Health minister Mam Bun Heng visits the new Covid-19 testing laboratory in Siem Reap province on Monday. SIEM REAP PROVINCIAL ADMINISTRATION
Detection of the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 – the coronavirus that causes Covid-19 – has become a humdrum part of life with new cases reported almost on a daily basis in most parts of the country.
The latest 277 cases confirmed on August 23-24 have brought the tally to 1,325, with Phnom Penh recording the highest number at 375, according to the Ministry of Health.
The ministry said that while many Delta cases continue to be found among airline passengers and returning migrant workers, some of the recorded cases are people who have had no known contacts with anyone recently from outside of Cambodia. It said this could be inferred that community transmission of the Delta strain is underway.
Banteay Meanchey province has the second highest number of Delta cases at 230, followed by Oddar Meanchey at 191 and Siem Reap at 163.
At the other end of the spectrum, Kampong Chhnang has detected just one single Delta case, while Stung Treng and Koh Kong have had two cases each.
The health ministry called on the public to be vigilant against this highly transmissible strain of the virus which has shown a significant propensity for infecting those who are already vaccinated.
However, the rate of serious illness or death is many orders of magnitude lower for the vaccinated than for the unvaccinated – who on average make up 90 per cent of the Covid-19 cases requiring hospitalisation in the US at present, according to the US Centre for Disease Control.
This stands as further evidence that despite the possibility of breakthrough infections by the Delta strain, the vaccines are working as intended and saving lives, according to the World Health Organisation.
Equipment used to determine the virus strain of infected samples has been installed at the Siem Reap Provincial Referral Hospital and began operations this week. This allows officials in the province to confirm Delta cases without having to send the samples to the Institut Pasteur du Cambodge in the capital.
Siem Reap Provincial Administration spokesman Liv Sokhom told The Post on August 25 that the new laboratory equipment can perform up to 1,000 tests to determine virus strains per day.
The government recently designated Siem Reap as the regional centre for treating Covid-19 patients who are in critical condition and one facility there will treat all such patients originating from the four surrounding provinces in addition to its own territory.
“The centre for patients in critical condition can accommodate around 400 people and the provinces of Kampong Thom, Preah Vihear, Oddar Meanchey and Banteay Meanchey will now send critical care patients here,” Sokhom said.
On August 22, health minister Mam Bun Heng visited the critical care centre, which was set up at the Angkor Convention and Exhibition Centre in Slakram commune.
“Actually, there are treatment facilities for critical cases in every province. But we’re using Siem Reap as the centre for treating critical cases for the region north of Tonle Sap Lake because Siem Reap has the new laboratory that can test over 900 samples per day, so they can get the results back quickly and provide treatment to the patients timely,” he said.
Bun Heng also said the transmission rate in Cambodia appears to have dropped now, but the preventive measures must be adhered to by every individual for the foreseeable future.
