Banteay Meanchey provincial governor Um Reatrey on May 10 lifted restrictions on some red zone locations in Poipet town after the Covid-19 outbreak in those zones have subsided.

In a notice dated May 9, Reatrey said the red zone designation had been removed from the compound of the Duong Chan Borey gated residential community in Poipet commune’s Samaki Mean Chey village.

The other designated red zones that were eliminated are located around the Casino & Hotel Palace in the commune’s Kbal Spean I village, according to the notice.

Banteay Meanchey provincial information department head Sek Sokhom told The Post that the reason that the red zones designations were lifted was because no new residents had been found to be infected with the disease. The removal of red zones was also to facilitate daily business in these locations.

“The red zones are considered areas to be at the highest risks of Covid-19 transmission, and an area becomes a red zone after many people there have tested positive. But now … we’ve taken people in for testing and their results came back negative so we lifted the red zones,” he said.

Along with the removal of red zone designation from some locations, the provincial administration on May 9 decided to designate some other locations in Poipet commune as red zones as they were now considered to be at highest risks of transmission.

The new red zones include the Golden building in Samaki Mean Chey village, the Istana Casino, KTV K One in Kbal Spean I village and some other locations, according to the administration. There is no timeframe set on how long these red zone lockdowns will last.

Sokhom said that as of May 10, the province had recorded 630 Covid-19 cases with no deaths. On May 8 alone a total of 85 people – including some foreigners in the town – tested positive for Covid-19.