Covid-19 measures in Laos extended until Oct 30

VIENTIANE, Oct 17 (Vientiane Times/ANN): The government has extended Covid-19 measures for another 15 days until Oct 30 as the virus outbreak escalates.

The Prime Minister’s Office also had issued a notice ordering the extension on Friday (Oct 15).

Addressing a media briefing, Vice Chairman of the National Taskforce for Covid-19 Prevention and Control, Thipphakone Chanthavongsa, said the spiralling number of cases justified the extension.

Over the past two weeks, the number of locally-transmitted cases has risen by 98.5 per cent.

The government called on people from all walks of life to strictly comply with the measures and warned that anyone breaching the rules would be penalised in line with the regulations.

Fact-finding officials at all levels were told to continue carrying out investigations into the origins of and reasons for new cases in each locality and to identify the individuals and entities responsible.

The government has told authorities in charge to accelerate the vaccination programme so that people can be immunised against the virus.

To this end, authorities were told to speed up the formulation of plans to distribute and administer vaccines to target groups so they were used before their expiry date.

Authorities were also instructed to prepare sufficient quarantine and treatment facilities to handle the rising number of cases.

Officials in charge of financial affairs were asked to prepare a budget for the purchase of medical equipment including virus testing reagents, vaccine, and medicines.

The government told authorities to make sure that Lao workers, students and officials returning from neighbouring countries spent 28 days in quarantine.

This period consists of 14 days in a quarantine centre set up by the government or provincial authorities and another 14 days in a facility arranged by district or village officials.

People undergoing quarantine in hotels designated by Covid-19 taskforces need spend only 14 days in quarantine.

As of Saturday, 31,733 cases of Covid-19 had been confirmed across the country, including 545 new cases reported on the day. A total of 38 people have died and 24,099 people have been discharged from hospitals after recovering from the illness. - Vientiane Times/ANN