Cambodia on Monday (January 4) reopened schools, museums, entertainment venues, bars, and sports stadiums after a five-week lockdown aimed at curbing coronavirus infections across the country.
Students could be seen queuing up for temperature checks and hand washing at a local primary school in the capital of Phnom Penh on Monday morning.
Venues were technically allowed to open from January 1, but many only resumed on Monday due to the public holiday. Cambodia has enforced a total of three nationwide lockdowns during the pandemic, the most recent of which starting from November 28.
“According to the news I read on social media, there has been a coronavirus surge in Thailand and Cambodians who work in some provinces there were infected, so I am so worried that they could spread it here again,” said Ngeth Sokuntheary, a 27-year-old coffee vendor in Phnom Penh.
While a 43-year-old Tuk Tuk driver, Theun Ngor said he is worried, but he thinks Cambodians follwed the instructions by the government on wearing masks, ashing hands, and social distancing, so Cambodians have less risk of infection than Thailand or Vietnam.
As of Monday, Cambodia has recorded a total number of 382 COVID-19 infections and no deaths since the beginning of the pandemic, according to data released by the country’s ministry of health.
