How to Convert A Community Centre into Safe and Sound Emergency Testing Centre
On November 28th Cambodia had its first case of the COVID-19 virus spreading through community transmission from a woman who visited a shopping centre during black friday sales. The National Stadium was selected to be one of the designated testing locations for those who were related to the incident connected to shopping centers at the heart of Phnom Penh clusters. The Ministry identified and instructed who had direct and indirect contact with COVID-19 patients to come and get tested from December 8th to December 12th 2020 for the first, second and third final test.
The Stadium parking lot was chosen as the testing ground. Between the 3rd and the 8th December Ministry of Health, City Hall and The National Stadium team collaborated to sterilize and transform the car park into a testing ground. A team of 50 people were trained to assist the frontline workers and ensured the space was safe and sound. The ministry anticipated between 2,000-5,000 people to come and get tested for the second time.
Day 1 Challenges
However, there was a bit of an issue happening on the first of the testing period at 5:30am. These challenges included with:
People rushed to the National Stadium before working time
Failure to practice social distancing
Virus exposure
Thankfully, we were able to address this right away. Those actions involved with:
The National Stadium team was working so hard to control the traffic flow
Navigated them to practice social distancing inside the stadium
Advised them to wash their hands with sanitizers.
Hoards of workers rushing to get tested
Social distancing practices ignored as people waited to get tested. (Image Source: National Stadium- Cambodia)
DAY 2 Operation
Our team collaborated with City Hall and The Municipal of Health to ensure that the testing was properly aligned with the health and safety guidelines. We made sure:
All individuals practiced social distancing by 1.5m from each other
Frequent hand wash
Masks on at all times
Based on data collection by our team, there were more than 4,000 samples received by the Ministry of Health. There is footage of the event taken by our team.
(Image source: National Stadium-Cambodia)
Lesson Learned
The third testing occurred on the 12th of December 2020 was a success. After the challenge we had on the first day, we learned our lesson and the team - The Municipal of Health, City Hall, and the National Stadium team arranged an immediate meeting to ensure that the operation went smoother compared to the first day. Here are some images of the third testing event down below.
Mission Accomplished
After the completion of the testing COVID-19 event, the National Stadium team has ensured that they disinfected the whole area of the stadium to make sure the wellbeing and safety of every staff and the public is their top priority. We would like to express our gratitude towards the Municipal of Health, City Hall, National Stadium team and everyone involved to make sure that the ministry’s testing operation was successful. Here lies the footage of the National Stadium committee sterilizing the area.
Teams of professional sanitizers spraying stadium grounds. (Image source: National Stadium-Cambodia)