Cambodia to kick-start vaccination programme

An inoculation drive against COVID-19 in Cambodia will start from February 10 (Photo: EPA-EFE)

Hanoi (VNA) – Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen said on February 5 that an inoculation drive against COVID-19 will start from February 10 after the first batch of China-sponsored Sinopharm vaccines is due to arrive in the country on weekend.

Vaccinations will officially start at the Calmette Hospital, he wrote on his official Facebook page. The process will be live broadcast on TVs and social media platforms.

He will hold a press conference at the hospital after receiving the first shot of the vaccine.

According to the Cambodian PM, the vaccines will be provided free-of-charge to people who are at a high risk of getting infections such as medics, teachers, military and security personnel, taxi drivers, among others.

The Southeast Asian nation has planned to inoculate between 10 and 13 million people, or about 80 percent of the population, he added.

The Ministry of Health previously authorised the emergency use of Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine.

Cambodia has so far registered a total of 470 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with zero deaths and 452 recoveries.

Meanwhile in Thailand, stricter "seal and bubble" measures will be used to curb the spread of COVID-19 infections among migrant workers in Samut Sakhon after tests at seven factories there over many weeks found almost 8,000 positive cases.

Public health officials in Samut Sakhon had agreed to adopt tough new disease control measures after news broke that the second wave of infections centred on the province is worse than first thought, said deputy provincial health official Surawit Sakdanupab.

The "seal" method will apply to factories which have on-site accommodation, and workers will not be allowed to leave the premises.

The "bubble strategy" will apply to factories which have no on-site accommodation, so their workers stay at dormitories off the premises.

Sakdanupab said the goal of the new measures is to strictly regulate the travel and movement of workers all the way from their dormitories to their workplaces to prevent them from wandering off to other locations./.