KTabi wrote: ↑Wed Mar 17, 2021 5:29 am Many countries are easing restrictions at this point, it is quite bad that Cambodia who had been largely spared is bucking the trend again. It certainly doesn't seem like things will be eased by summer like much of the west claims to want to achieve. Is HE's statement indicating he may ban foreign entries?

KTabi wrote: ↑Wed Mar 17, 2021 7:04 am

Kammekor wrote: ↑Wed Mar 17, 2021 7:03 am No, he referred to domestic travel.

I do wonder though if the sentiment could end up extending to foreign entry but I suppose that is right.

Cambodia’s NagaCorp gaming giant is suddenly at the center of a controversy that could break the nation’s Covid-19 containment winning streak amid its worst-yet viral outbreak.

The Hong Kong-listed integrated casino firm, which has exclusive gambling rights in Phnom Penh, earlier this month shut its two casino and hotel resorts in the capital after 11 workers tested positive for Covid-19.

Cambodia recorded a daily record of 105 new Covid-19 cases today (March 16), forcing the government to restrict travel between regions. Cambodia has among the fewest cases in Asia at 1,430, but that figure has tripled from a month ago.

Last week, Cambodia acknowledged its first confirmed Covid-19 fatality. It’s unclear what role, if any, NagaCorp’s integrated resort may have played in the current Covid outbreak.

NagaWorld, the branded casino-hotel in the capital Phnom Penh, has tried to portray its closure as a cautious response to the pandemic, but in reality it was under heavy pressure to do so.

After the workers began their slowdown on February 25, the firm’s owners decided to close operations on March 1. They stated at the time in a letter to shareholders that 3,000 staff had been tested and eleven received positive tests.

In a bid to reopen the casinos and hotels, workers returned for a second test on March 12 but found that their appointment times were ill-planned, leading to winding queues and packed crowds around the casino for much of the day

NagaCorp’s founder and chief executive officer, Chen Lip Keong, a Malaysian billionaire who became a naturalized Cambodian citizen in 2020, owns a 66% stake in NagaCorp through two wholly-owned funds, ChenLipKeong Fund Limited and ChenLipKeong Capital Limited, both of which are registered in the Cayman Islands.

He also controls stakes in NagaCorp through a discretionary trust, the ChenLa Foundation.

Some Cambodian news outlets are leading with this positive spin. NagaCorp founder Chen is reportedly very close to the Khmer Times, an English-language daily that writes favorably of the Cambodian government and is owned by another Malaysian businessman.