COVID-19 in Cambodia, January 2020–June 2022: a success story

ABSTRACT As a member state of the International Health Regulation 2005, Cambodia has been continuously strengthening its capacity to respond to health emergencies and prevent the international spread of diseases. Despite this, Cambodia’s capacity to prevent, detect, and rapidly respond to public health threats remained limited at the onset of the pandemic. This paper describes epidemiological phases, response phases, strategy, and lessons learned in Cambodia between 27 January 2020 and 30 June 2022. We classified epidemiological phases in Cambodia into three phases, in which Cambodia responded using eight measures: (1) detect, isolate/quarantine; (2) face coverings, hand hygiene, and physical distancing measures; (3) risk communication and community engagement; (4) school closures; (5) border closures; (6) public event and gathering cancellation; (7) vaccination; and (8) lockdown . The measures corresponded to six strategies: (1) setting up and managing a new response system, (2) containing the spread with early response, (3) strengthening the identification of cases and contacts, (4) strengthening care for COVID-19 patients, (5) boosting vaccination coverage , and (6) supporting disadvantaged group s. Finally, ten lessons were learned for future health emergency responses. Findings suggest that Cambodia successfully contained the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in the first year and quickly attained high vaccine coverage by the second year of the response. The core of this success was the strong political will and high level of cooperation from the public. However, Cambodia needs to further improve its infrastructure for quarantining and isolating cases and close contacts and laboratory capacity for future health emergencies. SUMMARY BOX COVID-19 spread globally, but how the pandemic played out in each country depended on various factors, including government responses and the general public’s adherence to COVID-19 measures. Early response— Early detection, Early isolation, Early tracing, Early treatment, and Early education —is the core of successful SARS-CoV-2 containment. Achieving high vaccination coverage quickly leads to a decline in the number of deaths and to eventual full re-opening of the country. Responding to the pandemic requires decisive leadership and good governance, that refers to decisions being made quickly, in a timely manner, and without delay. High level of cooperation from the public is a fundamental factor for success in containing the spread in the early phase, and the massively successful vaccination campaign in the later stage.