Health Ministry: 24 New COVID-19 Cases in Phnom Penh, 10 More in Sihanoukville
People wait to take the Covid-19 coronavirus test at the National Olympic stadium in Phnom Penh on February 23, 2021. (Photo: AFP)
- Phoung Vantha
- March 3, 2021 4:34 AM
Factory workers in Phnom Penh all test negative for COVID-19, but cases continue to climb in the capital and Sihanoukville as the first batch of AstraZaneca vaccines arrives from India.
PHNOM PENH--The Ministry of Health on March 3 said that authorities have found another 34 cases of COVID-19 related to the Feb. 20 community outbreak, bringing the number of cases connected to the outbreak up to 374.
Today’s announcement saw another 24 cases in Phnom Penh involving 16 Chinese nationals, six Cambodians and two Vietnamese nationals—22 of these patients are being treated at quarantine centers in Phnom Penh while the two Vietnamese women have been sent to Svay Rieng Provincial Referral Hospital.
Meanwhile in Sihanoukville, cases continue to rise as another 10 people—nine Cambodians and one Chinese national—have tested positive for COVID-19. All 10 were sent to Preah Sihanouk Provincial Referral Hospital.
As cases continue to rise, a further four patients have recovered—one Cambodian, two Indonesians and one Chinese woman—leaving Cambodia with 396 active cases out of a total 878 that have been identified since the pandemic began.
However, the Health Ministry reported that 33,211 people were vaccinated between Feb. 10 and March 2 on a voluntary basis. Those being vaccinated have received the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine, although 324,000 doses of the Indian-made AstraZaneca vaccine arrived in Cambodia on March 2 through the World Health Organisation’s COVAX facility.
Cambodia intends to acquire 1.1 million vaccine doses through the COVAX facility, according to the Ministry of Health.
Authorities yesterday were investigating a garment factory in Phnom Penh after a woman working there tested positive for COVID-19, prompting fears that the virus may have spread throughout the entire workforce.
Some 716 workers who worked in the same building as the 48-year-old woman were all tested for COVID-19, but according to the Cambodian Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), none of them were found to have contracted the virus as of 9 a.m. on March 3.
The CDC also noted that 502,555 COVID-19 tests have been conducted since the pandemic began, equivalent to 29,913 tests per 1 million people, but it is unclear how many people have been tested.
