More than 600 people at the drug rehabilitation and treatment centre in Banteay Meanchey province have tested positive for Covid-19. UM REATREY'S FACEBOOK
More than 600 people at the drug rehabilitation and treatment centre in Banteay Meanchey province have tested positive for Covid-19, including at least 20 cases of the highly transmissible Delta variant.
Banteay Meanchey provincial information department director Sek Sokhom told The Post on August 19 that 601 people out of 660 had tested positive for Covid-19 at Phnom Bak New Life rehabilitation centre located in Sisophon town.
According to Sokhom, more than 20 of them were positive for the Delta variant and were moved to a separate hospital for treatment on August 18.
“This number is a preliminary finding by using the rapid tests, but we are still waiting to see the results again from more accurate PCR tests. The province will make a formal announcement today because the rapid tests cannot be viewed as confirmed cases yet,” he said.
Banteay Meanchey reported a total of 689 Covid-19 cases on August 18, with the cases outside of the rehab centre found among returning migrant workers and some locals.
According to Sokhom, the rapid tests were carried out at the centre after some of the patients who were there to address substance abuse problems and had arrived in apparently good health began displaying cold-like symptoms, leading Banteay Meanchey provincial governor Um Reatrey to quickly intervene.
“After testing them, more than 20 youths were found to be infected with the Delta variant. Authorities took them to the Covid-19 treatment centres for mild cases in the province where up to 3,000 patients can be accommodated,” Sokhom said.
As of August 19 there is no known source of the outbreak, but director of the provincial department of social affairs, veterans and youth rehabilitation, Khun Vuthy, said the disease could have passed from any number of sources because it isn’t a sealed facility and workers and officials who have business there come and go daily.
Khun Vuthy said that those who tested negative were separated into different rooms at the centre for their own safety while the team continues to monitor their health.
According to Sokhom, Banteay Meanchey has 15 Covid-19 treatment centres established for mild cases, but he believes that the spread of Covid-19 in communities in the province was now under control thanks to strict measures put in place by the provincial authorities.
However, the province remains in a precarious position as Cambodian migrant workers in Thailand are now returning en masse after the borders were reopened on August 13.
He said in just the seven days after the reopening between 3,000 and 4,000 migrant workers had returned to Cambodia via the Banteay Meanchey border crossings.
“If they arrive and test positive for Covid-19, we put them in treatment in the province. For those who do not have Covid-19, they will do one-week of quarantine and then we send them to complete quarantine in their home town,” Sokhom said.
On August 19, World Health Organisation representative to Cambodia Li Alian expressed her concerns about the spread of the Delta variant.
“At this time, we must work together and move quickly as if we were racing against this highly contagious Delta variant. The best hope for us all is to move faster than this virus and get everyone vaccinated against Covid-19 without delay,” she said.
Cambodia has since March 31 recorded nearly 500 cases of the delta variant in Phnom Penh and across 21 provinces. The provinces of Kep, Takeo and Kratie have yet to detect any Delta variant cases, though they have all detected cases of the earlier Alpha variant.
