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52nd case of Covid-19 confirmed

Health officials and medical staff across the country have been asked to be more vigilant in responding to Covid-19 after another case of the virus was confirmed on Monday.

The case was confirmed by the National Taskforce Committee on Covid-19 Prevention and Control and brings the total number of recorded infections to 52.
Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Deputy Director of the Communicable Disease Control Department, Ministry of Health, Dr Sisavath Soutthanilaxay, said the latest person to test positive was a 48-year-old Australian man.
He had travelled via Kuala Lumpur Airport in Malaysia and arrived at Wattay International Airport in Vientiane on Sunday morning. Although he had no symptoms he tested positive for Covid-19 with the results confirmed on April 11 and was taken to a quarantine facility before again testing positive later that day.
He was then admitted to Mittaphab Hospital. The 26 people who shared a bus with him upon arrival in Vientiane have all tested negative for the virus. Laos has been intensifying preparations for a possible widespread outbreak of Covid-19 with the government also mobilising support and assistance from development partners and friendly countries. 
Officials warn that Laos is at risk of a fresh outbreak of Covid-19 given that many people are entering Laos illegally from neighbouring countries, where new infections are occurring.
The Ministry of Health is advising everyone to protect themselves against the virus by limiting contact with people suffering from acute respiratory infections.
Another two cases of Covid-19 were confirmed by the national taskforce on Monday, involving a Thai businessman living in Vientiane and a 41-year-old government official who returned from Mongolia via Incheon International Airport in the Republic of Korea on the weekend.
To date there have been 52 known cases of Covid-19 in Laos, although no one has died or been seriously ill.
From January 2020 until April 12, 2021, a total of 143,481 people were tested for the virus.
Everyone passing through a border crossing has their temperature checked but no one has shown signs of fever to date. As of April 12, the coronavirus had spread to 219 countries and territories, with at least 136,612,738 confirmed cases globally. The virus has claimed 2,948,824 lives while another 109,840,346 people have recovered.

 

By Times Reporters
(Latest Update
April 13,
2021)


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