PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) – Cambodia confirmed on Thursday its first death from COVID-19 since the pandemic began more than a year ago, as it fights a new local outbreak that has infected hundreds of people.
The 50-year-old man was confirmed infected last month while working as a driver for a Chinese company off the coast of Sihanoukville and died at the Khmer-Soviet friendship hospital on Thursday morning, the Ministry of Health said in a statement.
Cambodia has confirmed only 1,163 cases of coronavirus infection since the start of the pandemic, but is battling a new local outbreak that has infected several hundred people.
According to the Ministry of Health, the new outbreak was traced to a foreign resident who interrupted quarantine at a hotel and went to a nightclub in early February. This caused a series of infections and prompted the government, on February 20, to announce the closure of all public schools, cinemas, bars and entertainment areas in Phnom Penh.
Since then, the government has extended the closure for another two weeks to schools, gyms, concert halls, museums and other entertainment venues in Phnom Penh, near Kandal province and the coastal province of Sihanoukville.
On Thursday, the Ministry of Health reported that 39 cases were recorded by local transmission.
As the outbreak grows, an extinct luxury hotel in the capital has been converted into a 500-room coronavirus hospital, and authorities are enforcing a new law that imposes criminal penalties for violating health rules.
The country began its vaccination campaign in February with 600,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine produced in China. He also received 324,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine this month, donated and produced in India.