Europe might be tenuously opening its doors to tourism, but South East Asia is certainly playing things a lot safer when it comes to de-confininement following COVID-19.

The Government of Cambodia has just announced that all travellers arriving in the Kingdom, both foreign and domestic, will be required to transfer directly a facility to have a COVID-19 test.

Foreigners must pay a refundable $2000 deposit, have a negative Covid test, government approved health insurance, and undergo quarantine.

Foreigner must pay $5 for a single trip between airport and waiting center, $100 USD for a COVID-19 test, $30 a day for staying at a hotel or at a waiting center to wait for the test result and $30 a day for three meals. This is deducted from the $2000 deposit.

The real kicker though is that if anyone on the flight were to test positive for coronavirus then all people on the flight would then be required to go into a 14 day quarantine at their own expense.

Should the person arriving test positive for coronavirus, then the cost would rise to $225 a day for hospital room, medical treatment service, meals, and laundry and sanitary services.

They added that for the issuance of a health certificate on COVID-19, a foreigner is required to pay 100 dollars for a lab test and 30 dollars for the certificate.

To keep things that bit extra cheery it was added that cremation service, assuming that you die of COVID-19, would be $1500, although how non-payers would be dealt with was not mentioned…

As things currently stand, Cambodia has so far confirmed a total of under 350 cases of COVID-19. 124 patients have been cured and two remained hospitalized according to the Ministry of Health statement. Some have questioned the accuracy of these numbers.

In essence this means that long-term visitors are allowed to come/return, but the country is not yet open to tourism as such.

This leaves the question of when the embattled tourist industry of Cambodia may resume or when foreigners currently stranded in the country will be able to leave. Once it happens, YPT will make sure to tell you!