PHNOM PENH, March 16 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia's Ministry of Health announced in a press statement late on Sunday that four more persons were tested positive for COVID-19, raising the total number of the confirmed cases in the kingdom to 12.
The four patients included two Cambodians who returned to northwest Cambodia's Preah Vihear province on March 3 from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where they attended a religious event, a Cambodian man who returned from France, and a four-month-old French boy, whose father was tested positive for the virus earlier in the day after they returned to Cambodia from Paris.
The statement said the two Cambodians returning from Malaysia were put in isolation rooms in the Preah Vihear provincial hospital for treatment, the patient returning from France was placed for treatment at the Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital, and the four-month-old boy was being treated at the National Pediatric Hospital.
According to the statement, the boy's mother was tested negative for the virus.
Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen issued a directive late on Sunday, advising the Cambodian people not to travel to Europe, the United States and Iran if unnecessary.
Civil servants at all ministries and state institutions are not allowed to attend all types of meetings in Europe, the United States and Iran, he said.
"For civil servants and Cambodian people who have just returned home from countries in Europe, the United States and Iran, they must self-isolate for 14 days from the day of their arrivals to Cambodia," Hun Sen said.
In a bid to prevent the spread of the virus, Cambodia has also decided to ban foreigners from Italy, Germany, Spain, France and the United States from entering the country for 30 days, taking effect from March 17, and from Iran, starting from March 18.
The Southeast Asian country has also allowed all public and private school students in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap City to take an early vacation since Saturday.
