2 Cambodians returning from U.S., France test positive for Omicron variant

[geovalin]

PHNOM PENH, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia confirmed two more cases of the Omicron COVID-19 variant, bringing the total number of such cases in the southeast Asian nation to four, the Ministry of Health (MoH) said in a statement Saturday midnight.

One patient is a 47-year-old Cambodian woman arriving in the kingdom on Thursday from the United States of America, with a connecting flight in South Korea, and the other is a 33-year-old Cambodian woman taking a flight from France passing through Singapore before arriving in Cambodia on Friday.

"Upon landing at the Phnom Penh International Airport, the two women were given a rapid test which indicated that they were positive for COVID-19, and their samples were then sent to the Pasteur Institute in Cambodia for further testing," the statement said.

"The results released by the Pasteur Institute in Cambodia on Dec. 18 showed that the two women were positive for the Omicron COVID-19 variant."

The patients are currently being treated at a COVID-19 treatment facility in Phnom Penh.

The country reported the first case of the Omicron variant on Dec. 14 on a pregnant Cambodian woman returning from Ghana, and the second case on Dec. 17 on an Iranian male tourist traveling to the kingdom from Kenya.

The Omicron variant was first reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) from South Africa on Nov. 24, 2021 and it was classified a "variant of concern" by the WHO.

http://www.china.org.cn/world/Off_the_Wire/2021-12/19/content_77940078.htm