Laos has recorded its second death and first Laotian victim from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus pandemic, while the number of infections in the country grew to nearly 1,500, according to health officials.
Rathsamee Vongkhamsao, deputy director of the Infectious Diseases Department under the Ministry of Health announced the latest death during a press briefing Thursday, adding that “of 1,200 samples collected, 16 more people were found to be infected with COVID-19,” one of whom is from the capital Vientiane, and the other 15 from Champassak province, which borders Thailand and Cambodia.
According to Rathsamee, the country’s second victim of COVID-19 was a 29-year-old Laotian man who “had a history of visiting entertainment venues” before the country went into a coronavirus lockdown and did not learn that he was sick until he went to a military hospital because of chest congestion on May 10. At that point, he said, the case was too advanced, and the young man died within two to three days.
A physician who observed the man at the hospital said that he had a history of diabetes, high blood pressure, and other illnesses he was unaware of before seeking treatment. Efforts by RFA’s Lao Service to reach the man’s family went unanswered on Friday.
BouaThep Phoumin, another deputy director of the Infectious Diseases Department under the Ministry of Health, called the man part of a “high-risk group of young people who are prone to infection with COVID-19.” He said that the victim had visited a popular nightclub on the same night that a young woman identified as COVID-19 Patient #59 was there.
An official from the Special COVID-19 Protection Unit in Vientiane municipality urged anyone who had been in close contact with the man or his family members to get tested for the disease.
The young man’s death comes days after Laos recorded its first victim of COVID-19—a 53-year-old Vietnamese woman living in Vientiane’s Xaysettha district who was admitted to the hospital with symptoms on April 30 and died on May 9.
While the coronavirus also made few inroads into landlocked Laos in 2020, the country of around 7.2 million has seen its economy battered by a series of lockdowns meant to stem the spread of the virus.
Vaccination drive in Cambodia
In neighboring Cambodia, which was also largely spared by the coronavirus last year, the situation has become increasingly dire in the aftermath of a February outbreak that led to the country’s first COVID-19 death the following month and has ballooned in recent weeks.
On Friday, Cambodia’s Ministry of Health reported five more deaths from COVID-19, bringing the death toll from the disease to 147. The number of infections in the country of 16.5 million surpassed 21,100 after more than 400 new cases were identified, the ministry said.
The drastic rise in cases prompted Prime Minister Hun Sen last month to lock down several so-called “red zones” in the capital Phnom Penh, residents of which have been confined to their homes for weeks without work or the ability to go out to make purchases needed to feed their families.
Nonetheless, Cambodia announced that health workers had administered two million doses of the coronavirus vaccine as of Friday, reaching nearly 20 percent of the country’s goal of inoculating 10 million people by year-end.
Industrial parks and hospitals in Vietnam
In Vietnam, authorities announced 104 new cases of the coronavirus overnight, bringing the total number of infections to 787 since health workers began struggling to contain a fourth major outbreak that was first discovered on April 27.
At least 133 infections were detected at industrial parks during the latest outbreak, prompting concern amongst factory workers, but officials have noted that the spread of the coronavirus has occurred at an even faster rate at some local hospitals. The Ministry of Health said a total of 363 local transmission cases were reported at the Dong Anh facility of the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases and the Tan Trieu facility of the National Cancer Hospital in Hanoi alone.
Since January 2020, when the country registered its first case of COVID-19, Vietnam has identified 3,816 infections within its borders.
Reported by RFA’s Lao service, Khmer Service, and Vietnamese Service. Translated by Sidney Khotpanya, Samean Yun, and Chau Vu. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Radio Free Asia.
Radio Free Asia | Radio Free (2021-05-14T23:38:44+00:00) Laos Records Second COVID-19 Death as Number of Infections Balloons. Retrieved from https://www.radiofree.org/2021/05/14/laos-records-second-covid-19-death-as-number-of-infections-balloons/
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