Locked-down casinos in a Kandal province commune have seen more than 100 Covid-19 cases, including 64 new ones on Friday, but the commune chief said the danger is sealed off from the rest of the community.
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.
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.
Hundreds of people are in lockdown in a casino in Kandal province and a hotel complex in Sihanoukville as provincial authorities are preparing more treatment and quarantine centers amid the country’s largest Covid-19 outbreak to date.
About 200 NagaWorld employees demonstrated at the Labor Ministry on Tuesday after Phnom Penh’s sole licensed casino operator stopped offering workers suspension pay while casinos remain closed amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
The nation’s casino and rice industries are the latest sectors to face restrictions as part of the government’s response to Covid-19, leaving some casino workers worried about lost income and the rice sector largely unfazed.
More than 1,000 striking NagaWorld workers were poised to return to their jobs on Saturday after striking a deal to reinstate their union representative and receive higher wages.
More than 1,000 workers at the NagaWorld casino began a strike on Thursday demanding higher wages and the reinstatement of their union representative, and vowed to continue until their demands were met.
The government shutdown of online gambling businesses this month won’t leave workers in Preah Sihanouk without job options, according to officials, who said there are plenty of opportunities to work in the province’s special economic zones.
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