Cambodia reopens fully after vaccine target is completed
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Nov 1 (EFE).- The Cambodian government Monday declared the reopening of the country after fully vaccinating more than 78 percent of the population, including children, during the months of lockdown measures.
Prime Minister Hun Sen announced the full reopening of the country’s economy at the launch of the vaccination campaign for children aged 5 years at the Peace Palace in Phnom Penh.
However, foreigners traveling to the country will only be able to enter from Nov.30 provided they are vaccinated and comply with the test and quarantine requirements.
A quarantine-free program will begin in some provinces at the end of November.
Siem Reap, which houses the Angkor temple complex, is expected to join the list in January.
Hun Sen said the government had begun reopening the country in a phased manner since March 2020 until its complete reopening on Monday, the same day that primary schools and kindergartens in the capital resumed their classwork.
The authorities have allowed students to return to schools after launching a vaccination campaign for almost 1.9 million children between 5 and 11 years in September.
The campaign has practically been completed, according to media reports.
The country, participating in the United Nations-backed COVAX vaccine-sharing program, has received about 30 million Covid-19 vaccine doses.
Out of these, 26.8 million are vaccines developed by Chinese pharmaceutical companies, Sinovac and Sinopharm, and the rest by AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson.
The government achieved its target of vaccinating 10 million people aged 18 years old and over against the COVID-19 pandemic on Oct.31.
“Cambodia has vaccinated 10.88 million people or over 100 percent of the target of 10 million people. This is a great achievement in the protection of our people’s health,” Hun Sen wrote on his official Facebook page over the weekend.
He said the vaccination would continue until everyone received
jab.
“Our next task is to finish the administration of the 2nd dose for those who have already received the first one and continue to provide vaccines for those who have not yet gotten any jab.”
Cambodia has recorded 118,552 Covid-19 cases, including 2,794 deaths, so far. EFE
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