A view of a closed market during a 14-day closing period, implemented due to an increasing number of cases of coronavirus (COVID-19), in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 17 April 2021. REUTERS / Cindy Liu / File Photo
Cambodia on Sunday began erecting thousands of hospital beds in two houses for wedding parties to cope with the influx of COVID-19 patients in a country that until recently was largely able to contain infections.
Cambodia also reported a daily record of 618 new cases of coronavirus on Sunday, the health ministry said it had an increase in infections following an outbreak that was only noticed in late February.
The new numbers totaled 6,389. Cambodia until recently had one of the world’s lowest infections. 43 deaths have been reported in the past two months.
“The Ministry of Health has decided to use the Sen Sok Premiere Center to prepare for the Covid-19 treatment center that can accommodate more than 1,500 Covid-19 patients,” Cambodia National Television said on Sunday with reference to a health official.
Or Vandine, foreign minister and health ministry spokeswoman, said she was in a meeting and had no immediate comment on a Reuters question. Health Minister Mam Bunheng could not be reached for comment.
Images in local media showed Mam Bunheng visiting one of the wedding venues Vimean Piphob Thmey Sensok when police set up hospital beds. A Reuters photographer was denied entry and said he should return next week.
Earlier this week, the government also turned another wedding venue Koh Pich Convention & Exhibition Center into a field hospital with about 1,800 beds.
Phnom Penh and a satellite district of the capital closed on Thursday in an effort to curb the spread of infections.
Under the lock, most people are forbidden to leave the house for two weeks, except to go to work, buy food or for medical treatment.
Our standards: the principles of the Thomson Reuters Trust.