RFA
A government plan to alleviate financial hardship by providing food and supplies at subsidized prices will do little to assist residents of Cambodia’s capital region in the midst of a coronavirus lockdown because they have no money to buy the goods, sources said Thursday, a week into the stay-at-home order.
Last week, the government implemented a 14-day closure of all non-essential businesses in the capital Phnom Penh and neighboring Takhmao in Kandal province from April 15-28 and requiring the two cities’ combined 2.3 million residents to adhere to a strict curfew or, in certain “red zones,” stay in their homes except in the case of an emergency.
RFA
Residents of Phnom Penh rushed to stock up on food and other supplies on Thursday as word spread of a lockdown ordered by Prime Minister Hun Sen to combat the coronavirus pandemic in the capital and surrounding Kandal province, sources said.
News of the planned April 15-28 lockdown, which leaked before an official announcement could be made, quickly drove up the prices of commodities as crowds filled local markets beginning Wednesday night, violating regulations restricting social contacts.
In a statement Thursday, Hun Sen urged Cambodian citizens not to panic, saying no one will go short of food in areas affected by the lockdown order.
AFP
Cambodia’s Ministry of Health on Thursday confirmed the country’s first COVID-19-related death, one year to the day that the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coronavirus that causes the disease a global pandemic.
The patient, 50, was a driver for a Chinese company chief who lived in Sihanoukville city, and who also had tested positive for COVID-19, according to a ministry statement. The driver died at a Phnom Penh hospital, the statement said, without providing further details.
The ministry also announced Thursday that it had confirmed 39 new cases that were transmitted locally, bringing the total number of such cases to more than 600. There has been a total of more than 1,000 COVID-19 positive patients in Cambodia, around half of whom have recovered.