Cambodia bans inter-provincial travel for 14 days to curb COVID-19

A 14-day ban on travel between provinces started in Cambodia on Wednesday in a bid to stem the spread of COVID-19.

The ban took effect from Wednesday with the exception for vehicles transporting goods, officials, healthcare workers, armed forces members and patients, Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen said in a decision on late Tuesday.

He added that commuter vehicles transporting garment factory workers will also be excepted from the ban if they hold an approval letter from the labor ministry or provincial labor departments.   

“The ban is aimed at combating and preventing the spread of COVID-19 from one province to another,” Hun Sen said.

He said the capital Phnom Penh and its surrounding Kandal province are considered as one region and travel between them will not be prohibited.

In the decision, the Cambodian prime minister also ordered the closure of all tourism resorts across the Southeast Asian country for 14 days from April 7 to 20 in order to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

The move came after the kingdom saw a rise in daily COVID-19 cases recently. By Tuesday, Cambodia had reported 2,824 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 22 fatalities and 1,794 recoveries, according to the Ministry of Health.

Cambodia began a COVID-19 vaccination drive on Feb 10. As of Monday, more than 635,000 people in the priority groups had been vaccinated against the coronavirus, according to a government report.