Phnom Penh capital of Cambodia has been placed under a lockdown for the first time since the emergence of COVID-19 cases in the country at the end of last year.

According to an official announcement of the Cambodian government, the two-week lockdown, starting from April 15, also covers the neighbouring city of Takmao. Non-essential travel will also be restricted.

The Cambodian Ministry of Health announced that the country recorded 178 new COVID-19 infections on April 14, of which 149 were in Phnom Penh.

Cambodia has to date logged 4,800 COVID-19 cases in total, including 35 deaths.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Department of Health said the country saw additional 8,122 cases on April 14, raising the national count to 892,880.

The death toll also rose 162 from the previous day to 15,447.

Since the start of COVID-19 in January 2020, the Philippines conducted tests for over 10 million people out of a population of 110 million.

Lockdown measures have been in place in Metro Manila and four surrounding provinces until April 30 to curb the spread of the pandemic.

Also on April 14, Malaysia recorded 1,889 new cases and eight fatalities, bringing the tallies to 365,892 and 1,353, respectively. There were 347,780 recoveries.

Source: VNA