After more than a week of no new Covid-19 cases reported in the country, the World Health Organization’s representative said the Health Ministry had been advised to increase testing and contact tracing while Cambodia was still in an early stage of the global pandemic.
The Labor Ministry on Friday ordered workers who traveled to the provinces during the Khmer New Year holiday this week to isolate themselves for 14 days before returning to work in order to prevent the spread of Covid-19 in the labor force.
While most of Cambodia’s Covid-19 infections have been linked to foreign travel, the Health Ministry and World Health Organization have warned that the country could face community transmission and localized outbreaks, especially if authorities are not able to trace the virus’s spread.
The National Assembly on Friday passed a sweeping state of emergency draft law, which rights advocates say is ripe for abuse, as the number of Covid-19 cases in the country has slowly, but steadily risen since last month.
The government on Friday eased pandemic-related restrictions on travel, which went into effect overnight Thursday, announcing that movement within provinces and between Phnom Penh and neighboring Kandal would be allowed.
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.
The government said it will not release any of the nation’s nearly 39,000 prisoners on bail amid the Covid-19 pandemic, despite concerns about possible outbreaks in prisons raised by human rights groups, the U.N. and prisoners’ families.
Human rights groups’ message has been clear: We don’t just need to defend rights in spite of the ongoing public health crisis. In fact, these rights are essential to people’s efforts to tackle and survive the pandemic, writes Annie Game.
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.
While the government has not reported a new Covid-19 case in three days, the global pandemic promises to alter traditional Khmer New Year festivities next week, with religious and most public gatherings banned and police tasked with preventing large assemblies of people.
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