Cambodia to cancel New Year celebrations

Devotees wear protective face masks as they make offerings to monks during a merit making ceremony in the Krang Angkrong village outside Phnom Penh, Cambodia,on March 8, 2020. The ceremony was held in advance of Cambodian New Year's celebration which falls on April 13 through 16 this year. - AP

PHNOM PENH (Xinhua): Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Tuesday (April 7) declared the cancellation of traditional New Year celebrations, scheduled on April 13-16, in order to curb the spread of Covid-19.

"I decided to suspend the celebrations of the Khmer New Year, and state and private institutions are required to work normally on the occasion," he said during a press conference on the latest situation on Covid-19 in Cambodia.

"The government will give them five days off later when the Covid-19 is over."

Hun Sen said the move aimed at preventing mass gatherings and travels to home provinces or tourism sites on that occasion.

Meanwhile, the prime minister reiterated that the country will not shut down markets, restaurants, cafes, and garment factories.

He said the country will increase the stock piles of face masks to 10 million pieces, protective suites for health officers to 5,000 pieces and handwashing alcohol to at least one million litres.

He added that the kingdom also decided to ban fish exports to ensure adequate domestic supply.

Cambodia has so far recorded a total of 115 confirmed cases of Covid-19, with 58 patients cured, according to a Health Ministry statement on Tuesday. - Xinhua