Cambodia Announces Third COVID-19 Case, British Tourist on River Cruise from Vietnam

[geovalin]

PHNOM PENH — 

Cambodian Health Minister Mam Bunheng said Tuesday evening that a British tourist on a river cruise from Vietnam had tested positive for the coronavirus (COVID-19), only the third positive case to be reported in the country.

 

Mam Bunheng said the British tourist was aboard a river cruise owned by Swiss cruise line Viking that started in the riverine town of May Tho near Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City, passing Phnom Penh and docked at Kampong Cham province, along the Mekong River. The cruise had 30 passengers onboard and 34 crew members, who have now been quarantined on the ship, Mam Bunheng added.

 

“The Health Ministry made an arrangement to transfer the British woman from the ship to a separate ward at Kampong Cham Provincial Hospital for treatment and medical observation,” said the minister.

 

“This is just another imported case as I can tell. There have been no case of domestic transmission found,” he added, urging the public to remain calm and take extra hygiene measures.

 

The British woman, 65, were traveling in a group of five people and arrived at Hanoi’s Noi Bai International Airport on March 2, aboard flight Vietnam Airline 54 from London. The Vietnamese authorities are tracking all passengers aboard that flight in questions as a growing number of passengers are being tested positive for the virus, the first several confirmed cases recorded in the nation’s capital.

 

After being tipped off by Vietnamese government and tour agencies, the Cambodian health officials suggested that the five British nationals be tested for the virus, when the ship arrived in Phnom Penh, on March 7.

 

At Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital, three agreed to provide samples, and two refused, according to health officials at the press conference. Subsequently, two British nationals managed to get tested as the ship reached Kampong Cham’s municipal town on Tuesday morning. One of them tested positive for COVID-19.

 

“We need a patient’s consent before we can do the test,” said Mam Bunheng, adding Cambodian officials had approached the two British nationals on the ship and they agreed to be tested.

 

“The test needs agreement with the patients,” said Mam Bunheng, adding Cambodian officials had approached the two British nationals on the ship and they agreed to be tested.

 

The ministry is currently in search for those who are in contact with the five British nationals including a translator who accompanied them at Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital in Phnom Penh.

 

The quarantining of passengers and crew on the Viking cruise is in stark contrast to Cambodia’s position last month, where it was initially ready to allow more than 2,000 passengers and crew aboard the MS Westerdam cruise ship to disembark in Preah Sihanouk’s Sihanoukville.

 

But, after a woman from the ship tested positive in Malaysia, the government had to test passengers and crew remaining on the ship before allowing them to disembark. The government said no one else tested positive for the virus.

 

When asked if there was any plan to scrutinize the entry of the ships and cruises entering the country, Health Minister Mam Bunheng said there would be “no restriction” as it is not the “government’s policies” to do that.

 

The announcement of the third confirmed case follows news of the first Cambodian to test positive last week for COVID-19. The Cambodian man worked with a Japanese national who also tested positive for the virus in Nagoya, Japan, hours after departing from Cambodia on March 3.

 

Cambodia’s first case was reported in late January when a Chinese national from Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the viral outbreak, tested positive while on holiday with his family. He was reportedly recovered and returned home in February.

 

More than 110 countries have now reported positive COVID-19 cases, infecting more than 116,015 people and resulting in more than 4,089 deaths worldwide as of Tuesday. Apart from China, where around 80,000 people were infected by the coronavirus, South Korea, Iran and Italy have reported the most positive cases.

 

https://www.voacambodia.com/a/cambodia-announces-third-covid19-case-british-tourist-on-river-cruise-from-vietnam/5322706.html

[Ventenio]

This needs to be filed under FICTION  

[Redline]

The trend of authoritarian Asian countries is to blame foreigners 

[emptypockets]

Apparently Hun Sen fell sick today. Seems the not worrying about corona virus and shaking hands with the cruise liners passenger might not have been the brightest thing to do.

Hopefully it develops into something very serious.

[mike787]

ridiculous