PHNOM PENH: All flights to the kingdom from Malaysia and Indonesia will be banned from Aug 1 to curb the spread of the Covid-19 virus.
According to reports in the Khmer Times, this was stated in a letter from the Health Ministry to Prime Minister Hun Sen on Saturday.
The recommendation to temporarily ban the flights follows an urgent meeting by the ministry after 23 Covid-19 cases were recorded here.
The ban is aimed at curbing the spread of the pandemic as Cambodia will be celebrating the four-day Khmer New Year holiday, postponed from April 13 to Aug 17.
The Times reported that at least 108 cases of Covid-19 had been reported from among passengers from Malaysian and Indonesian flights.
The letter stated that Hun Sen has already approved the flight ban until the Covid-19 Committee requested the flights to restart.
Almost all of those tested positive were Cambodian citizens returning from Russia and the Middle East via transit flights through Malaysia.
They have been stranded in Middle-Eastern countries and Russia for a lengthy period of time.
The decision to temporarily ban the flights comes just a day after Malaysia had announced that Cambodia was considered to have the potential to be a travel bubble.