All schools in Phnom Penh and towns in Kandal province are being closed for two weeks, while KTVs, movie theaters and museums will be shuttered across the country till further notice, after a Cambodian man who worked directly with a visiting Hungarian foreign minister was found positive for Covid-19 on his second test on Saturday.
A Cambodian bodyguard who worked directly with a visiting Hungarian foreign minister last week tested positive for Covid-19 on his second test on Saturday, the Health Ministry announced.
Informal workers will be able to receive free medical care by signing up for the National Social Security Fund, the government said this week, though questions remained about how accessible the registration process was.
UPDATED 2 p.m. — Caution and skepticism persist despite health authorities reporting success in keeping Covid-19 numbers down, as government officials have ignored safety precautions, a foreign delegation was allowed to skip quarantine, and the country’s testing regime remains opaque.
Health authorities said on Thursday that 628 people had been tested for Covid-19 after coming in contact with a visiting Hungarian official who tested positive for the virus after leaving the country this week.
Over a dozen pages of court documents summoning former CNRP members, including several party leaders and ex-lawmakers, on charges of plotting and incitement were taped to an abandoned security guard booth at the banned party’s former headquarters in Phnom Penh on Tuesday.
Jailed unionist Rong Chhunn had “intent to incite social disorder” by releasing statements containing fabrications about the Cambodia-Vietnam border demarcation, the government told the U.N.’s human rights office in response to questions about his arrest.
The embattled tourism sector’s woes continued as foreign visitor numbers to Angkor Archaeological Park dipped again in October, while the Water Festival weekend failed to provide much of a boost for some regions and businesses.
Workers say debt and a lack of jobs in Cambodia are pushing them to consider crossing the closed border amid labor shortages in Thailand, despite the pandemic. Programs to get Cambodian workers back in Thailand are in the works, but concerns remain over conditions and safety.
A news publisher who was imprisoned over criticisms of Prime Minister Hun Sen in several social media posts pleaded guilty at his trial on Tuesday but said he was just trying to arouse interest and more “likes.”
Defense and government lawyers, and even the judge, exchanged fiery accusations over alleged prejudgement, criminal intentions, lack of evidence and use of a controversial ethnic slur in a tense first trial hearing against labor leader Rong Chhun on Friday.
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