Government bans intra-national travel to prevent the spread of COVID-19

• 9 April 2020
• Local News
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Samdech Techo Hun Sen has ordered the imposition of travel restrictions to within city limits, from province to province and from district to district throughout the kingdom, starting from 24:00 on Thursday 9 April to 24:00 on Thursday 16 April 2020 to prevent the spread of COVID-19, according to a government order issued on the afternoon of 9 April 2020.

The restrictions were announced following Samdech Techo Hun Sen’s order in a voice mail on 9 April 2020 to relevant officials to have an urgent meeting on the prohibition of province-to-province travelling, for the 12 – 16 April as some workers refused to follow the government’s measures of taking no holiday during the Khmer New Year.

“This is very important if our citizens do not follow our measures, then we cannot release emergency legislation immediately, please pay attention and reply back to me, when you all agree, I will ask H.E Sar Kheng and H.E Bin Chhin to send me a statement to sign for banning province-to-province travelling. In the meantime, taxis will be banned as well. This is the effective measure or else our country condition will be worse,” Samdech said in a voice mail.

However, the travel restriction does not affect the travel within Phnom Penh.

Following the announcement, Mr Meas Proeksa, Administrative Manager of Ly Chhuong Construction Company, supported the government’s measure as showing concern for all the workers’ safety during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“After the government required civil servants and all workers to work as usual during the Khmer New Year, as a construction worker manager, I noticed that the workers did not entirely agree with the government’s measure. They still insisted on going to their homeland even though they have their salaries cut. This disobedience could cause a high risk of the spread of COVID-19,” said Mr Meas.

According to a report by the Ministry of Labour, the country’s workers number around 3.69 million in 2020, while construction workers number between 175, 000 to 200, 000 (Care Organisation data in 2018).

Samdech Techo Hun Sen has announced that all workers and civil servants are to continue to work as normal during the Khmer New Year to prevent the spread of COVID-19 during the Khmer New Year. (Read more)

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