Minister of Health Mam Bun Heng has urged people to continue practising virus prevention techniques after 11 people tested positive for Covid-19 within two days after arriving in the Kingdom.

Speaking on Sunday, Bun Heng stressed the importance of washing hands, wearing masks or scarves when coughing or sneezing and practising social distancing.

He said doctors are having difficulty saving the lives of people infected with Covid-19.

“The seriousness of Covid-19 is not to be overlooked, because it is an extremely cruel respiratory virus. It makes it difficult to breathe due to a lack of oxygen. The coronavirus is in a very worrying situation all over the world,” he said.

Separately, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said it is known that individuals can be infected in any circumstance, anytime, anywhere.

“We know that transmission is due to direct exposure to small drops of saliva or mucus containing Covid-19. The risk of transmitting the virus is high when mobile individuals move from place to place and forget or fail to take preventive measures,” it said.

Bun Heng announced on Sunday that two Cambodian passengers, aged 15 and 23, tested positive for Covid-19 and were admitted to the Chak Angre Health Centre in Chak Angre Krom commune after travelling from Malaysia on June 26. The plane had 107 passengers, including two Malaysians.

The 103 Cambodians who tested negative were sent to Quarantine Centre 1 (QC1) at Hun Sen Champuvorn High School. The two Malaysians will quarantine at a hotel in Phnom Penh.

On Saturday, the ministry reported an additional nine infected people who had travelled from Indonesia on June 25. The patients included eight Cambodians and an Indonesian. There were 40 passengers on the flight, including a Vietnamese national and 15 Indonesians.

As of Sunday, 129 out of 141 Covid-19 patients had recovered in Cambodia. No virus-related deaths have been reported in the Kingdom.