NA reviewing new draft law on emergency Covid powers
THE National Assembly (NA) plans to call an extraordinary legislative session to pass the Covid-19 prevention and control draft law which could also help with the future containment of other contagious diseases.
Financial penalties and prison sentences may be imposed on some offenders who violate the health measures mandated by the government.
The NA’s Standing Committee passed the Covid-19 prevention and control draft law on March 2 and had submitted it to the NA’s expert commissions for immediate review at the request of the government.
Consisting of six chapters and 18 articles, the new draft law is meant to establish a comprehensive legal basis for managing the Covid-19 pandemic in Cambodia and any similar future public health crises.
NA spokesman Leng Peng Long confirmed to The Post that the draft law had been sent to the other relevant NA’s expert commissions for review.
“Basically, this law was put together urgently because it’s very important. We could not risk delaying it. The study of the law will also be conducted soon and everything will be moving forward with appropriate urgency,” he added.
Peng Long said this draft law is largely similar to the laws that other nations had enacted in response to the pandemic, including similar administrative and health measures.
He explained that the health measures in the draft law included sanitation standards, hand washing and social distancing requirements as well as requirements for ventilation of indoor spaces.
Administrative measures included in the law provide the government with the power to ban mass gatherings on an emergency health basis – including wedding ceremonies – or to legally require that all of the guests observe social distancing guidelines.
“If a place such as a shop is determined to be a source of infections, then the government can order them closed temporarily.
“And if a person violates health measures, they can be punished with fines or imprisonment. It also describes other administrative measures the government can undertake. For example, if a community transmission breaks out, we might decide to cordon off an area and block travel in or out of that place as some countries have done,” Peng Long elaborated.
Prior to this draft law, the government on February 18 issued a subdecree on quarantine measures in a bid to contain Covid-19. The subdecree comprised seven chapters
and 23 articles.
According to the sub-decree, those who evade quarantine or escape from quarantine facilities will be fined between one million and five million riel ($250 and $1,250).
Those determined to be initiators, leaders, instructors, inciters, persuaders or to have otherwise intentionally aided individuals in their escape from the quarantine centre or hotel will be fined between 10 million and 50 million riel.
Any medical establishment such as a hospital or clinic found to be hiding the presence of Covid-19 patients or neglecting to report positive tests will be subject to the same fines.
Am Sam Ath, deputy director for right group Licadho, said he could not yet fully comment on this draft law as he had not seen it.
“Without having read the law yet my only concern so far is that perhaps the government prepared this law in too much of a hurry. I think that the best idea would be to make the draft law public so they can receive input from medical professionals, scientists and other people with relevant expertise. That would be much better,” he said.
THE government is providing assistance including 20,000 riel ($5) per day for 15 days and 20kg of milled rice to ease the livelihoods of people under quarantine in Phnom Penh due to the recent outbreak of Covid-19.
Phnom Penh governor Khuong Sreng said the municipal administration will continue to help people linked directly to the February 20 community transmission, people who have tested negative for Covid-19, people in quarantine at home and in hotels, and those facing livelihood shortages.
The Ministry of Health on March 2 confirmed 24 more cases linked to the February 20 incident, bringing the total to 340 in less than two weeks.
The 24 include four Vietnamese nationals and four Cambodians, with the rest being Chinese.
Among the 24, six – three Cambodians and three Chinese nationals – stay in Preah Sihanouk province and are receiving treatment there.
Another patient is a Chinese woman who registers her address in Phnom Penh, but has been admitted to the Chey Chumneas Referral Hospital in Kandal province for treatment.
The rest are being treated in the capital.
Separately, Naga Corp Ltd has announced the suspension of its operations on a voluntary basis after consulting with the health ministry. This came after 11 of its approximately 3,000 staff members tested positive for Covid-19. It was not immediately clear if the 11 are linked to the community transmission.
In Preah Sihanouk province, governor Kuoch Chamroeun issued a letter dated March 2 announcing that 29 locations – including hotels, restaurants, shared buildings, supermarkets
and private hospitals – have been suspended temporarily and designated as quarantine sites.
The letter said the business owners had to cooperate with the provincial administration’s working groups to prepare lists and look for guests, staff and all those involved in the locations for quarantine purpose.
Chamroeun said during the quarantine, they have to fulfil obligations including following proper preventive health measures, not leaving quarantine facilities without permission, cooperate with health workers and have their samples taken for Covid-19 testing.
