Zika warning ‘confused,’ says ministry

Oddar Meanchey health officials fumigate roadside shrubs last month in an attempt to exterminate mosquitoes that may be carrying the Zika virus. Photo supplied

The Ministry of Health is moving to clear up “confusion” among the public about Zika after the US Embassy issued a travel warning indicating the virus was “endemic” in the Kingdom.

While endemic means only that Zika cases have been reported in the past and new cases may be reported, the translation into Khmer was inaccurate, Ministry of Health spokesman Ly Sovann said yesterday.

“The translation said that there was an outbreak,” said Sovann, who is also the director of the Department of Communicable Disease Control.

The travel warning, published by the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention last week, was for the region and not country-specific, according to embassy deputy spokesman Courtney Woods.

However, a screenshot of the US Embassy Facebook page circulated on local media shows a travel warning message specifically for Cambodia that has since been removed.

When asked why it was removed, Courtney only said the “page was updated to provide information about Zika in Southeast Asia”.

Cambodia last saw a Zika case in 2010.

Contact author: Yesenia Amaro

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