Phnom Penh, Mar 19 (AP) Cambodia's Health Ministry announced the country's second confirmed death from COVID-19 on Friday.

It said the 62-year-old victim was a Cambodian woman admitted Wednesday to the Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital in the capital Phnom Penh with underlying health issues, including diabetes, high blood pressure and lung problems.

Cambodia confirmed its first virus-related death on March 11, a .50-year-old man Cambodian man who was found to have become infected last month while working as a driver for a Chinese company in the coastal city of Sihanoukville.

Cambodia has confirmed 1,578 virus cases during the pandemic.

Prime Minister Hun Sen announced in an audio message posted on social media Friday that his government has purchased 1.5 million doses of the Chinese-made Sinovac vaccine. He said the shipment will arrive March 26 and be dispensed nationwide.

Hun Sen said 400,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine donated by China will arrive sometime in April. A first batch of 600,000 already is being used in outbreak areas. Cambodia also received 324,000 doses of the Astra Zeneca vaccine through the World Health Organization earlier this month.conference on Friday that the number of positive virus cases in Belgium rose by a third over the past week, or 3,226 confirmed daily cases on average.

Hospitalisations due to COVID-19 also rose by 27% over the same period, and Van Laethem warned that the number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care units could reach a critical level by April 10 if the pace of infections does not slow down.

The trends led the Belgian government to move up a meeting of Belgium's Consultative Committee, which on Friday is expected to reconsider its decision to relax public health restrictions starting next month.

Van Laethem said Belgian residents can help ensure the new spike of infections becomes “a mini-wave” by adhering to prevention measures.

A total of 22,624 people have died of coronavirus-related causes in Belgium, a country of 11.5 million residents. The number of virus-related deaths reported daily dropped by more than 10% over the past week, which officials attributed to an intensive vaccination campaign in nursing homes. (AP)

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