The Preah Sihanouk Provincial Administration has launched a campaign to collect specimens for Coivd-19 testing in high-risk areas through mobile units, in a bid to curb the spread of the coronavirus in the coastal tourist attraction.

In a notice, it explained that the mobile working groups would visit certain high-risk areas and round up people suspected of carrying Covid-19 for sample collection to prevent the virus spreading.

“From experience and observation, there tends to be more infections in areas where gatherings of vendors and residents are common. So we will take pre-emptive action by rounding them up in the locations. By so doing, we can send them to treatment facilities timely to break the chain of transmission,” it said.

According to the notice, the provincial working groups made up of joint forces had rounded up five locations from July 14-20. During this period, they collected samples from 1,923 people, 54 of whom tested positive for Covid-19.

It said the campaign would continue and expand throughout the provinces.