Quarantine – A Crucial Part to the Last Ten Month Fight against Covid-19
(This is a message to) HE Mam Bun Heng (Minister of Health) and colleagues in the Cabinet, especially Deputy Prime Ministers, Ministers and officials involving in Covid-019 quarantine after the visit of Foreign Minister of Hungary to Cambodia.
Yesterday, HE Prak Sokhonn had a telephone talk with the Foreign Minister of Hungary who is now taking treatment in Budapest, the capital city of Hungary. He asked for our understanding for what had happened and it was because the test conducted on him (prior to coming to Cambodia) was Covid-19 negative that he decided to have this visit. In the course of this infection, his wife and his two children are negative. He is the only one infected. HE Prak Sokhonn has delivered him my blessing. It is true that he has been Covid-19 positive.
In Cambodia, on its part, the Ministry of Health has made effort to test for Covid-19 on more than 800 people … including wives and related staffs. They all are placing themselves in isolation from others. Quarantine has been a crucial part to the success we have attained in the last more than ten months in the fight against Covid-19.
Schedules Cancelled to Evade Health Risks
I have news that some of our officials have not been conducting proper quarantine rules as they continue to do exercise in the open, to hold and to shake hands with so and so. Please allow me to share with you some of my experiences in conducting the quarantine. I have cancelled every schedules. For instance, this evening, I asked Samdech Krola Haom to take my place in closing the administrative reform conference at the Ministry of Interior. I also cancelled my visit to Pursat, Battambang and Banteay Meanjei on 7, 8 and 10 November where I would have met and offered flash flood relief assistance to some 40,000 people.
More importantly, I had to cancel my schedule to welcome the returns of HM the King and HM the Queen Mother on 7 November, when my presence in this event is very demanding. However, I must cancel my scheduled presence to avoid negligence in quarantine procedure and risk causing health problem to their majesties and other high-ranking officials. It will be my first time to have done so. I also had to cancel my presence to accompany HM the King to light on, and to light off, the victorious candle (in commemoration of the national independence day) this year.
Deputy Prime Minister Aun Pornmoniroth to ASEAN Summit
My participation to the ASEAN Summit, though via videoconference, also removed from my schedules. Some have suggested I pre-recoded the speech or take part in the Summit from the videoconference set up from my house. If I were to do so, we also have brought reporters and other necessary officials to the risks still as the quarantine period of 14 days will not be over yet. In this note, I seek understanding from my ASEAN counterparts to send Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Aun Pornmoniroth in my place as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation would not be able to attend also […]
Improper Quarantine – a High Risk for Nation
Careless or improper attention to quarantine rules would cause high risk for our nation and more so if leaders do not adhere strictly to measures set for quarantine. I have shrunk my living and working area at home. I used only two rooms. My bedroom and my dining room. I avoid sitting in chairs here or there besides these two rooms because I could not be sure that no one would sit on/in them. I do not go down to my office downstairs because going down by the stairs would also create problem for the cleaning staff. I have reduced my living and working space a lot […]
Quarantine Required Ones Must Take It Seriously
(People may have seen) a photo I posted playing golf. It is an old photo. It is not a new one. I have rescheduled my exercise time to after the quarantine period in over, after the final test on 18 November, either on 19 or 20 November. I am calling on the ministers and related officials to place themselves under quarantine rules and allow no one – even own wives or children to come close. We must be serious in this isolation procedure to prevent it from leaking into the community. This is not for the sake of oneself and his/her own families but the community.
Ministers relating to quarantine procedures must instruct their staffs to attend properly to the quarantine rules because it is a crucial factor to ensure success or failure. If we failed, an uncertainty would erupt. Ministries, especially ministers whose staff are required to take quarantine measures, must ensure their conducts […]. The media companies, whose staffs were among the more than 800 people we conducted testing, must take parts in looking after them […] I hope the media companies – state and private, would look after their staffs who have taken quarantines […]
Search for Those Needed Testing, Those Tested Take Quarantines and More Testing
I am also having the attention of those who have involved in this health issue and who have already taken their first tests that they still have to come in with samples for three more tests deemed necessary by the Ministry of Health. I have allowed test to take place on 9th, 14th and 18 November at the Mitapheap or Friendship Palace of the Council of Ministers under the high responsibility of the Ministry of Health. Everyone must be making efforts at this time because any failures in the period of quarantine would cause trouble right in the heart of Phnom Penh […]
I am calling on higher attention given to taking parts in testing. Efforts must be to search for those who have not yet taken tests and to bring them to take tests. Those who have already taken their first tests must continue with testing schedules required by the Ministry of Health at the Council of Ministers’ Mitapheap Palace […] HE Mam Bun Heng, Lok Chum Teav Yuok Sambath, Lok Chumteav Ao Vandin, and other leaders of the health sector must make efforts to closely monitor the quarantine measures. I would send this message to the Permanent Committee (of the Cambodian People’s Party), the Cabinet of Royal Government, and the provincial governors. Those media, who wanted to share it to wider audiences, may do so […]./.
