CAMBODIA has ordered more than 3,000 coffins from Thailand as the nationwide Covid-19 death toll continues to rise.
The Ministry of Interior said more than 1,000 coffins have already been sent to 12 provinces as the death toll crossed the 1,000 mark with 39 additional deaths yesterday.
The ministry's secretary of state Kol Vireak said 100 coffins had already been sent to each of the 12 provinces as delivery of coffins from Thailand was expected to be delayed as it was also dealing with a severe outbreak of the disease.
To overcome the shortage, Cambodia is already using seized timber from illegal logging to make coffins.
According to The Phnom Penh Post, Vireak said coffins will be sent to the western provinces first as they are at higher risk for increased fatalities.
This is mainly due to the influx of migrant workers returning to the country from Thailand.
"We have to send enough coffins to those provinces and then we will think of others," he said.
Vireak said they were working with the Environment Ministry to choose the appropriate timber for the coffins, following Prime Minister Hun Sen's July 1 order to use the seized timber for this purpose.
"At least we have enough coffins for cremation or burial. We are not at the point where we have to dispose of these bodies without coffins."
Environment Ministry spokesman Neth Pheaktra told The Post that his ministry will use timber seized during law enforcement actions against illegal loggers in 2020 and 2021 to make the coffins.
"According to our initial estimates, the timber currently in the hands of the ministry can make more than 1,200 coffins in this first phase," he said.
As of July 15, the environment departments in 12 provinces had made 700 coffins and delivered them to the provinces.
As of July 15, Cambodia had recorded a total of 64,611 Covid-19 cases with 1,025 fatalities.
Meanwhile, Khmer Times reports Hun Sen announcing that 12 to 17 year olds will now receive Covid-19 vaccines in Cambodia.
Taking into account the reopening of schools, he said there was a need for the vaccinations to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
He said children in Phnom Penh and Kandal province would be the first to be vaccinated, followed by Sihanoukville and other provinces.
"We want to be socially accustomed to the reopening of socio-economic areas, especially where we have closed schools.
This is a loss for us. If we had vaccinated children and young people, at least we would have been able to open schools from secondary school onwards," he said in a voice message.
Cambodia needs to secure another four million doses of vaccines for this as the current vaccination target of 10 million people is only for Cambodians over 18 years old.
Phnom Penh has already vaccinated about 99.6 per cent of its over 18 year old population.