Monday, February 6, 2023
Khmer Daily Cambodia News
34 °c
Phnom Penh
  • LATEST
  • CAMBODIA
  • ASIA
    • JAPAN
    • SOUTH KOREA
    • TAIWAN
  • WORLD
    • CHINA
    • RUSSIA
  • BUSINESS CAMBODIA
  • TECHNOLOGY
No Result
View All Result
  • LATEST
  • CAMBODIA
  • ASIA
    • JAPAN
    • SOUTH KOREA
    • TAIWAN
  • WORLD
    • CHINA
    • RUSSIA
  • BUSINESS CAMBODIA
  • TECHNOLOGY
No Result
View All Result
The Khmer Daily
No Result
View All Result
Home ASIA Cambodia

Omicron risks to Cambodia Economy shouldn’t be overplayed, experts say

November 30, 2021
in Business, Cambodia, National
0
Omicron risks to Cambodia Economy shouldn’t be overplayed, experts say
0
SHARES
21
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

With the Omicron variant of the Coronavirus spreading throughout the world, countries have started reimposing travel restrictions, raising concerns that Cambodia’s tourism industry will dealt another blow just as it starts to welcome international travellers again.

However, with around 87 percent of the population fully vaccinated against Covid-19, daily infections dropping to just 25 yesterday and  widespread awareness of how to prevent transmission, economists and tourism industry officials alike are warning against overreaction.

“This is the newest threat to our industry as everyone knows that Cambodia is just re-opening without the 14-day quarantine and now another crisis has spread,” said Sinan Thourn, President of the Cambodia chapter of the Pacific Asia Travel Association.

“I believe the Cambodian government will take the right action and measurements on this issue,” he added.

Omicron was first discovered in southern Africa and cases have now been discovered in Europe, North America and the Asia-Pacific.

Hong Kong. Indonesia, Japan, Thailand, the Philippines and Singapore have all announced travel restrictions on some countries due to concerns over the variant.

A Ministry of Health spokeswoman said Cambodia has no plans to ban flights from some countries which have the virus since there have been no local cases of the variant.

A spokesman for Cambodia Airports, which operates the country’s three international facilities in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Sihanoukville said he had faith in the government’s ability to handle the situation.

“The news has cast a shadow but we also have to hear what medical experts are going to tell us about the variant before drawing conclusions,” said Norinda Khek.

“Health safety measures are well in place at the three international airports and we’ll be working closely with Cambodian authorities if they need to be swiftly ramped up. Based on actions it has been taking for the last two years to fight the pandemic, we are confident in the government’s capacity to face dynamic and fast-evolving situations,” he said.

Head of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Country Office to the Kingdom of Cambodia Dr Li Ailan said the nation needs to be prepared to act quickly if the variant does spread here.

“There is an increased risk that Omicron will be imported to more countries and spread globally including possibly in Cambodia in this highly interconnected world,” she said. “We need to be ready for a good response to ongoing and new threats due to Covid-19 new variants.”

Dr Li said the WHO was concerned about Omicron for three reasons: the variant has a large number of mutations, which may increase the risk of reinfection; there is a high risk of importation and reinfection; and managing the uncertainties of Omicron will present a challenge to governments and health systems.

The WHO said it is still not clear whether Omicron is more transmissible or more severe than the Delta variant.

Moody’s Analytics Chief Asia-Pacific Economist Steven Cochrane said a lack of scientific research on Omicron meant he was not planning to make any changes to next month’s regional economic forecasts.

“Omicron reminds us that the global economic recovery remains tethered to the pandemic,” he said.

“We are broadly assuming that there will be new waves of infections, but that each wave will be less disruptive to the healthcare system and economy than the previous one. We assume that the Omicron variant is consistent with this assumption. If the variant turns out to be more contagious, virulent, and disruptive to the economy, we will need to revise our economic outlook.”

Concerns about the spread of Omicron may help speed up immunisation campaigns in countries that have been slower to act than Cambodia, Cochrane said, pointing to Myanmar, Laos, Indonesia, India, Hong Kong, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam, that have vaccinated less than 65 percent of their populations.

This article was first published in Khmer Times. All contents and images are copyright to their respective owners and sources.

Tags: CambodiaomicronPhnom PenhSiem Reap
Previous Post

6 cases of Omicron variant identified in Scotland

Next Post

Japan’s Crown Prince criticises ‘terrible things’ in media coverage of daughter’s marriage

Related Posts

Cambodia confirms readiness to exit the Least Developed Countries (LDC) status

Cambodia confirms readiness to exit the Least Developed Countries (LDC) status

by Khmer Times
February 3, 2023
0
7

Cambodia confirmed its readiness to exit the Least Developed Countries (LDC) status, saying that studies on the impacts of the...

Cambodia cashew production likely to touch 1 million tons this year

Cambodia cashew production likely to touch 1 million tons this year

by Khmer Times
January 31, 2023
0
9

The cashew season has begun with the start of picking cashew nuts in the Kingdom, and growers of the commodity...

Cambodia GDP expects to growth 5.6 percent in 2023

Cambodia GDP expects to growth 5.6 percent in 2023

by Khmer Times
January 26, 2023
0
3

Cambodia is expected to register a 5.6 percent GDP growth in 2023, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance....

Most Popular

Passenger in Nepal plane crash livestreams last seconds of his life on Facebook

Passenger in Nepal plane crash livestreams last seconds of his life on Facebook

January 18, 2023
31
Nepal plane crash searchers rappel, fly drones to find last passengers

Nepal plane crash searchers rappel, fly drones to find last passengers

January 18, 2023
26
Prince William feared Prince Harry was being ‘brainwashed’ by his therapist

Prince William feared Prince Harry was being ‘brainwashed’ by his therapist

January 9, 2023
17
Japanese firm to study urban, provincial railways in Cambodia

Japanese firm to study urban, provincial railways in Cambodia

January 11, 2023
16
Cambodia to build $300 million International airport on Koh Rong Island

Cambodia to build $300 million International airport on Koh Rong Island

January 19, 2023
16
UK paper group bids to throw out Prince Harry and others’ privacy lawsuits

UK paper group bids to throw out Prince Harry and others’ privacy lawsuits

January 14, 2023
15

© 2020 By Khmer Daily News

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Latest
  • Cambodia
  • ASIA
  • World
  • Business
  • Tech

© 2019 The Khmer Daily.

error: Content is protected !!