PHNOM PENH: Cambodia has risen to second place as the fastest country in the world to recover from the Covid-19, according to the Nikkei Covid-19 Recovery Index.

Japanese Newspaper Nikkei maintains a Covid-19 Recovery Index that assesses countries and regions around the world on infection management, vaccine rollouts and social mobility. The higher the ranking, the closer a place is to recovery from Covid-19, characterized by fewer infections, bigger inoculation rates and less-strict social distancing measures.

On Sunday, 10 April, the Ministry of Tourism published the results from the Nikkei index, which shows that Cambodia currently maintains second place with 80.5 points, and the United Arab Emirates stays at first place with 85.5 points. Cambodia’s second place ranking on the Nikkei index was previously highlighted in February.

The first Covid-19 case in Cambodia was detected on 27 January in a Chinese national traveling directly from the city of Wuhan, where the global Covid-19 outbreak began, to Cambodia.

On 3 November 2020, Cambodia discovered its first community-transmitted case of Covid-19, following the visit of the Hungarian Foreign Minister to Cambodia. On 28 November, Cambodia reported a second bout of community transmitted cases involving 41 people who had visited several shops and Aeon Mall in Phnom Penh.

A few months later, Cambodia experienced its most significant Covid-19 outbreak yet, with the now infamous ‘20 February Community Event,' which started after two Chinese nationals with positive Covid-19 results broke out of their mandatory quarantine and visited clubs in Phnom Penh. This event started the biggest Covid-19 outbreak within the Kingdom, leading to curfews, lockdowns and other strict measures.

However, the successful roll-out of the large-scale national vaccination campaign along with strict health measures and safety precautions put in place, has allowed Cambodia to control the Covid-19 outbreak, even through the Delta and Omicron variants. As a result, Prime Minister Hun Sen first announced the official reopening of the country on 1 November 2021, saying that people must now adapt and learn to live with Covid-19 in the path of the ‘new normal trajectory.’ Then, on 20 December 2021, the Prime Minister announced the closing of the 20 February Community Event, which lasted for 10 months and caused 124,023 people to be infected, and 3,005 people to lose their lives to Covid-19.

As of 10 April 2022, Cambodia has vaccinated 92.78% of its 16 million population.