PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Cambodia’s Education Ministry has ordered all state schools to close until the start of the next school year in January after a rare local outbreak of the coronavirus.
Education Minister Hang Chuon Naron issued a statement late Sunday saying that all schools will be shut to prevent students from being infected. Public schools will remain closed until until Jan. 11, the start of the next school year, while private schools must close for two weeks, he said.
Students in private schools will be permitted to study online.
Cambodian officials said over the weekend that a family of six and another man tested positive for the coronavirus. Eight more cases were reported Monday among residents of Phnom Penh who were in contact with the family.
Prime Minister Hun Sen expressed concern that the woman believed to be the source had traveled extensively in the country. The woman’s husband works at the Interior Ministry in charge of prisons, and three Cabinet ministers are undergoing self-quarantine.
About 3,300 people in seven provinces who were found to have had contact with the family are having themselves tested, according to the statement.
Also on Monday, the Culture and Fine Arts Ministry announced the closure of all theaters and museums and the prohibition of public concerts for the next two weeks.
Cambodia has reported only 323 cases of the virus since the pandemic began, most of them acquired abroad, with no confirmed deaths.
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HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:
—Fauci: US may see ‘surge upon surge’ of virus in coming weeks
—U.K. stocks up on vaccines, hopes to start virus shots within days
—NYC to reopen schools, even as virus spread intensifies
— Federal judges uphold Kentucky governor’s virus school order
—When Turkey changed the way it reports COVID-19 infections, it confirmed what many long suspected: The country faces an alarming surge of cases
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HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:
NEW DELHI — India has recorded 38,772 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, driving its overall total to 9.43 million.
The health ministry on Monday also reported 443 deaths in the same period, raising the death toll to 137,139.
India continues to have one of the lowest deaths per million population globally, the health ministry said in a statement. It also said that focused measures to ensure a low and manageable fatality rate have resulted in daily mortality figures of less than 500.
For more than three weeks now India’s single-day cases have remained below the 50,000 mark.
The capital, New Delhi, has also seen a dip in daily infections. It reported fewer than 5,000 new cases for the second consecutive day. On Sunday, it recorded 68 deaths, driving the capital’s total to 9,066.
India is second behind the U.S. in total coronavirus cases.
In an effort to slow the virus’s spread, the home ministry has allowed states to impose local restrictions such as night curfews but has asked them to consult before imposing lockdowns at state, district or city levels.
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LOS ANGELES — Counties across California will begin stricter COVID-19 restrictions on Monday as cases surge statewide and Thanksgiving travelers return home.
Health officials are preparing for a wave of cases in the next two or three weeks that could be tied to holiday gatherings.
Los Angeles County will impose a lockdown calling for its 10 million residents to stay home beginning Monday.
Santa Clara County is banning all high school, collegiate and professional sports and imposing a quarantine for those traveling into the region from more than 150 miles away.
San Francisco and San Mateo counties moved to the most restrictive purple tier in the state’s pandemic blueprint for the economy.
The state reported 7,415 coronavirus hospitalizations on Sunday, citing the most recently available data from the previous day. More than 1,700 of those patients were in intensive care units. California’s previous record was 7,170 in July.
As of Sunday, California has had nearly 1.2 million confirmed coronavirus cases and more than 19,000 deaths since the pandemic began. The state reported around 15,600 new cases on Saturday.
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CHICAGO — Public health officials in Illinois on Sunday reported 57 more deaths from COVID-19, as well as 7,178 new confirmed and probable cases.
There have been 720,114 COVID-19 cases in Illinois since the pandemic began. The death toll has reached 12,193 people.
The state reported 62,740 tests in the past 24 hours with more than 10.4 million tests overall.
Currently, 5,858 people in Illinois are being hospitalized for COVID-19, with 1,185 people in intensive care units.
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NEW YORK — New York City will reopen its school system to in-person learning and increase the number of days a week many children attend class even as the coronavirus pandemic intensifies in the city.
Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Sunday that some elementary schools and pre-kindergarten programs will resume classes Dec. 7. Others will take longer to reopen their doors. The announcement marks a major policy reversal for the nation’s largest school system.
It comes just 11 days after de Blasio announced that schools were shutting down because of a rising number of cases. The plan for reopening middle and high schools is still being developed.
Some elementary schools and pre-kindergarten programs will resume classes Dec. 7, a week from Monday, the mayor said. Others will take longer to reopen their doors.
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INDIANAPOLIS: Public health officials in Indiana say 24 more people have died from the new coronavirus for a total of 5,418 deaths in the state.
The Indiana Department of Health reported 4,335 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Sunday. The overall number of cases in the state is 333,312.
Public health officials say there are another 267 people who likely died from COVID-19 based on clinical diagnoses but for whom there’s no positive test on record.
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HONOLULU — A group of Hawaii leaders launched a campaign Sunday to promote the islands as an appealing location for a remote office with a view.
Now that many companies, especially in the tech industry, allow employees to work from anywhere during the pandemic, they hope Hawaii will be alluring.
They’re also throwing in roundtrip tickets to Honolulu for the first 50 approved applicants.
Some say high-paid workers will bolster an economy decimated by dramatically fewer tourists.
Others worry what those with Silicon Valley money will mean for housing, especially when there’s already a crunch for affordable places to live.
Image; Barbara Roque, top left, holds up a sign during a Voice for Choice – Open Our Schools rally in Horsham, Pa., Sunday, Nov. 29, 2020. Joining her are her children, from left to right, Elaina, Emily, Erica and her husband, David. The group holding the event said their rally is about having the choice to choose from in-person Instruction or virtual. (David Maialetti/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)
