Worrying Trend

This is a report from the online edition of Fresh News, a pro-government newspaper in Cambodia. It notes that today for the fifth consecutive day there were no new cases of COVID-19 infection in the kingdom, and of the 122 previously identified cases only 19 remain in hospital. If the trend continues, we will soon be approaching the record of what must be the best health care system in the world–North Korea–which reports no known infections in that kingdom.

Msgr. Salas

Today is the 45th anniversary of the Khmer Rouge entering and occupying Phnom Penh. Three days before, Bp. Emile Destombes secretly ordained Fr. Chhmar Salas as the first Cambodian bishop of the diocese before Bp. Emile was deported. Salas’ last words to Bp. Emile were “Tell the world about us.” Bp. Salas died under the Khmer Rouge two years later.

The cathedral pictured above was destroyed by the Khmer Rouge.

COVID-19 Notes

Six days ago, when postponing the celebration of the Khmer New Year, the government announced an inter-province travel ban to end at midnight tonight. In an attempt to prevent the spread of COVID-19 around the country, no one except authorized and emergency people were to cross provincial lines. I heard early on that people were going through the checkpoints, and yesterday the newspaper confirmed it. Then today the ban was lifted at 6:00 AM. That’s the kind of scenario that frightens me about the period to come if the virus–progressing slowly so far–makes a jump into a significant portion of the population.