More Cases of COVID-19 Involving Migrant Workers Returning from Thailand Are Identified
The Ministry of Health on Jan. 7 reported that two new cases of COVID-19 involving Cambodian migrant workers returning from Thailand have been identified. Photo from Battambang Provincial Health Department.
- Phoung Vantha
- January 7, 2021 5:04 AM
This brings to 20 the number of Cambodians who contracted the disease in that country
PHNOM PENH-- The Ministry of Health on Jan. 7 reported that two new cases of COVID-19 involving Cambodian migrant workers returning from Thailand have been identified.
The patients consist of a 26-year-old Cambodian man from Battambang Province who had come back from Thailand on Jan. 2, and a 25-year-old man from Banteay Meanchey Province who returned to Cambodia on Jan. 4, the ministry said in a press release.
So far, 20 Cambodian migrant workers have contracted the coronavirus due to the COVID-19 outbreak in Samut Sakhon Province in Thailand, according to the ministry.
These latest infections have brought the number of COVID-19 cases in Cambodia to 385 with 362 patients having recovered and 23 currently hospitalized. No death has been attributed to the coronavirus—the death of a 52-year-old man at a quarantine center Tboung Khmum Province on Jan. 2 was due to a heart attack, the Cambodian health authorities said.
According to the Thai Department of Disease Control, as many as 108 Cambodian migrant workers have contracted COVID-19 in Thailand. The department did not specify whether or where they currently are hospitalized.
Keo Vanthan, spokesman for the General Immigration Department, said during an interview on Jan. 7 that between Dec. 20 and Jan. 6, a total of 4,415 Cambodians returned from Thailand because of the coronavirus outbreak in Samut Sakhon Province.
Vanthan also noted that 240 Cambodians—82 of them being women—were handed over by Thailand to the Cambodian authorities after attempting to illegally cross the Thai border.
