Thai authorities decided to close the Rong Kluea Market located near the Cambodia-Thailand border from January 10 until further notice as part of their efforts to contain a widespread outbreak of Covid-19 in Thailand.

Sa Kaeo provincial authorities in Thailand sent notice to the Banteay Meanchey provincial governor that they were implementing increased restrictions on their side of the border and they further requested that the Cambodian authorities follow suit.

“Cancel all measures that allow Cambodian people to exit and enter the Rong Kluea Market for the transportation of essential goods from January 10, 2021 onwards,” the notice said.

Cambodia’s Poipet town administration also issued a notice on January 6 mandating a complete halt to all Cambodian transportation of goods and other activities within Rong Kluea Market.

The notice said that Thailand was experiencing a second wave of widespread Covid-19 infections in many provinces - but especially provinces situated on the border - and because of this the Thai government would no longer allow any Cambodians to engage in activities at the Rong Kluea Market from January 10 onward.

“Traders who are staying in Thailand at the Rong Kluea Market, please kindly cooperate and follow the instructions of the Thai government to prevent the spread of Covid-19 further,” the notice said.

The Poipet town administration has decided to halt the issuance or acceptance of applications to export or import by vendors at Rong Kluea Market until further notice.

Banteay Meanchey provincial deputy governor, Ly Sary, told The Post that the exports and imports were banned because of widespread Covid-19 spread in Thailand and that the ban was intended to safeguard the health of the people of both nations.

“The health and lives of the people are more important than the export and import of goods in these circumstances. The economy is vital, but secondary in importance to saving lives. If everyone is dead there won’t be much demand for exports or imports anymore,” he said.

Poipet town deputy governor Touch Mony told The Post that Rong Kluea Market belonged to Thailand.

In the past, Thai authorities had allowed Cambodia to send 50 trucks carrying goods along with 100 people to Rong Kluea Market.

“Previously, we had permission for this allowance because the Covid-19 situation had subsided. But Covid-19 has become widespread there so they have the right to close [the market] and they informed us of this in the correct manner,” he said.

Touch Mony said that everyone who crossed the border was now required to quarantine even if they claimed that they hadn’t gone anywhere or entered the market.

Mony added that Thailand is suffering from a serious outbreak of the virus and if Cambodia doesn’t take preventive measures it will suffer the same fate.

“Traders are not as difficult to deal with as migrant workers who live from hand to mouth. But the workers can at least seek temporary work to do in [Cambodia] because there are still some job opportunities in our country,” he said.

On January 6, the leaders of Oddar Meanchey province met with the leaders of Thailand’s Surin province to discuss their ongoing work and to strengthen the bonds of friendship, solidarity and cooperation on both sides of the O’Smach and Chhorng Chorn international gates.

Dy Rado, deputy Banteay Meanchey governor, told The Post on January 7 that they had discussed cooperative efforts to prevent the cross-border spread of the Covid-19 as well as the facilitation of cross-border trade pursuant to the standard practices of both countries.

The discussion, he said, also touched on joint efforts to prevent illegal border crossing of Cambodians, especially those who cross into Thailand to log timber and engage in illegal smuggling.

“We have strict orders from our government that migrants who return to Cambodia must be tested for Covid-19. So we requested assistance from the Thailand border authorities to help prevent migrants from returning to Cambodia via illegal or unofficial routes. They must help us ensure that they only return through the official international border checkpoints so we can test and quarantine them,” he said.

According to Rado, from December 20, 2020 to January 7, 2021, more than 2,500 migrant workers have returned to Cambodia through the border crossing checkpoints in Banteay Meanchey.

Only 20-30 of those workers had been released from quarantine so far, Rado said.

On January 6, two Cambodia migrant workers tested positive for Covid-19.

One of them is a 26-year-old man from Tmha Koul district in Battambang who had returned from Thailand on January 2.

Another worker who had tested positive for the virus was a 25-year-old man living in Mongkol Borei district, Banteay Meanchey province. He had returned on January 4.

As of January 7, Cambodia had 385 confirmed cases of Covid-19; 362 of them had recovered and 23 were still undergoing treatment.