The latest in a series of COVID-19 outbreaks in Cambodia’s detention centers has infected more than 100 inmates and three guards in Kandal province, officials said on Wednesday, urging authorities to reduce prison overcrowding in order prevent the spread of disease.

Kandal province vice-governor Nouv Peng Chandara told local newspapers authorities were working to find the source of the infections, but no plan had been made to evacuate the prisoners.

Prisons now require a 20-day quarantine period and three negative COVID tests before incoming prisoners can be transferred to the general prison population, General Department of Prisons spokesman Nuth Savana told RFA on Wednesday.

“[Quarantines] will also be needed for prisoners who are taken to hospitals or courts, with detainees isolated from others for 20 days after their return, ”said Nuth Savana.

Fifty cases of COVID infection have already been reported in the notorious Prey Sar prison in Phnom Penh, Cambodian sources say.

Speaking to RFA’s Khmer service, Chan Tun – father of Tun Nimol, activist of the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), called on the courts to release his son and other political prisoners held in Prey Sar to protect them of infection. He said his son’s continued incarceration during the pandemic could amount to a “death sentence”.

“Our country does not have a death penalty and I do not know who will be responsible for protecting my son’s life if he is still detained during this epidemic,” Chan Tun said.

Am Sam Ath, of the Cambodian rights group Licadho, said more epidemics could still occur in the country’s overcrowded prisons and called on the prison department to release some prisoners serving shorter sentences.

“We need to speed up these releases,” he said, adding, “Some sentences could be suspended or even removed now for prisoners who have almost served their full time.”

“ The government must act faster ”

“The government must act much faster if it is to prevent what could turn into an out-of-control prison epidemic,” Human Rights Watch deputy director for Asia, Phil Robertson, said on May 24 in a joint statement with the rights group Amnesty International.

Responding to positive cases of infection in prisons with more testing and vaccinations “just isn’t enough,” Robertson said. “Everyone saw a potential epidemic coming, and measures to prevent or mitigate its impact on prisoners should have been implemented by the Cambodian government long ago.”

On May 8, the prison department reported that 34 prisoners held in Preah Sihanouk provincial prison tested positive for COVID-19, with hundreds of other prisoners in the facility testing positive since then, Robertson said.

Authorities subsequently transferred 146 female detainees and 10 children from Preah Sihanouk to Kampot provincial prison, Robertson said, adding that cases of infection in Phnom Penh prison in Cambodia’s capital are now numbered. by the hundreds.

To date, a total of 190 COVID-19 patients have died in Cambodia, with 26,989 infections reported, the health ministry said on May 26.

Vietnam sees 45th death from COVID

Vietnam reported its 45^e COVID-19 death on the 10th^e deaths recorded since the start of the fourth epidemic in the country on April 27, the health ministry said.

The patient, a 67-year-old woman from Bac Ninh Province, northern Vietnam, described as suffering from underlying illnesses including high blood pressure and diabetes, was hospitalized on May 11 and died on May 25. may.

A total of 3,027 cases of local transmission have now been reported in Vietnam since April 27, with the northern province of Bac Giang topping the list with 1,520 cases and Bac Ninh in second with 624 cases.

The two provinces will each receive 150,000 doses of the vaccine and help carry out mass vaccination campaigns within one or two weeks, Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said following an online meeting with provincial leaders and representatives of the Vietnam National Steering Committee on COVID Prevention and Control.

Eight pilot companies in four industrial parks in Bac Giang that closed on May 18 were allowed to reopen on Wednesday, although they are now operating at limited capacity and under restrictions.

As of May 25, Vietnam, more than one million health workers, police and military had received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine, of which 28,500 had also received their second and last dose, official figures show .

Laos sees more lockdowns

In Laos, the total number of COVID-19 cases has risen to 1,883, with 620 people being treated in hospitals across the country, according to Sisavath Soutthanylaxay, deputy director general of the communicable disease control department of the Laos Ministry of Health.

Only five new cases were reported on Wednesday, but areas under lockdown called “red zones” continued to expand, with 28 villages – up from five initially – now locked in the capital Vientiane.

Areas in Oudomxay province are also closed after seven new cases were recently reported there, official sources said.

Speaking to RFA on Wednesday, a member of the working group committee for the prevention and control of COVID-19 in Oudomxay said: “Yesterday, seven people tested positive for COVID-19, so today the entire Xay town – the provincial capital – is under lockdown. “

“It is forbidden to enter or leave and the police have closed all roads leading to the city,” said the RFA source, adding that three villages in the province had also been closed.

“Our village is locked,” confirmed a resident of a village. “No one goes in or out, except to shop for groceries or go to the hospital.”

More laid-off workers

At least 50,000 workers were made redundant in Laos during the second outbreak in the country in early April, with up to 10,000 pink slips handed over to 11 garment factories and two steel plants in the capital Vientiane alone, according to the Labor Ministry and Social well-being.

“Those who are not members of the Social Security Fund will not be eligible for unemployment benefits,” the official added, referring to a national plan paid by participants but often not joined by workers in small businesses such as restaurants and hotels.

“I have been made redundant for about a year now and I am not receiving any help,” a former worker at a small factory in Vientiane told RFA on Wednesday. “My family lives on savings, but it is about to run out as food prices are also rising,” he said.

Also speaking to RFA, a hotelier in the capital confirmed that the hotels were not receiving any government assistance.

“The government only suspends paying taxes for three months, and our hotel then pays the wages of the laid-off workers for three months. After that, they are alone, ”he said.

Reported by the Khmer, Vietnamese and Lao services of RFA. Translated by Samean Yun, Anna Vu and Max Avary. Written in English by Richard Finney.