Cambodia allows museums, cinemas, arts performing venues in capital to reopen

PHNOM PENH, Oct 29 (Xinhua): Cambodia on Thursday night (Oct 28) has decided to allow all museums, cinemas and arts performing facilities in capital Phnom Penh to reopen after a long hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

"The Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts (MCFA) decided to allow all museums, cinemas and arts performing venues in Phnom Penh to reopen from October 30, 2021 onwards, and the directors or owners must strictly comply with the standard operating procedure (SOP) issued by the MCFA and the Ministry of Health," said a MCFA's statement.

Under the SOP, spectators must show a Covid-19 vaccination card, wear a face mask properly and have their body temperatures screened and hands sanitized at the entrance, and to keep social distancing, cinema halls and arts performing venues are permitted to accommodate only 50 percent of the seating capacity.

According to the statement, the move came after most of the population in the Southeast Asian nation had been vaccinated against COVID-19 and the number of new infections had seen a dramatic decline.

The kingdom launched a Covid-19 vaccination drive in February, with China being the main vaccine supplier.

As of Oct 27, the country had administered at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccines to 13.68 million people, or 85.5 percent of its 16-million population, the Ministry of Health said.

Of them, 13 million, or 81.4 percent, had been fully inoculated with both required shots, and 1.76 million, or 11 percent, had taken a booster dose, it added.

Cambodia reported 109 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday, lifting the national caseload to 118,220, the Ministry of Health said, adding that eight new fatalities were recorded, taking the overall death toll to 2,766. - Xinhua