PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) – Cambodia confirmed its first death from COVID-19 on Thursday since the pandemic started more than a year ago as it battles a new local outbreak that has infected hundreds of people.
The 50-year-old man was confirmed to be infected last month while working as a driver for a Chinese company in the coast of Sihanoukville and died at the Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital on Thursday morning, the health ministry said in a statement.
Cambodia has confirmed just 1,163 cases of coronavirus infection since the start of the pandemic, but it is fighting a new local outbreak that has infected hundreds of people.
According to the Ministry of Health, the new outbreak was traced to a foreign resident who broke quarantine at a hotel and went to a nightclub in early February. That caused a lot of infections and prompted the government on February 20 to announce a two-week closure of all public schools, cinemas, bars and entertainment areas in Phnom Penh.
The government has since extended the closures for two weeks for schools, gyms, concert halls, museums and other entertainment venues in Phnom Penh, the nearby province of Kandal and the coastal province of Sihanoukville.
On Thursday, the Health Ministry said 39 cases were reported via local transmission.
As the outbreak grows, a defunct luxury hotel in the capital has been converted into a 500-room coronavirus hospital, and authorities are enforcing a new law imposing criminal penalties for violating health rules.
The country began its vaccination campaign in February with 600,000 doses of the Chinese-made Sinopharm vaccine. It also received 324,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine this month donated by and manufactured in India.