Consultative Meeting on the Response to Needs for Migrants during the COVID 19 pandemic - World Health Organization

Samdech Krolahom Sar Kheng, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Interior

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen

On behalf of the World Health Organization, I would like to express our sincere appreciation to Samdech Deputy Prime Minister and Excellencies for your strong leadership in fighting against COVID-19.

We believe our solidarity. Together, we can win this battle – the first pandemic that is caused by a new coronavirus.

We are now in the fourth month of the COVID-19 pandemic. As of 21 April, near 2.4 million confirmed cases, including more than 162,000 deaths, have been reported to WHO from 213 countries and territories. COVID-19 remains a serious concern globally and in the WHO Western Pacific Region where Cambodia belongs to.

In Cambodia, there are 122 confirmed cases to date. Although we do not see clear signs of widespread community transmission, this may change rapidly. We must be ready to prepare for and adjust our response accordingly. As we can see, countries are at different stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. The threat of rapid community-wide spread will not be over in any country until the pandemic is over in every country.

We have learned so much about this new virus over the past 3-4 months. We know that the virus can spread from person to person very rapidly. We know that this virus does kill people. There is much we still do not know about the future course of the pandemic. We do not know when the pandemic will be over.

WHO highly appreciates and commends the Royal Government of Cambodia , especially the Ministry of Health, for all their extraordinary hard work. Cambodia’s response to the first 100 cases in the country was rapid and impressive. The clusters of COVID-19 have also been managed well. Despite many imported cases, Cambodia was able to stop further transmission and prevent further spread of the virus to the community.

WHO has been working very hard and closely with the Ministry of Health and partners to respond to all the COVID-19 cases, with the aggressive public health measures including surveillance, risk assessment and contact tracing.

Yet our work is not done. As in all countries, we must continue to prepare for and improve how we respond to COVID-19 so that we can stop or slow down the transmission of the virus, and minimize the health, social and economic impacts.

With WHO advice and support, Cambodia has developed a Master Plan  on COVID-19. We are very pleased that Cambodia has established a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach in fighting against COVID-19.

While we have been doing rationally well in our response, we must scale up the readiness of the entire health and social protection systems for a highly demanding response to widespread community transmission. This includes human resource surge capacities, provision of adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) and other supplies, ensuring rapid funding mechanisms, identifying and planning for additional facilities that will be used for patient isolation, treatment and quarantine.

Special attention is needed to manage COVID-19 risk and address the needs of the vulnerable population, including migrants and factory workers. Greater support is also needed at the provincial level and the community level.

We are pleased the government has offered treatment for COVID-19 without charge, which is essential to ensuring Cambodians come forward to be tested and receive care.

While we are fighting against COVID-19, we are pleased that efforts are also being made to ensure access to non COVID-19 essential health and social services, particularly as people may avoid going to healthcare facilities due to fears about the pandemic.

As the specialized agency for health of the UN, WHO provides strategic direction, ongoing risk assessments, technical advice and operational support to the government of Cambodia, the UN Country Team and partners in response to COVID-19.

I would like to conclude by noting that this is a unique moment in history. The world has seen pandemics before, such as the Spanish flu occurred between 1918-1919 and the pandemic flu H1N1 in 2009. But this is a new coronavirus, the first ever of its kind.

Our actions today will be judged in the history books of tomorrow. We will continue to act in solidarity to prepare for and respond to COVID-19. Together, we can win this battle.

Thank you.