Cambodia reopens schools, museums as others lockdown

Cambodia’s authorities declared reopening schools and museums after a six-week lockdown. While the neighbouring nations are facing new restrictions due to rising COVID-19 infections, Cambodia relaxes the health protocol.

Cambodia reopens the private schools, while the students at public schools are due to return next week, Reuters has learned. The new health protocol requires body temperature checks and hand sanitizing before being allowed to enter the classrooms.

The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, a former Khmer Rouge torture centre and prison in the capital, also will be reopened. Cambodia with its 16 million people remains one of the least impacted by the novel pathogen with just 382 infections and no deaths since the beginning of the 2020 pandemic.

In November, Cambodia put in a place of a range of restrictions after a rare outbreak of community transmission linked to a 56-year-old woman who had travelled to the country’s two biggest cities since Nov. 20.

While welcoming the prospect of more business, there is also a concern after hearing that some Cambodians working in Thailand had been infected.