Cambodia is getting closer to reopening, with the lowest daily case total in six months.

[ASEAN NOW]

 

As Cambodia gets closer to reopening, the country's daily new case number has dropped to its lowest level since April 6th.

The official daily new COVID case count for today was 166, increasing the overall number of COVID cases to 117,201.

 

PM Hun Sen said 13 days ago, on the 8th of October, that Cambodia will be able to restart its economy across all sectors if the Covid-19 situation following Pchum Ben remains stable for at least 10 days, saying:

 

"If the situation does not improve in the next 10 to 15 days, I believe it is necessary to reopen the economy and society in all areas under the new normal paradigm," he said.

Cambodia now appears to be returning to a 'new normal,' as evidenced by the re-opening of the e-Visa scheme for tourists and investors, the relaxation of the quarantine period for incoming travellers, a new QR code system for checking vaccination status, and a general determination by the Royal Government to re-open the Kingdom for business as soon as it is safe to do so.

 

Cambodia seemed to have moved on from the dreadful 'February 20th' tragedy, in which the entire country was ground to a halt by the selfish actions of two individuals.

 

However, a note of caution must be sounded: the threat of COVID still hangs over Cambodia's head like the Sword of Damocles.

 

Today's revelations that illegal migrant workers are still sneaking across the border in Battambang despite restrictions must raise alarm bells, especially given the current uptick in instances in Thailand.

 

With 19,430 instances being imported, the total number of Community Cases is now 97,771.

 

Today, 31 imported cases were announced while the number of imported cases seemed to be dwindling.

 

Cambodia also revealed 12 more deaths, bringing the total number of COVID-19-related deaths in Cambodia to 2,693.

 

As active cases decreased, 270 recoveries were announced, bringing the total number of active COVID cases in Cambodia to 2,811.

 

This sharp decline in reported cases is linked to a new strategy of limited COVID-19 fast testing, which is the first step in moving the COVID-19 issue from pandemic to endemic status.

 

However, this new approach has significantly reduced the number of reported cases, and when combined with the current policy of not providing any provincial or 'Delta' numbers, it is now difficult to determine the exact extent of COVID in Cambodia.

 

There was certainly an upward tendency in The Kingdom, but the previous 20 days' results have completely reversed this upward trend, as shown in the graph below (please note that results may be up to 2 days behind):

 

Cambodians are betting on the Royal Government's immunization program, which has been dubbed the "Cambodian vaccination miracle" and is depicted in the graph below.

 

Cambodia not only has a considerably higher vaccination rate than Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam, but it has also surpassed practically every major country in the globe, including China, France, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Germany.

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