At a school in Phnom Penh (Photo: AFP) Phnom Penh (VNA) – Cambodia is going to reopen secondary and high schools in Phnom Penh on September 15 while Indonesia has tightened protocols on international travellers to help curb the spread of COVID-19.
As part of the preparation to reopen secondary and high schools, the Phnom Penh Administration has cleaned and disinfected 68 public schools on September 13 while private educational institutions were disinfected two days ago.
Director of the Phnom Penh Municipal Department of Education Hem Sinareth told Khmer Times that there was a need to thoroughly clean and disinfect the schools as some of them were used as COVID-19 treatment centres and for the vaccination campaign.
The majority of the schools will be ready to be opened on September 15 while some will be reopened in stages as they need to fully comply with the COVID-19 standard operating procedures, including the cleanliness, hygiene, and disinfection, he added.
In the neighbouring province of Kandal, Governor Kong Sophon has called on all relevant authorities to make sure that all classrooms and the entire school premises are thoroughly cleaned and disinfected when they reopen on September 15.
He said 95 of the 101 secondary schools in the province will be reopened.
Meanwhile, the administration of Preah Sihanouk province, where COVID-19 used to broke out strongly, has allowed five schools to be reopened in five districts.
As of September 12, nearly 9.74 million people in Cambodia received at least one shot of COVID-19 vaccines, including those of Sinopharm, Sinovac, AstraZeneca, and Johnson & Johnson, with over 8.6 million full vaccinated.
The country also administered vaccines to more than 1.7 million people aged 12 – 17, equivalent to 86.86 percent of the teenagers set to be inoculated with the Sinovac vaccine.
Meanwhile, Indonesia has tightened protocols on arrival for international travellers during the time community activity restrictions (PPKM) at Level 1 - 4 are extended from September 7 to 20.
Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said on September 13 that individuals who wish to enter Indonesia must be fully vaccinated and take PCR tests thrice.
The Indonesian Government has also restricted the entry of foreign nationals to support pandemic control.
Monitoring will be carried out in the next one - two weeks for foreign travellers arriving in Cengkareng, Manado, and Bali by air, according to the official.
Earlier, the Indonesian Government extended the PPKM order levels 1 - 4 in some areas in Java and Bali. A two-week restriction from September 7 to 20 has also been imposed in some outer areas on the two densely populated islands.
As of 6pm on September 13, 73.8 million people in the nation got jabs of COVID-19 vaccines, including 42.3 million fully vaccinated. Given this, more than one-third of the 208.26 million people Indonesia plans to vaccinate got the first shot of vaccine./.
VNA
