Authorities Seeking Contacts of Women in Svay Rieng Province due to COVID-19 Concerns
Authorities have found 25 people who may have had direct or indirect contact with two Vietnamese women who tested positive COVID-19 earlier today. Photo: Bavet International Border Facebook.
- Mao Sopha and Phoung Vantha
- March 3, 2021 11:31 AM
After two Vietnamese women were found to have contracted COVID-19 this morning, Svay Rieng authorities have tracked down people who came into contact with the pair, but are missing one man.
PHNOM PENH--Keo Ratha, director of Svay Rieng Provincial Health Department, said on March 3 that authorities have found 25 people who may have had direct or indirect contact with two Vietnamese women who tested positive COVID-19 earlier today.
According to Ratha, all 25 people are now quarantining after authorities took samples for COVID-19 testing.
The two Vietnamese women—one aged 27, the other 28—had taken a Highlander taxi from Phnom Penh to Bavet City on Feb. 27 with the intention of returning to Vietnam via the land border.
However, immigration officials would not allow them to cross, reportedly due to insufficient legal documentation, although Ratha did not explain whether the two women are ethnically Vietnamese or Vietnamese citizens.
Instead of crossing the border, the authorities took the two women to Heng Heng Sereyroth Hotel in Bavet City.
After the Ministry of Health found that the two women had contracted COVID-19, provincial health authorities began tracking down those who may have had contact with the pair.
They identified 25 people, including their taxi driver, some moto-taxi drivers along with hotel staff, shopkeepers who operate outside the hotel and police officers. All 25 are awaiting their first COVID-19 test results.
Ratha said that the authorities are still seeking one moto-taxi driver as they have not been able to reach him yet.
The Svay Rieng provincial administration has called on others who think they may have come into contact with the women to come forward and be tested for COVID-19.
Deputy Governor of Svay Rieng Province Touch Poliva said that two women took a private taxi, the driver of which then took three people to Sihanoukville, but authorities have been able to locate all three who are now quarantining and awaiting test results.
