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Garment Association explains Covid outbreak in factory

The Association of Lao Garment Industry has called on people to act more responsibly when circulating news, following an outbreak of Covid-19 in a Vientiane garment factory which triggered widespread speculation on social media.
The association’s Vice President, Mr Phimmasone Aminthalat, said people should wait for the results of an enquiry before jumping to conclusions about the source of the virus.
The outbreak caused the government to order a lockdown in the capital until September 30.
Mr Phimmasone told Vientiane Times that posts on social media concerning the Covid outbreak at the garment factory in Nongtha Neua village, Chanthabouly district, indicated that the virus spread after Thai technicians repaired some machinery at the facility.
However, he pointed out that the technicians had been living in Laos for more than two years and had not been back to Thailand since the start of the pandemic.
Posts on social media said the factory had hired workers from Thailand and illegal enter Laos, which were not true, Mr Phimmasone said.
He said it was likely that the virus had been transmitted to factory workers by other means, which authorities are currently investigating.
He called on the public to be cautious before making unfounded statements and to wait for the results of investigations into the likely source of the virus.
Mr Phimmasone also said that the factory workers, who are now in a quarantine centre, should not be regarded as virus spreaders because they had unwittingly contracted the virus and not done anything to cause its spread.
Information concerning the virus outbreak has been passed on to the Vientiane Public Security Headquarters, which is now investigating the incident.
Head of the Vientiane Public Security Headquarters, Colonel Soukphachanh Bouddakham, said officials were working with the Ministry of Public Security on the case.
Vientiane continues to record the highest number of locally-transmitted cases of Covid after the virus spread amongst garment factory workers last week, with 568 new cases reported on Thursday.


 

By Phomphong Laoin
 (Latest Update September 24, 2021)



 


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