Phnom Penh (FN), Apr. 20 – About 15,000 workers in Phnom Penh have been quarantined for the purposes of isolate-test-treat-trace for Covid-19 after they returned from their homelands celebrating Khmer New Year last week.

At a press conference on the Update of Covid-19 in Cambodia on Monday morning, Minister of Health Mam Bunheng said the Ministry of Health, in collaboration with the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training and local authorities, have placed the 15,000 workers in a 14-day quarantine to avoid the spread of Covid-19 in the community.

During Khmer New Year, the Royal Government of Cambodia issued an announcement to all the government officials and private employees to continue working without taking holiday breaks in order to curb the outbreak of Covid-19.

Heng Sour, spokesperson of the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training, said that about 95 percent of workers have followed the government’s orders, however at least five percent had travelled to their homelands before the government issued travel restrictions on 9 April 2020.

In response to the above concern, the Royal Government of Cambodia, through the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training, has decided to impose the 14-day quarantines against the 15,000 workers before they could go back to work.

Authorities in Phnom Penh set up school buildings to isolate, test, treat, and trace those workers.

As of 2020 April 2020, the Kingdom has confirmed 122 cases in total. At least 107 or 87.7 percent have recovered, according to the Ministry of Health's press release.
=FRESH NEWS