How Cambodia has managed to achieve zero recorded COVID-19 deaths
As the world grapples with the pandemic more than a year since the first COVID-19 cases were declared, Cambodia has emerged as an unassuming success story.
Updated 12 hours ago
By Emily Jane smith

Cambodia is one of few mainland countries to have recorded zero deaths from COVID-19, despite having an underfunded healthcare system.

At the time of publishing this article, Cambodia has recorded a total of 448 COVID-19 cases and zero deaths.

On the same day, the UK recorded more than 38,000 new cases with 1,820 COVID-19 related deaths.

Although the two countries are not comparable in terms of population or healthcare system, it offers a comparison idea of how the virus has affected two countries vastly differently.

So different, it seems almost unbelievable.

Frances Daily, a medical doctor who has worked in Cambodia for more than two decades, was initially sceptical at their numbers but is now convinced their success is legitimate.

“It is astonishing,” she said from her home in Tasmania.

“I thought we were going to get slaughtered [by COVID-19] there … but after the first few months of the pandemic, it became apparent that they really didn't have many cases. ”

Dr Daily has worked in infection control and medical education in Cambodia. She said that if cases and deaths were higher than the official numbers, the health crisis would be too big to hide.

“There would be recorded deaths, absolutely, if the spread of COVID-19 was far beyond what was recorded.”

Professor McLaws, who is a UNSW professor and advisor to World Health Organisation Infection Control and Prevention Guidance Development Group for COVID-19, said that border controls and culture go a long way in explaining Cambodia’s success.

“Deaths are a fairly good indication that COVID-19 is not widespread, even if some positive cases have not been recorded, and that they've been very fortunate.”
Full article: https://www.sbs.com.au/news/dateline/ho ... -19-deaths

phuketrichard wrote: ↑Fri Jan 22, 2021 6:31 pm ok, sideways to why Cambodia has been so lucky
why has Burma been so Unlucky??

Do you have an opinion on this ?

They don’t test or report the cases

phuketrichard wrote:

Anchor Moy wrote: ↑Fri Jan 22, 2021 6:49 pm

phuketrichard wrote: ↑Fri Jan 22, 2021 6:31 pm ok, sideways to why Cambodia has been so lucky
why has Burma been so Unlucky??

Do you have an opinion on this ?

not really, Thailand, Burma, Laos & Cambodia all get plenty of Chinese
so cant really say why Burma got hit so hard

Laos 41 cases 0 deaths 99,313 test
Cambodia 456 cases 0 deaths 380,057 tests
Thailand 13,104 cases 70 deaths 1,217,873 tests
Burma 136,166 cases 3,013 deaths 2,212,145 tests

Ive said from most of last year, test and you will find, covid is everywhere more than reported


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Jamie_Lambo wrote: ↑Fri Jan 22, 2021 8:43 pm

phuketrichard wrote:

Anchor Moy wrote: ↑Fri Jan 22, 2021 6:49 pm

phuketrichard wrote: ↑Fri Jan 22, 2021 6:31 pm ok, sideways to why Cambodia has been so lucky
why has Burma been so Unlucky??

Do you have an opinion on this ?

not really, Thailand, Burma, Laos & Cambodia all get plenty of Chinese
so cant really say why Burma got hit so hard

Laos 41 cases 0 deaths 99,313 test
Cambodia 456 cases 0 deaths 380,057 tests
Thailand 13,104 cases 70 deaths 1,217,873 tests
Burma 136,166 cases 3,013 deaths 2,212,145 tests

Ive said from most of last year, test and you will find, covid is everywhere more than reported


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Sure, but do we have any reason to think that there is more covid testing in Burma than in Thailand (for example) ? And I think (ie. my impression is) that a lot of the covid clusters in Thailand originated from Burmese migrant workers.
If this so, then why ? Because they are living in close conditions ? Or because in Burma, and in Thailand, Burmese workers are still working in factories, plantations and boats where there is no protection ?
I don't know the answer, but a lot of Cambodian factories have closed down, so could that be the reason for the difference between the statistics in Cambodia and the neighboring countries ?

phuketrichard wrote: ↑Fri Jan 22, 2021 8:56 pm you think Burma is lying about the number of tests?

Yup, Many of the latest cases are via Burmese migrant workers ( 8, 676 total cases just since dec 15th)

Well, going by your figures (which I haven't checked), Burma have tested twice as many people as Thailand, but have ten times as many positive cases. And a lot of the Thai cases come from Burmese migrant workers.
So, yes, I agree with you that there must be a reason for this difference. And it's a big difference.