Covid ends Cambodian leader’s Bali attendance
Prime Minister Hun Sen hosted world leaders before coming to the G20 meet
Daily TribunePrime Minister Hun Sen hosted world leaders before coming to the G20 meet
NUSA DUA, Indonesia (AFP) — The Cambodian delegation to the G20 summit will return home for safety reasons on Tuesday, Prime Minister Hun Sen said after he tested positive for Covid-19.
Hun Sen also said he will miss meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Bangkok, Thailand later this week.
Cambodia's leader had tested positive for Covid-19 after hosting more than a dozen world leaders, including United States President Joe Biden, at a summit in Phnom Penh.
Hun Sen also had maskless encounters with eight other leaders at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit, including those from China, Japan, Australia and Canada. The ASEAN meeting ended on Sunday.
Asia's longest-ruling leader said in a Facebook post he returned a positive result on arrival in Indonesia for a G20 summit but was not experiencing any symptoms.
"Beloved compatriots! Now I have tested positive for Covid-19," he wrote on Facebook. He said he had been tested every day, including before flying to the G20 summit in Bali, and all the results had been negative.
"I am not sure when this virus came to me, but when I arrived, the Indonesians took a sample from me in the evening, and in the morning it confirmed Covid-19 positive," Hun Sen said.
He said it was "lucky" that he arrived in Bali late and missed a dinner with other leaders.