COVID-19 pandemic still sees complicated developments in regional nations

Laos has decided to extend a nationwide lockdown order for an additional 15 days in a bid to prevent the spread of COVID-19 amid the complicated developments of the pandemic in many localities.

The order, imposed on June 4, is set to expire on June 19 and now it will be prolonged to July 4.

However, the gradual easing of lockdown with certain strict measures to remain in place.

According to the Ministry of Health, the country recorded three new COVID-19 cases, including two domestically-transmitted cases in Vientiane and one imported case, raising the national count to 2,050.
         
Meanwhile, Cambodia confirmed 20 more COVID-19 related deaths in the past 24 hours, the highest number in one day since the pandemic broke out in the country.

Cambodia’s Ministry of Health reported seven cases of the Delta variant of the coronavirus, first found in India, among travellers by land from neighbouring Thailand.

The numbers of COVID-19 infections and deaths have risen sharply in Cambodia since late February to 42,052 and 414, respectively.

The same day, the Department of Health (DOH) of the Philippines reported 6,959 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total number of infections to over 1.35 million. Meanwhile, the DOH also confirmed an additional 153 deaths, pushing the country’s death toll to 23,538.

With a population of 110 million, the Philippines has given COVID-19 testing to 13 million people since the pandemic hit the country in January 2020./.

VNA