The Ministry of Health announced that for almost 10 consecutive days, Cambodia had not detected any new cases of Covid-19, while also noting that the ASEAN Summit and related meetings hosted by the Kingdom have concluded smoothly with precautionary measures in place throughout the events.

Citing an example, officials said ASEAN leaders did not join hands while taking group photos as they had symbolically at all previous summits.

Kung Phoak, secretary of state at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and spokesperson of the summit, told a November 11 press briefing that the ASEAN leaders instead raised their right hands for group photos as a precaution against Covid-19 infection.

“Because of the risk of Covid-19, we have to avoid close contact with each other as much as possible, so we chose this option,” he said.

Phoak added that although Cambodia has no new cases of Covid-19, the health and wellbeing of Cambodia’s visitors is paramount.

“The health of our guests is important. We want them to return from the meetings Covid-19 free,” he said.

As of November 13, Cambodia had recorded a total of 137,996 Covid-19 cases, with 134,940 recoveries and 3,056 deaths.

Prime Minister Hun Sen has continued to call on people to strengthen protective measures to keep their family and community safe, even if no cases were being reported.

"We may forget Covid, but Covid does not forget us. It is never far from us, and if we let our guard down, we could easily get infected,” he said.