PHNOM PENH: The Royal Government is steadily moving the country into a “new normal”. It has already reduced quarantine for fully-vaccinated travellers, and has now announced there’ll be no need to quarantine at all, for most frontline medical workers and air passengers from Thailand.

As promised, Prime Minister Hun Sen has instructed the Tourism Ministry to reciprocate with Thailand, which is allowing quarantine-free travel for fully-vaccinated Cambodians from next week. Cambodia will now do the same for air passengers arriving from Thailand. It is hoped the move will resume regular scheduled flights between the two countries. As of now, only charter flights are available.

At the same time, there’s much less quarantine for the country’s frontline healthcare workers – not when they travel – but when they come off shift. For much of the past year, they’ve had to quarantine for 14 days every time they come off a rotational shift. The Inter-Ministerial Committee to Combat Covid-19 has now decided to do away with that. Those working in full contact with Covid-19 patients can now return home to quarantine for just four days, if they first show a negative PCR test result. Those not in contact with Covid-19 patients won’t have to quarantine at all, provided they are Covid-19-negative when finishing their shift.

The decision has been signed off by Prime Minister Hun Sen based on the high number of vaccinated doctors and medical workers as well as the government’s general easing of restrictions.