A man rides a bicycle past the Chak Angre Health Centre that is used as one of the quarantine centres in Phnom Penh. Hean Rangsey
Phnom Penh municipal governor Khuong Sreng said the city and the Ministry of Health are working together to build a primary quarantine centre in northern Prek Pnov district. The centre will have four buildings and a capacity for 800 to 900 people.
Sreng told The Post on Monday the decision was made because schools in the capital are being returned to the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport.
“Schools will reopen soon. We can no longer use them as quarantine centres,” he said.
Phnom Penh Municipal Council chairman Pa Socheatvong said some hotels are also not happy with the authorities using their properties.
Citing health ministry secretary of state York Sambath, Fresh News reported that there will also be doctors to stand by in case patients are not well. The four buildings are expected to be completed soon.
Passengers from overseas were allowed to travel to the Kingdom from May 20. Since then, more than 40,000 passengers have been quarantined and 146 were confirmed Covid-19 positive.
The passengers were either sent to the four schools in Phnom Penh, the quarantine centre at the Air Force base, or hotels, Sambath said.
Neither health minister Mam Bun Heng nor Sambath could be reached for further comment about the new centre on Tuesday.
Director of Cambodia Communicable Disease Control Department Ly Sovann declined to comment.
Meanwhile, the health ministry on Monday released an announcement advising citizens to increase cautiousness during the upcoming Pchum Ben festival.
In a statement, the ministry also instructed the authorities and pagoda committees to ensure people and monks implement safety measures to protect themselves.
All pagodas must have hand-washing stations, and body temperature measurements should be taken at the entrance and exit of pagodas, the announcement said.
People who prepare food for monks must keep a distance of 1m. Each monk and nun has to wear a mask.
Authorities must immediately report cases of group fever and influenza and deploy forces to monitor the strict implementation of protective measures.
The announcement came as Cambodia recorded a new case of Covid-19 on Sunday, the first since August 15. The health ministry said the 30-year-old Frenchman arrived from France on a flight through Taiwan.
The latest case brings the Kingdom’s Covid-19 tally to 274. Of the number, 266 patients have been discharged from hospitals.
