Phnom Penh: Prime Minister Hun Sen has ordered the immediate delivery of AstraZeneca doses to all frontline military and healthcare divisions along the border with Thailand to safeguard against the Delta variant. He says the booster shots for these personnel must start as soon as possible this weekend.
Cambodia has over a million doses of AstraZeneca at its disposal. 332-thousand doses were delivered by Japan late last month. 415-thousand doses were delivered by the UK on Thursday. 668-thousand more doses are arriving tonight from Japan. The Prime Minister announced last weekend that the AstraZeneca vaccines are to be used for Cambodia’s booster-shot campaign – giving all adults inoculated with either Sinopharm or Sinovac a third shot of vaccine to increase their protection against the Delta variant.
At the same time, the Prime Minister says while the borders with Thailand remain closed, government is facilitating the return of Cambodian migrant workers, who are being tested and housed first at quarantine centres. To relieve pressure on those centres, more are being set up. Those who test negative after seven days can be transported by the military to quarantine centres in their home provinces. Any migrant workers who develop mild cases of Covid-19 will be allowed to return to their homes for treatment.
The Prime Minister is calling on all responsible stakeholders to support the border provinces in this effort.