Health

Cambodia extends capital’s confinement 1 week to stop Covid-19

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Apr 28 (EFE).- Cambodia extended the confinement in its capital Phnom Penh and a neighboring city for seven more days from Wednesday after two weeks in which it hasn’t contained the Covid-19 epidemic, with more than 11,000 infections in the country.

According to Health Ministry data, Cambodia registered 508 new cases Tuesday, bringing the total to 11,063 since the start of the pandemic, while the death toll rose to 82 after registering its first death from Covid-19 in March.

The Government began tightening measures on Feb. 20, closing schools, cinemas, bars and other entertainment venues in the capital, but given difficulties containing the virus, especially the so-called British variant, it has taken additional measures.

The difficulties to control the virus in Cambodia coincide with those of some Southeast Asian countries, which managed to successfully stop the pandemic in the first months and suffered a rebound since early 2021.

In this new confinement of the Cambodian capital, restrictions will vary depending on the level of incidence of the coronavirus in each part of the city, with strict closures in the most affected areas, in which residents will only be able to leave home to go to the work, buy food and receive medical treatment.

The so-called red zones — the most affected — in the capital will have priority over vaccines, with the aim in the coming weeks of inoculating 1 million people with the AstrsaZeneca and Sinopharm vaccines.

According to the Health Ministry, the outbreak spread after a foreign national escaped from the hotel where he was serving mandatory quarantine and went to a bar in early February. EFE

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