AFP
Cambodia should immediately release inmates who are most at risk from the coronavirus and pre-trial detainees eligible for bail amid the risk of “mass outbreaks” in the country’s overcrowded prisons and detention centers, a rights group said Monday.
While the coronavirus made few inroads into Cambodia in 2020, the country’s latest outbreak in February has led to nearly 180 deaths and the number of people infected with COVID-19 the disease caused by the virus has climbed to nearly 25,800.
The drastic rise in infections recently led Prime Minister Hun Sen to issue crippling lockdown measures as part of a bid to curb the spread of the virus. While such measures in addition to increased testing and vaccinations have helped to protect the public, rights groups on Monday warned that a recent rash of COVID-19 cases in prisons in the capital Phnom Penh and Sihanouk province shows inmates are particularly susceptible to infection and current mitigation efforts are
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A young Lao woman missing from her home for more than two months is believed by family members to have been trafficked to China, lured by the promise of work, her mother and other sources say.
Fongsamouth Vilayhong, 20, had traveled first to the Lao capital Vientiane and then later dropped from sight, the young woman’s mother told RFA’s Lao Service.
“I haven’t been able to contact my daughter for more than two months now,” the mother said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Whenever I called, a Chinese man answered the phone, and now her mobile phone has been completely shut down.”
AFP
Laos announced its first COVID-19 fatality, a Vietnamese woman who hid her infection from authorities, while local transmission increased pace in Vietnam and Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh planned to reduce restrictive quarantine measures.
Laos’ Department of Healthcare and Rehabilitation announced Sunday that a 53-year-old Vietnamese woman who resided in Laos was the first death in Laos since the beginning of the pandemic in early 2020.
“She was in a high-risk group but went to hospital late. She tried to avoid treatment. In fact, she was hiding and not asking for treatment,” said Bouathep Phoumin, deputy director general of the department at a press conference.