The Ministry of Health on Thursday reported four new imported cases of Covid-19.

Three of the four are Cambodian military trainees returning from Russia. They landed in Cambodia on July 19, via Malaysia. They were travelling with 140 other passengers, 98 of whom are fellow military trainees.

The fourth is a resident of Tbong Khmum province’s Kroch Chhmar district who returned from Indonesia with 58 other passengers on July 23.

The three trainees were confirmed positive after a sixth test on Wednesday, while the man from Indonesia was confirmed positive after a fifth test the same day.

Ministry spokesperson Or Vandine said the four were not allowed to leave the quarantine centre even when their 14-day isolation period was over and after a third negative test.

She explained that passengers from abroad are subject to an additional 14-day quarantine if any of them tested positive after 13 days of the first isolation.

On Monday, a member of the Cambodian UN peacekeeping mission in Mali also tested positive after her fifth test.

She was among a total of 80 peacekeepers who returned from Mali through Malaysia on July 10, with nine testing positive.

She and the other 71 peacekeeping soldiers who initially tested negative were allowed to leave a quarantine centre at the army base in Kampong Speu province after a third test on July 30. They were then allowed to self-isolate at their respective hometowns.

The woman self-quarantined at her home in Sithbo commune, in Kandal province’s Takhmao town.

She and the other 71 have since been quarantined again at Hun Sen Borey 100 Khnong High School in Phnom Penh.

Cambodia has recorded a total of 272 Covid-19 cases as of Thursday. Of the number, 223 people have been discharged from hospitals.

The Ministry of Health’s Communicable Disease Control section reported that since Cambodia detected the first case in January, 75,976 people had been tested for the novel coronavirus.