Phnom Penh: An announcement is expected on Wednesday night from the Phnom Penh Municipal Administration regarding its Covid-19 administrative measures. They were due to be lifted from 3 June, but late on the night of 2 June were extended for a further 14 days, through Wednesday 16 June.

The affected businesses are those that have not yet been allowed to reopen since the Law on Preventative Measures for Covid-19 came into effect in April. These are schools, vocational training centres, nightclubs, bars and beer gardens, KTVs, resorts, museums, massage businesses, casinos, cinemas and gyms. Most of them have been closed since March.

State-run markets have been allowed to fully reopen this week, but the smart money would suggest that another 14-day extension for high-risk businesses is not on the cards. A full reopening of Phnom Penh would be celebrated, but given the announcements we’ve seen this week, it would seem that’s unlikely, at least for now.

The capital still has orange zones in place in parts of Por Senchey for another week and officials are struggling to contain the latest outbreaks at factories. Over 200 cases were detected at just one Phnom Penh factory late last week. That prompted the Ministry of Labour to issue notices to factory owners and other enterprises to provide details of their workers, to make contact tracing easier.

This week, Phnom Penh Governor Khuong Sreng urged the city’s 14 district authorities to tighten up their preventative measures to prevent any further spread of Covid-19. At the time, he said cases have not decreased sufficiently enough.

Given all of this, it seems highly unlikely that a full reopening of the capital will be permitted from Thursday and that another 14-day extension will be announced on Wednesday night.