PHNOM PENH, March 17 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia's Ministry of Health announced in a press statement on Tuesday that 12 more local people were tested positive for the COVID-19, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the kingdom to 24.
The new patients included 11 Cambodians, who had returned to Cambodia after attending a mass Islamic religious ceremony in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and a Cambodian man who just returned to the country from Thailand, the statement said.
It added that among the new confirmed cases are two in Banteay Meanchey province, two in Phnom Penh, two in Kampong Chhnang province, four in Battambang province, one in Kampot province, and one in Tboung Khmum province.
The patients had been placed in isolation rooms in respective provincial referral hospitals for treatment, and those in Phnom Penh had been quarantined for treatment at the Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital.
According to the statement, a total of 79 Cambodians took part in the Islamic religious ceremony in Kuala Lumpur on Feb. 29 and Cambodian health authorities are searching for the rest of them.
