Phnom Penh (VNA)– Cambodia is going to reopen secondary and high schools in Phnom Penh onSeptember 15 while Indonesia has tightened protocols on international travellersto help curb the spread of COVID-19.

As part ofthe preparation to reopen secondary and high schools, the Phnom PenhAdministration has cleaned and disinfected 68 public schools on September 13 while private educational institutions were disinfected two days ago.

Director of the Phnom Penh Municipal Department ofEducation Hem Sinareth told Khmer Times that there was a need to thoroughly clean and disinfect the schools as some ofthem were used as COVID-19 treatment centres and for the vaccination campaign.

Themajority of the schools will be ready to be opened on September 15 while some willbe reopened in stages as they need to fully comply with the COVID-19 standard operatingprocedures, including the cleanliness, hygiene, and disinfection, he added.

Inthe neighbouring province of Kandal, Governor Kong Sophon has called on all relevant authorities to make sure that all classrooms and the entire schoolpremises are thoroughly cleaned and disinfected when they reopen on September15.

Hesaid 95 of the 101 secondary schools in the province will be reopened.

Meanwhile,the administration of Preah Sihanouk province, where COVID-19 used to broke outstrongly, has allowed five schools to be reopened in five districts.

As of September 12, nearly 9.74 million people inCambodia received at least one shot of COVID-19 vaccines, including those ofSinopharm, Sinovac, AstraZeneca, and Johnson & Johnson, with over 8.6million full vaccinated.

The country also administered vaccines to more than 1.7million people aged 12 – 17, equivalent to 86.86 percent of the teenagers setto be inoculated with the Sinovac vaccine.

Meanwhile, Indonesia has tightened protocols onarrival for international travellers during the time community activity restrictions(PPKM) at Level 1 - 4 are extended from September 7 to 20.

Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs andInvestment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said on September 13 that individuals whowish to enter Indonesia must be fully vaccinated and take PCR tests thrice.

The Indonesian Government has also restricted theentry of foreign nationals to support pandemic control.

Monitoring will be carried out in the next one - two weeksfor foreign travellers arriving in Cengkareng, Manado, and Bali by air,according to the official.

Earlier, the Indonesian Governmentextended the PPKM order levels 1 - 4 in some areas in Java and Bali. A two-weekrestriction from September 7 to 20 has also been imposed in some outer areas onthe two densely populated islands.

As of 6pmon September 13, 73.8 million people in the nation got jabs ofCOVID-19 vaccines, including 42.3 million fully vaccinated. Given this, more thanone-third of the 208.26 million people Indonesia plans to vaccinate got thefirst shot of vaccine./.