COVID variant pushes Cambodia to brink of ‘national tragedy’

Cambodia is in the grip of its worst outbreak of the coronavirus since the pandemic began more than a year ago, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said, warning that the Southeast Asian nation is on the verge of a “national tragedy”. In less than a week, Cambodia has recorded more than 1,000 cases of the virus. As of Wednesday, 35 people had died. Cambodia had previously experienced only small clusters of COVID-19 that were quickly controlled, but Dr Li says the emergence of the variant of COVID-19 that was first detected in the UK – known officially as the B.1.1.7 variant – meant things were different this time. “The B.1.1.7 variant spreads more easily between people and can cause serious illness,” she said. “Many countries with strong health systems have been overwhelmed by this variant. We need to ensure the same doesn’t happen to Cambodia.”