Cambodia allows museums, cinemas, arts performing venues in capital to reopen

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Phnom penh, Oct. Oct 29 (IANS) Cambodia on Thursday allowed all museums, cinemas and arts performing facilities in capital Phnom Penh to reopen after a long hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

"The Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts (MCFA) decided to allow all museums, cinemas and arts performing venues in Phnom Penh to reopen from October 30 onwards, and the directors or owners must strictly comply with the standard operating procedure (SOP) issued by the MCFA and the Ministry of Health," said a MCFA statement.

Under the SOP, spectators must show a Covid-19 vaccination card, wear a face mask properly and have their body temperatures screened and hands sanitized at the entrance, and to keep social distancing, cinema halls and arts performing venues are permitted to accommodate only 50 per cent of the seating capacity, Xinhua news agency reported.

According to the statement, the move came after most of the population in the south-east Asian country had been vaccinated against Covid-19 and the number of new infections had seen a dramatic decline.

The kingdom launched a Covid-19 vaccination drive in February, with China being the main vaccine supplier.

As of October 27, the country had administered at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccines to 13.68 million people, or 85.5 per cent of its 16-million population, the Ministry of Health said.

Of them 13 million or 81.4 per cent had been fully inoculated with both required vaccine jabs and 1.76 million, or 11 per cent had taken a booster dose, it added.

Cambodia reported 109 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday, lifting the national caseload to 118,220, the Ministry of Health said, adding that eight new fatalities were recorded, taking the overall death toll to 2,766.

--IANS

int/khz/