The Ministry of Health has requested that municipal and provincial governors assign police forces to guard quarantine centres to ensure the strict implementation of the 14-day quarantine rule for travellers entering Cambodia.
A ministry letter dated August 28 said due to the government’s strong commitment, Cambodia has managed to contain Convid-19 infections and prevent even a single case of community transmission from occurring.
The ministry stated that doctors, response teams, officials and staff from all relevant institutions throughout the country had attentively made the effort to monitor Cambodians and foreigners required to be kept in quarantine after they entered the country.
The letter read: “To ensure the handling of [Cambodian] citizens and foreigners who are being kept in a 14-day quarantine at Quarantine Centres Levels 1 and 2 (QC1-2) and at buildings mandated by an inter-sector health team and relevant authorities, all municipal and provincial governors should assign police forces to guard and watch activities outside the centres regularly.”
The ministry added that relatives could only speak to those in quarantine by phone. Those who run away from centres will face the law and be fined between 200,000 riel ($50) and one million riel ($250).
Ministry spokeswoman Or Vandine could not be reached for comment on Sunday.
Previously, some plane passengers who flew into Cambodia with Covid-19 escaped their quarantine centres. In July, a Cambodian-American woman fled a hotel in Phnom Penh for Kampong Cham province. In August, two Cambodians from Malaysia left their quarantine centre to return to their homes. Two Vietnamese people left their quarantine centre in Prey Veng province for Kampong Chhnang province while they were waiting for their first test result.
Among the escapees, the Cambodian-American woman was fined one million riel and the two migrant workers from Malaysia were kept in another 14-day quarantine.
Prey Veng provincial deputy governor Chan Tha told The Post on Sunday that Hun Sen Kampong Liev High School in Prey Veng town was being used as the province’s quarantine centre.
The centre currently holds 9,000 migrant Cambodian workers who entered the country by plane or over land via Vietnam or Thailand. Some workers who did not travel with Covid-19 positive people were allowed to self-quarantine at their homes.
Tha said four to six officers were put on standby to take peoples’ temperatures and serve food. Six more police officers and relevant officials were also put on standby at the centre.
“We don’t neglect [the situation] and currently we still control [it] seriously. Because we don’t keep them in quarantine like detention, some can still find ways to leave. If they want to flee, they do so at around 11pm or 12pm. To contain the pandemic, we also need commitment from them,” he said.
Since August 15, Cambodia has not recorded any new cases of Covid-19. Of the total 273 cases recorded since January, 265 have recovered and been discharged from hospitals.
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