COVID-19 pandemic in Cambodia
[6][7][8] Contact tracing, quarantining, screening of arrivals[9][10][11] and public messaging related to hygiene, social distancing and mask wearing[12] have been central to the containment strategy.
[16][17] Starting in March as the pandemic spread globally, Cambodia established its national response committee,[6] introduced restrictions on arrival,[18] closed education institutions, garment factories and entertainment venues,[19][20][21] and major public holidays were cancelled.
[24] In November, some restrictions were reinstated in Phnom Penh and thousands of Cambodian government employees and contacts went into quarantine following a one day-visit by Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, who tested positive after arriving in Bangkok.
[25][10] On 29 November, the first community transmission cluster was detected in Phnom Penh,[26] with the virus suspected to have entered the country sometime during October and circulated undetected.
[31] As Lineage B.1.1.7 spread in the capital's markets and garment factories, a curfew was later strengthened to the country's first lockdown across the entirety of Phnom Penh and Takhmau in April 2021 as the WHO warned Cambodia's healthcare system was at risk of becoming overwhelmed.
[39][7][40] The pandemic has had a severe impact on the economy, notably the tourism[41][42] and garment[19][43] sectors, with projections of a lasting increase in poverty, debt and unemployment.
[44][45][46] On 12 January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that a novel coronavirus was the cause of a respiratory illness in a cluster of people in Wuhan City, Hubei province, China, which was reported to the WHO on 31 December 2019.
[52][53][54] On 10 February, after two weeks of being treated and kept under observation, he had fully recovered, Health Ministry stated on account of testing negative for the third time by Pasteur Institute of Cambodia.
The family were finally discharged and flew back to their home country on the next day as of the 80 Chinese nationals who arrived in Sihanoukville on the same flight as him, most have since returned to China, although the city of Wuhan remains under quarantine.
[citation needed] A comedian based in Oregon who was hired to perform on the Westerdam was said to have flouted the quarantine by sneaking a flight back to Seattle.
[68] For the time being, another two visitors to Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (A British and his friend, a Canadian woman who worked in China) were suspected to have the symptoms and admitted to the said hospital.
[69][70] In 14 March, MOEYS published an article, declaring that they would have to shut down all educational institutes in Phnom Penh until further notice, so did an NGO of where the Belgian man had been working at.
[21] According to a Ministry of Health press release, Cambodia announced a ban on all entries from Italy, Germany, Spain, France and the United States, thereby all visas would be undeniably suspended.
It included a 4-month-old child of the French patient, a Cambodian from France, and two Khmer Muslims, 35 and 39, who attended the Tablighi Jamaat mosque superspreader event near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 29 February.
[87] On 20 March, the Ministry of Health announced an additional 4 confirmed cases: a Malaysian, and three Cambodians, one of whom was infected from an attendee from Malaysia and had no recent travel record overseas.
[103][104][105] Eleven patients from Koh Kong, Banteay Meanchey, Phnom Penh, Kampong Chhnang, Battambang and Siem Reap was reported to have recovered from the disease.
[124] An act was issued on 8 April to prohibit travels across provinces and between districts outside the capital with exceptions for goods transporters, armed forces and civil servants starting midnight on the 10th and would last a week until 16th.
[129] The annual Bon Om Touk (Water Festival) race in Phnom Penh was cancelled in October to minimise the risk of large gatherings.
[130] On 3 November, foreign minister of Hungary Péter Szijjártó visited Cambodia, holding meetings with high ranking government officials and signing three agreements.
Szijjártó tested positive upon his return to Bangkok the following day, prompting staff from 13 government institutions, including Prime Minister Hun Sen, to go into quarantine.
[10] Schools, museums, entertainment venues, cinemas, beer gardens and gyms in Phnom Penh and Kandal were closed for two weeks[131][132] and the public were advised to avoid large gatherings such as weddings, group dinners and concerts.
[146] A large-scale outbreak detected in Phnom Penh in 20 February took place when two out of four Chinese nationals who breached quarantine at the Sokha Hotel a few days prior tested positive.
[28][148] An investigation by Al Jazeera English indicated after the quarantined persons had bribed security guards to be released, Phnom Penh's casino sector and human trafficking may have contributed to the outbreak.
[173] On 18 July, Cambodia suspended border crossing with Vietnam for one month with exceptions made only for diplomats, civil servants, some students and patients in need of medical treatment.
[185] To expedite the reopening effort and promote tourism recovery, Hun Sen also ordered a removal of quarantine requirement for fully vaccinated travelers entering Cambodia by land, air or water, whether Cambodians or foreigners starting from 15 November.
UNICEF stressed that adjusting to online learning disadvantages rural poor children in Cambodia, and the disruptions to education during the pandemic could have a long-lasting impact.
[165][166] The COVID-19 pandemic in Cambodia revived the traditional ting mong, a Khmer scarecrow hung on the outer walls of private houses or at the entry of the villages as an apotropaic popular belief.
The announcement was made following a meeting between Australian ambassador to Cambodia, Pablo Kang and the Cambodian Minister of Economy and Finance, Aun Pornmoniroth in Phnom Penh on 23 December.
[38] In April 2021, Phnom Penh police were criticised by Cambodian human rights groups and Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith for implementing caning to punish violators of the city's lockdown restrictions.
[199]: 30 Writing in 2024, academic Enze Han states that Cambodia's success during the pandemic significantly bolstered the perceived legitimacy and effectiveness of the Hun Sen government in the view of the Cambodian public.
