Cambodia sees COVID-19 records as government warns of stricter curbs

[geovalin]

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) – Cambodia on Wednesday reported record daily rises in coronavirus deaths and cases, reaching what its government called the “red line” in its biggest outbreak so far. The Southeast Asian nation reported 27 deaths from COVID-19 and 1,130 cases on Wednesday.

 

Cambodia successfully contained its outbreaks throughout last year and had among the world’s smallest caseloads, but it has been battling to control the spread since its detection of a highly transmissible variant late in February. “We are now at the red line for COVID-19 virus transmission in the country. Everyone must act responsibly together in order to suppress virus transmission now,” Or Vandine, secretary of state and health ministry spokeswoman said in a tweet.

 

“We do not want to pass the red line which will require lockdown again,” she said. The new record numbers took the overall cases to 50,385 and deaths total to 602. Cambodia has made progress with its coronavirus immunisation programme, with doses administered to 4.1 million of the 10 million people targeted for inoculation.

(Reporting by Prak Chan Thul; Editing by Martin Petty)