Olympic Stadium will immediately be reopened to the public, allowing exercise on its grounds, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport announced today.
The announcement, made this morning in a statement by Education Minister Hang Chuon Naron, said public areas would once again be made available for exercise, almost four months after the stadium was closed out of coronavirus concerns.
Last week, the stadium’s management told Newsroom that they had already sought permission to reopen, but were waiting for a reply. A notice on the gate from April 7 had announced the stadium’s temporary closure.
This evening, most fences set up around the stadium remained in place, but people were allowed in at the main gate. A parking attendant said the fences would be removed “in a few more days.”
Several people walked and jogged around the stadium’s grounds, which remained relatively empty on the first evening of reopening.
Nouv Vanna, a Daun Penh district resident, said he was eager to return to the stadium for exercising.
The announcement had come as a surprise, he added.
“I welcome it and I’m happy about the reopening, and for people to have more space to exercise and reduce stress,” Vanna said.
In his announcement, Chuon Naron asked people to practice public-health precautions as the coronavirus pandemic continued to spread worldwide:
- Always clean hands with soap or alcohol, wear masks and measure your temperature.
- Keep a distance of at least 1.5 meters between one another.
- Spray down sites with disinfectant.
Cambodia has recorded 226 cases of coronavirus but with no official deaths, while globally more than 16 million people have been infected, leading to about 650,000 deaths.
