No city lockdown again despite rising Omicron cases: Cambodian PM

[geovalin]

PHNOM PENH, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen said Tuesday that there will be no lockdown in capital Phnom Penh or other locations again despite a daily surge in new COVID-19 cases.

 

The kingdom logged 598 new cases on Tuesday, all confirmed to be the Omicron variant of COVID-19, and two new deaths, the health ministry said

 

The country has recorded 127,575 COVID-19 cases, with 121,125 recoveries and 3,022 deaths, it added.

"As the prime minister who has full authority to order the closure or opening, I will not implement any lockdown measures. Please make sure there is no chaos or panic buying at shops," he said in a speech during a groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of a wastewater treatment plant on the southwestern outskirts of Phnom Penh.

 

"We have no need to lock down the city or any locations because our people have been fully vaccinated, so infections do not lead to disease severity," he said.

 

The prime minister said he decided to impose a lockdown in Phnom Penh and its adjacent Ta Khmau city in April 2021 because, at that time, most of the population had not been vaccinated.

 

But now, the southeast Asian nation has achieved high vaccination rates and strong COVID-19 herd immunity, he said, adding that the kingdom has fully reopened since mid-November last year.

 

Cambodia has administered two required doses of COVID-19 vaccines to 13.8 million people, or 86.3 percent of its 16 million population, the health ministry said on Tuesday.

Most of the vaccines used in the country's inoculation drive are China's Sinovac and Sinopharm. ■

 

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