Cambodian who returned from Malaysia has Covid-19

Cambodian passengers returned from Malaysia on Tuesday at the arrival hall of Cambodfia's international Airport on Tuesday (June 17). The Phnom Penh Post/Asian News Network

PHNOM PENH (Phnom Penh Post/ANN): One of the 204 Cambodian passengers who returned from Malaysia last week has been tested positive for Covid-19 (coronavirus), the Ministry of Health said on Sunday (June 21).

The 21-year-old from Koh Kong province is being treated at the Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital.

Ministry of Health spokesperson Or Vandine said the other 203 passengers who tested negative are being quarantined at Hun Sen Champuvorn High School in Phnom Penh and at quarantine centres in their respective home provinces. They are not allowed to self-quarantine at home.

“We are sending them to their respective quarantine centres according to their addresses, ” she said.

The Cambodian embassy in Malaysia confirmed that 115 of the 204 passengers on board the flight had been stranded there since April 7.

The latest case brings the national total of confirmed Covid-19 cases to 129, most of which are imported. The health ministry said of the 129 patients, 126 had recovered. Two of the three who remain hospitalised recently had returned from Indonesia.

While no deaths from Covid-19 has been reported domestically, a Cambodian UN peacekeeper in Mali lost his life to the disease.

The Ministry of National Defence said 10 Cambodian peacekeepers in Mali and six military trainees in Russia have also contracted the virus, all of whom have recovered.

The government has tried to stop person-to-person transmissions in the country with a focus on tightening measures against passengers arriving from abroad, the ministry said.

All passengers are required to be sent to waiting facilities upon their arrival. They must have their samples taken for testing before self-quarantine at home or at quarantine centres managed by the ministry.

Cambodia has cancelled the requirements that Cambodian citizens who hold foreign passports and Visa K have $50,000 in health insurance and pay a $3,000 deposit for testing, treatment and quarantine.

But they need to have certificates confirming they are free of Covid-19 dated no later than 72 hours before departure.

Foreigners, Vandine said, are required to pay other fees for virus-related services. - Phnom Penh Post/Asian News Network