Vietnamese woman first Covid-19 casualty in Laos

By Hong Hanh May 9, 2021 | 06:10 am PT

Laos Red Cross volunteers raise awareness on the symptoms of Covid-19 and the means to protect oneself from it, in a market in Vientiane, Laos, April 30, 2020. Photo by Laos Red Cross/Handout via Reuters.

A 52-year-old Vietnamese woman who worked in a karaoke parlor in Vientiane has become Laos’s first Covid-19 fatality.

The woman had moved to Laos last year and was working at the karaoke parlor linked to Laos’s Patient 59, believed to be the source of the latest Covid-19 outbreak in the neighboring nation.

The Vietnamese woman tested positive for the novel coronavirus on April 28 and was admitted to a hospital in Vientiane on April 30. She suffered from other health conditions, reports said.

Her condition took a turn for the worse Saturday and the Vietnamese embassy in Laos had asked for online medical assistance from Vietnam’s Ministry of Health.

But all the efforts proved in vain as the woman breathed her last at 1 p.m. Sunday.

Laos has so far confirmed 1,302 Covid-19 cases with 232 recoveries and one death.

The country has been placed under lockdown until May 20 amidst a new outbreak.