The drop in foreign orders is devastating workers in the Southeast Asian country, which counts on the garment industry for 40% of its economic output. Those still employed now fear contracting COVID-19 inside cramped factories.
Governments were scrambling to trace passengers after an 83-year-old American woman who traveled on the Westerdam cruise liner was infected.Loo estimates more than half of Cambodia’s 500 garment factories will suspend operations by the end of April. About 100 have already closed their doors.
“I’m very worried about getting my family sick if I keep going into the factory,” said Yim Pren, 23, who sews together sportswear for brands such as Puma. “But if I don’t go to work, how am I going to support them and pay my rent and my loans?” “Social distancing is almost impossible,” said Yang Sophorn, president of the Cambodian Alliance of Trade Unions. “From one [sewing] machine to another, there is less than half a meter in between. They sit close to each other. Their risk is very high. If someone contracted the disease, it will spread very fast.”
Prime Minister Hun Sen lauded factory workers for forgoing the holiday and remaining on the sewing lines.“To continue working will ensure your well-being and safety, as well as your families’ and colleagues’,” he said Monday.
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