In Phnom Penh, 77 locations linked to the February 20 community transmission have so far been closed temporarily.
As part of efforts to contain Covid-19, Prime Minister Hun Sen has decided to provide an additional 2.85 billion riel to five provinces bordering Thailand and an additional 220 million riel to seven provinces bordering Vietnam for quarantine from March 1 to 10.
MINISTER of Interior Sar Kheng has instructed heads of the government’s local visit working groups throughout the country to ensure that relevant officials are invited to attend all meetings at the municipal, district and commune levels.
Sar Kheng said these officials have an important role and direct responsibility in providing services and resolving issues with residents.
In a letter, the minister said relevant officials need to attend programmes that the working groups have arranged to ensure that their work at all levels would achieve better results.
Theinvitationofofficialsaims to support the sub-national administration in addressing the challenges, requests and suggestions of local people in a transparent, accountable and effective manner.
“Also invite community leaders who are directly responsible in providing public services and addressing the challenges and requests of local people,” he said.
Sar Kheng said meetings and gatherings must follow the government and health ministry’s measures to prevent the transmission of Covid-19.
Battambang deputy provincial governor Soeum Bunrith said that before Covid-19, local visit working groups regularly reached out to local communities to better understand their issues and help with solutions.
“Because of Covid-19, government’s working groups haven’t been out on visits. But they always conduct online meetings via Telegram,” Bunrith said
Bunrith said the local visit working groups had contributed in reducing people’s difficulties such as providing assistance in times of disaster and helping people on drought issues, lack of clean water, and road construction for people in the localities.
Coalition of Cambodian Farmer Community president Theng Savoeun said he had observed that the working groups’ implementation was more about following policy rather than technical issues.
He said if the working groups provided technical support to local authorities, it would increase their ability to address challenges and needs of the people.
“However, we would like to restart the meetings of local visit working groups at all levels of society to have more participation from all stakeholders. This should also include local civil society groups to ensure the implementation of decentralisation and deconcentration of systems at local level,” he said.
FIVE endangered royal turtles raised at the Koh Kong Reptile Conservation Centre (KKRCC) have now laid 71 eggs – marking the first time this particular species of turtle has ever laid eggs while in captivity at the centre – according to a press release from the Wildlife Conservation Society Cambodia (WCS Cambodia).
The royal turtle is the official national reptile of Cambodia.
Leak Ratna, an official from WCS Cambodia, said that in the past two weeks the five turtles had laid 71 eggs on the artificial beach at the
KKRCC. He said all of the eggs were laid by the group of royal turtles that the team had brought to raise at the centre 10 years ago.
“Back then the team had gotten four of these five female royal turtles from the beaches of the Sre Ambel River after they hatched from the nests of wild turtles. One of the five turtles was found by people from Koh Kong province in 2017 and brought to our centre by them,” Ratna said.
Som Sitha, WCS Cambodia’s Koh Kong and Mekong Conservation Project Manager, said the successful incubation of these turtles could not be confirmed until the team has had more time to observe them.
“This is the first time that our female royal turtles have ever laid eggs in captivity since they were hatched at the centre in 2006. The team is considering whether to make artificial nests for incubation purposes or whether to just leave them as they are now,” he said.
Steven G Platt, a WCS Cambodia expert on wildlife, said the fact that this rare species of turtles had managed to spawn in captivity and laid a large number of eggs was an unbelievably important thing for the breeding and ultimate survival of royal turtles.
Platt said breeding these turtles in captivity was crucial to saving the species from extinction.
“We anticipate soon being able to produce large numbers of royal turtles in captivity and then releasing them back into the wild,” Platt explained.
Dr Sonja Luz, vice-president of Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS) said her organisation is excited to be part of another major conservation milestone for this rare species.
“This new result is encouraging and we’re thrilled to see the work of our partners come to fruition despite the ongoing global pandemic,” she said.
Ouk Vibol, director of the Department of Fisheries Conservation, said there was real hope now for restoration of the royal turtle to the wild.
“I strongly encourage and support the continuation of these research activities because there is now a definite possibility that this species will survive in the wild and that Cambodia’s future generations can see them in person instead of just in old pictures,” he said.
According to the WCS Cambodia press release, KKRCC currently has 192 royal turtles being cared for at the centre. An additional 96 young adult royal turtles have already been released back into the wild since 2015. The team plans to release another 50 turtles later this year.