COVID-19 PANDEMIC: Cambodia’s last virus victim discharged
The last COVID-19 patient, a 36-year-old woman from Banteay Meanchey, is discharged from the capital’s Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital on Saturday. Her recovery leaves the country with zero coronavirus cases. Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital
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‘The 2019 Plague” Day 171’
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Prime Minister Hun Sen on Friday called for the public’s continued prudence and vigilance to prevent a second wave of coronavirus outbreak in the Kingdom. The call comes after the last of all 122 COVID-19 patients diagnosed in the Kingdom has recovered from the deadly virus on Saturday, leaving the country with zero active COVID-19 cases.
During a Cabinet meeting on Friday, Mr Hun Sen noted the public has let their guard down, with many living as they had been before the pandemic began when they should be more vigilant than ever.
“Though we haven’t had a new case in more than a month… this doesn’t mean that the COVID-19 threat is over and we can grow complacent and drop all precautionary measures,” said the premier, adding the nationwide re-opening of schools in the Kingdom need not be rushed.
“I ask all Cambodians living overseas to please stay put as Cambodia needs to prevent the imported transmission of the virus,” he added.
“I would like to praise all institutions, as well as local authorities, for their successful fight against COVID-19. Nevertheless, I appeal to them not to disregard this issue even though no new infection has been found in more than a month. What we need to do now is prevent a new wave of an outbreak in the Kingdom,” said Mr Hun Sen.
In a statement issued Saturday, the Ministry of Health said the last COVID-19 patient had been successfully treated and discharged from the Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital. The patient is a 36-year-old woman from Banteay Meanchey province who tested positive for the virus on March 28. She was transferred to the capital’s Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital to receive further treatment on May 8.
Speaking to the media on Saturday, the patient expressed her gratitude to the government and health officials who monitored her recovery attentively. “Typically, anyone infected with the virus will be scared and apprehensive but I was confident that I would recover as the government has treated over a hundred other people who were diagnosed with the disease,” she said.
Ministry of Health spokeswoman Or Vandine yesterday echoed the prime minister’s call for continued vigilance.
“We continue to be on our toes to prevent a resurgence of COVID-19 infections. The recovery of all 122 patients does not mean that the threat is over in Cambodia,” said Mrs Vandine, as she urged the public to adhere to the ministry-issued preventative measures, such as regular handwashing, wearing of protective face masks and practising social distancing.
“We must prevent imported COVID-19 cases in our country. As we have seen, most of the cases reported in the Kingdom came from outside so we need to thoroughly check all travellers entering into our country to prevent any virus transmission,” she said.
She noted that healthcare personnel continue to conduct researches about the virus and test people suspected of COVID-19 infection.
Li Ailan, WHO representative to Cambodia, meanwhile praised Cambodia’s progress. “Cambodia has, so far, done well in responding to the first wave of outbreak. As you know, there is no perfect system for the prevention and containment of the infection. While Cambodia has done a good job, the pandemic is far from over as it still spreads in many parts of the world,” she said.
“We have to work harder and strengthen our surveillance of the virus to ensure quick detection of infection,” added Dr Li.
Cambodia has recorded 122 coronavirus diagnoses since its first patient – a Chinese national travelling from the virus’ point of origin Wuhan, Hubei – was found in Sihanoukville on January 27.
Seventy-one of the positive cases were imported – involving 40 French, 13 Malaysians, five British, three Chinese, three Vietnamese, two Americans, two Indonesians, two Canadians and one Belgian.
The statement from the Health Ministry revealed 14,684 samples from 13,226 people have been tested for the virus from January to May.
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