No coronavirus in Laos, minister says

No case of the new coronavirus (nCoV) has been confirmed on Lao soil, Minister of Health Associate Professor Dr Bounkong Sihavong told a media conference yesterday.
He dismissed news circulating on social media, which suggested that there was a case and the patient was being treated in a Vientiane hospital, as ‘fake news’.
“So far, no patient has been confirmed as being infected with the new virus in Laos,” he told the media when speaking at his office.
There have been suspected cases, but tests had all proved negative, he added.

The minister said that a Chinese woman and her child from Wuhan in Hubei province, China, where the 2019-nCoV virus originated and caused a pneumonia outbreak, arrived in Laos on January 20 suffering from headaches. But tests did not give a positive diagnosis.
“After the tests were negative, they asked for permission to travel to Luang Prabang. We are now monitoring them,” he said.
In another case a Lao student who returned from China for the holidays had a cold and went to see medical staff at Mahosot Hospital. This person also tested negative for the virus.
In a third case a person with flu presented at Mittaphab Hospital but tests again proved negative.
The post on social media falsely claimed that someone was being treated for the virus at Mittaphab Hosptal and showed a photo of medical staff wearing protective clothing while diagnosing the patient, the minister said.
Despite the large number of Lao nationals taking courses in foreign countries, including China, no cases of the virus have surfaced among this group.
Health authorities have strengthened screening and quarantine measures at all 27 ports of entry across the country. All entry points are using thermal scanners to check visitors entering Laos.
However, the minister admitted that it was a challenge to prevent people infected with the virus from entering the country given that a person carrying the virus would probably have no symptoms during the first one to two weeks of infection.
“When a person has no symptoms, the scanner cannot detect the virus,” Assoc. Prof. Dr Bounkong said, adding that during this time people could travel and come into contact with many others and potentially spread the virus.     
Symptoms typically become apparent one to two weeks after infection. 
Common signs of coronavirus infection include respiratory symptoms, fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties. In more severe cases, infection can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure, and even death, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).Standard recommendations to prevent infection include regular hand washing, covering the mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing, and thoroughly cooking meat and eggs. Avoid close contact with anyone showing symptoms of respiratory illness such as coughing and sneezing, the WHO suggested.
So far, there is no cure for the virus, but in most cases patients recover in a short period of time. Doctors can only treat the symptoms, not the virus itself.  
Health officials said the death rate caused by the virus was only 3 percent of total infections, which is far less than the 30 percent killed by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which claimed the lives of nearly 650 people across mainland China and Hong Kong in 2002-2003.
Officials warned members of the public to be alert to fake news about the virus, saying people who wanted information can contact authorities in charge at +856 20 5406 6777 or hotline No: 166 around the clock. 
Chinese health authorities announced on Monday that 2,744 confirmed cases of pneumonia caused by the new coronavirus, including 461 people who were in critical condition, had been reported in the country by the end of Sunday. Eighty people had died, Xinhua reported.
Reportedly to have originated in a wildlife market in Wuhan in December, the virus spread to many Chinese cities and outside China including Thailand, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, the United States, Nepal, France, Australia, Vietnam, Canada and Malaysia.

By Souksakhone Vaenkeo
(Latest Update January 28, 2020)