An upsurge in cases of coronavirus contamination affects the Chinese expatriate community in Cambodia, announced Saturday Hun Sen, the Prime Minister of this country which also has few cases of Covid-19.
Life in the capital Phnom Penh has largely returned to normal. But a group of Chinese nationals who tested for a trip abroad received positive results on Saturday, raising fears of a larger epidemic outbreak within this community.
“We have discovered a significant community contamination with 32 cases (…) it is a bad situation for us”, declared Hun Sen during a speech broadcast on public television.
While “the people who test positive today are all Chinese,” Hun Sen urged Cambodians not to discriminate against this community, as the growing presence of Middle Kingdom companies in the kingdom has reinforced anti-sentiment. Chinese in some.
The strongman of the country, in power since 1985, is a close ally of Beijing which invests billions of dollars in the country.
At the start of the pandemic, many countries closed their borders to travelers from China, but Hun Sen refused to do the same and even traveled to Beijing to meet with President Xi Jinping in solidarity.
The contaminations detected on Saturday have their origin in a nightclub, now closed, according to the authorities, who are looking for possible contact cases.
The small island of Koh Pich (Diamond Island), connected to the capital Phnom Penh by several bridges, was isolated on Saturday morning, the police blocking all road access.
Since the start of the pandemic, Cambodia has recorded less than 500 cases of Covid-19 contamination and no deaths. But according to experts, these numbers are likely due to a lack of testing.