The National Taskforce Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control has urged Lao nationals working abroad to enter the country legally using legal routes and following legal procedures.
“I would like to ask all Lao people working abroad who wish to return home to enter the country legally following legal procedures and using legal routes so that they can have samples collected for Covid-19 testing and quarantined according to anti-covid-19 measures so that their home visit will not result in spreading the virus to family, relatives and their loved ones,” said Phonpaseuth Xayamongkhoun, Deputy Director, Department of Communicable Disease Control, Ministry of Health at a press conference in Vientiane on Thursday.
“Since a large number of people returning from Covid-hit countries, it is highly likely that they will spread the virus to the places they have visited in their home country,” she said.
Between Jul 1-7, some 301 returning workers from Thailand tested positive to Covid-19 . Most of the infections were detected in Champassak (over 100) and Savannakhet (83). This results from an influx of returning workers who have been laid off due to lockdown measures in the neighbouring country.
Some 69 new cases of Covid-19 including 68 imported cases and one local transmission, detected in Luang Namtha, have been recorded over the past 24 hours.
Of the imported cases, 35 were recorded in Champassak, 30 in Savannakhet, three in Khammuan. All were returning workers from neighbouring countries.
Since March 2020, the Lao PDR has logged 2,469 confirmed cases of Covid-19 including 390 active cases and three deaths.
Globally, Covid-19 has infected over 185.8 million people and killed more than 4 million people since it was first detected in Wuhan, China in late 2019.
Source: Lao News Agency