PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA (AP) – Cambodia on Thursday confirmed its first death to COVID-19 since the pandemic began more than a year ago, as it battles a new local outbreak that has infected hundreds of people.
The 50-year-old man was confirmed last month to be infected while working as a manager at a Chinese company in Sihanoukville on the coast and died at the Khmer Soviet friendship hospital on Thursday morning, the Ministry of Health said in a statement. said.
Cambodia has confirmed only 1,163 cases of coronavirus infection since the start of the pandemic, but it is a battle against a new local outbreak that has infected hundreds of people.
According to the Ministry of Health, the new outbreak was detected after a foreign resident broke a quarantine in a hotel and went to a nightclub in early February. It caused a series of infections and on February 20 the government announced a two-week closure of all public schools, cinemas, bars and entertainment venues in Phnom Penh.
The government has extended the closing services for schools, gyms, concert halls, museums and other entertainment venues in Phnom Penh, the nearby province of Kandal and the coastal province of Sihanoukville by another two weeks.
The Ministry of Health said on Thursday that 39 cases of local dispatch had been reported.
As the outbreak grows, a dilapidated luxury hotel in the capital has been transformed into a coronavirus hospital for 500 rooms, and the authorities are enforcing a new law that imposes criminal penalties for violating health rules.
The country began its vaccination campaign in February with 600,000 doses of the Chinese-made Sinopharm vaccine. It also received 324,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine donated and manufactured in India this month.