The government on Thursday issued a one-week ban on civilian travel in and out of Phnom Penh, and between districts outside the capital, effective at midnight and aimed at limiting the spread of Covid-19, according to an order from Prime Minister Hun Sen.
Prime Minister Hun Sen said garment workers who are suspended due to Covid-19 disruptions would receive an even smaller partial salary than he originally announced, while also postponing the Khmer New Year holiday and claiming that the “safest place” amid the pandemic was at work.
Cambodia’s anti-Covid-19 committee said on Thursday that the government had raised $10 million from private donors as well as ministers pledging to donate their salaries.
A widely circulated document purported to be a draft of the government’s state of emergency legislation would allow the government to restrict citizens’ movements, and punish them with up to 10 years in jail if they obstruct emergency measures and cause public disorder.
Prime Minister Hun Sen said a new law on declaring a state of emergency is coming soon as the country’s confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus climbed to 107 on Monday.
Amid the global Covid-19 outbreak, Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday said the government was considering declaring a state of emergency, raising concerns among some about potential civil rights restrictions.
The government has raised traffic fines by as much as five times the previous rates in an effort to reduce rising roadway injuries and deaths, but officials said new penalties would not be immediately imposed to give police time to adjust.
The nation’s Covid-19 total case count rose to 47 on Thursday, as the government announced that it will temporarily suspend travel between Cambodia and Vietnam for both nations’ citizens, effective late Friday.
The U.S. ambassador to Cambodia on Thursday raised concerns that prosecutors are introducing “fabricated conspiracy theories” about the U.S. into the ongoing trial of opposition leader Kem Sokha.
A Phnom Penh Municipal Court judge and prosecutor probed Kem Sokha on Wednesday about his political collaboration with CNRP co-founder Sam Rainsy, in light of what the court officials called Rainsy’s “violent stance.”
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