Southeast Asian nations step up measures against COVID-19

The Cambodian government has introduced a “strategic plan for COVID-19 vaccination campaign to build socio-economic resilience in Cambodia by 2021” in a bid to accelerate the vaccination of all people aged 18 and over in high-priority areas.

A street in Phnom Penh, Cambodia

According to the strategic planning document, the implementation of the plan will be carried out in accordance with the “blossom” approach, meaning that it will start with a vaccination campaign in the central area of the country and work outwards.

The campaign will start with Phnom Penh – which is roughly centrally located in the country and an area of obvious concern as the largest city – and the main urban areas around the capital and in Kandal, gradually expanding to other areas in the order of prioritisation.

Cambodia will be divided into three sections for vaccination purposes: high priority areas, medium priority areas and low priority areas.

“According to the ‘blossom’ approach the national vaccination campaign in high-priority areas must be completed in 2021 and as soon as possible,” the document noted.

Meanwhile, Thailand’s Bangkok will need more beds for severely ill COVID-19 cases over the next couple of weeks, the Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) said on May 7 as the number of daily infections hit a new high.

CCSA spokesman Taweesilp Visanuyothin said Bangkok had been exceeding 500 new cases a day since the beginning of this month. The number continued to rise and reached 869 over the past 24 hours.

Demand for beds in Greater Bangkok would continue to rise into the second or third week of this month. A new field hospital with more than 1,000 beds for severely ill cases would be erected at a conference centre in Chaeng Watthana area, Taweesilp said.

COVID-19 transmissions already shifted from entertainment places early last month to close contact between people in communities and families, he said.

Meanwhile, travellers entering the Philippines will be required to undergo 14 days of quarantine, up from a week previously, as authorities try to contain more infectious coronavirus variants, Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said on May 7.

The new control measure will apply regardless of whether a visitor has been vaccinated and the first 10 days of quarantine will be in a government-accredited facility and the remainder at home.

Visitors will get a COVID-19 test on the seventh day after arrival, but will still be required to complete a 10-day stay in a facility even if they test negative, Roque said./.

VNA