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Authorities track down infected man after online appeal

Heath officials have traced a 26-year-old man known as Mr Thin after spending a day trying to locate him when his Covid-19 test returned a positive result on Saturday.
The man, who lives in Kaolew village in Vientiane’s Sikhottabong district, gave an incorrect phone number when he went for the test at Mahosot Hospital, and staff were unable to contact him to inform him of the positive result.

He was finally tracked down on Sunday, easing fears that he could trigger a renewed outbreak of the virus in the capital if he was not traced.
His photo was circulated on social media, and members of the public were asked to inform authorities if they recognised him.
Health officials have warned that the virus outbreak will not end if people fail to obey the lockdown rules, with family members and friends continuing to visit one another.
“The new infections are occurring within family members and individuals who are closely connected,” Deputy Director General of the Ministry of Health’s Communicable Diseases Control Department, Dr Phonepaseuth Xayamongkhoun, told a press conference on Saturday.
“Because many people with the virus do not have any symptoms and do not feel unwell, infected people are continuing to visit their friends and relatives and travel around, which runs the risk of creating new clusters of infections,” she said.
Although the number of new cases has declined in recent weeks, community outbreaks remain a great concern.
On Sunday, six new cases of Covid-19 were confirmed, bringing the countrywide total since March last year to 1,996. The cases were recorded in Vientiane (4), Savannakhet province (1) and Luang Namtha province (1).
One of the four new cases in Vientiane was the mother of an infected person, who lives in Done Daeng village, Chanthabouly district. She has underlying health conditions and went to a hospital for a test over the weekend.
Another person is a woman from Nongtae village who had also come into contact with an infected person in Kaolew village and has spent time with her children.
Four new cases of Covid-19 were also reported on Friday after 1,826 samples were tested for the virus. Two of these were in Vientiane, while Savannakhet province recorded two imported cases.
On Saturday, 11 new Covid-19 infections were confirmed, with Vientiane reporting three and Champassak province reporting eight imported cases.
Health officials stress that vaccination is the only way to beat the Covid-19 crisis.
This week, health workers in Vientiane will start giving first doses of Pfizer and Sinopharm vaccines to local residents as part of the government’s efforts to vaccinate 50 percent of the population by the end of this year.


 

By Somsack Pongkhao
(Latest Update
June 14,
2021)


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