Cambodians complain of lockdown hunger as outbreak takes toll on poor

Oum Sreykhouch stands with her neighbours behind a lockdown barrier to ask for food donations after their village has been closed for more than two weeks inside a red zone with strict lockdown measures during the latest outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, April 30, 2021. REUTERS/Cindy Liu

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Residents in Cambodia's capital gathered on Friday to demand food from the government, outraged at what they called inadequate aid distribution during a tough COVID-19 lockdown that bars people from leaving their homes.

Authorities put Phnom Penh and a nearby town under a hard lockdown on April 19 to quell a surge in coronavirus infections that has seen Cambodia's case total balloon from about 500 to 12,641 since late February, including all 91 of its deaths.