Covid-19 cases were found in two days and the district ordered all businesses to close.
Casino workers who were placed in quarantine at their Kandal province casinos a week ago have tested positive for Covid-19 en masse, as local authorities defended the locations’ security as being completely sealed off by soldiers and guards.
Prime Minister Hun Sen asked all provinces to suspend wedding ceremonies following Covid-19 scares in several locations, while the government issued another sub-decree outlining penalties for violating health measures.
Hundreds of workers crowded outside Phnom Penh’s NagaWorld casino as many returned for their second Covid-19 tests following the discovery of several cases there, a workers’ boycott and the suspension of operations last week.
Prime Minister Hun Sen said about 300 military doctors would be mobilized and two more hotels turned into hospitals as the country deals with its worst Covid-19 outbreak to date, including the first official death recorded on Thursday.
Cambodia has confirmed its first death from Covid-19, a Health Ministry statement said on Thursday, with a spokesperson saying the man had been put on a ventilator for two days.
The “February 20” Covid-19 outbreak is fanning out in the provinces, with a village of 300 households in Kandal province locked down, schools closed in parts of Siem Reap and Prey Veng, and parties, weddings and other gatherings suspended in Kampong Speu.
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