PHNOM PENH: The Ministry of Health has announced the discovery of the new BA.4 and BA.5 strains of the Covid-19 Omicron variant in travelers arriving from abroad to Cambodia, within the community and among some people testing to get their travel certification to go abroad.

In a press release issued on Tuesday, 12 July, the Ministry of Health reiterated its concern about large-scale community outbreaks and called on citizens and the relevant authority to increase vigilance by implementing health measures consistently. The Ministry urges people to implement the ‘3 Do’s and 3 Don’t’s’ measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19, with recommendation for everyone to get vaccinated.

In the letter, the Ministry of Health stated, "The circulation of the new variant Omicron BA.4 and BA.5, which has the ability to spread faster than the previous strains of omicron (such as BA.1 and BA.2), leads to an increase in the number of cases in Cambodia, regionally and globally, and these new variants are also able to penetrate the human immune system more easily, making the individual's immunity decline faster. In patients with infection, the new BA.4 and BA.5 symptoms are no different from those of the previous variant. Symptoms such as fever, cough, sore throat, runny nose are similar to the common cold."

The Spokesperson of the Ministry of Health, Dr. Or Vandine, has reminded people to be careful about Covid-19, and said that people should not underestimate the virus and should get vaccinated against it in a timely manner.

She said, "Millions of people, once cured of the Covid-19 virus, continue to have some long-term health effects that are yet to be determined, such as severe fatigue, headaches, insomnia, or affecting the musculoskeletal system, or affecting individual organs, this is what the World Health Organization and experts are continuing to do more research on."

Cambodia found new Covid-19 cases starting from 28 June after 52 days of no cases. Prime Minister Hun Sen sent an urgent voice message on the night of 28 June urging people to take precautionary measures and to get everyone vaccinated to prevent the large-scale spread of Covid-19 once again.

The national Covid-19 vaccination committee has confirmed that people can go to any vaccination site or health center to receive their vaccines. The vaccine helps to build the immune system of individuals and the community as a whole, to prevent the possibility of Covid-19 recurrence. Failure to take the booster dose will lower the body's immunity.