Laos visitors to be watched during self-quarantine

THE Lao government continues to implement preventive measures and carefully monitor the self-quarantine of people entering Laos especially returning workers to prevent a second wave of Covid-19.

People entering the country will be sent to quarantine centres for 14 days and the temperature of each person entering Laos must be checked, the health ministry said in a statement yesterday.

The National Taskforce Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control announced that it has been monitoring 2,985 people at 89 accommodation centres in the country.

The Lao government has urged people to remain vigilant and continue to implement preventive measures to stop the spread of the virus, even as the country reported no new cases for 77 days.

Laos announced its first two Covid-19 confirmed cases on March 24, and the last patient was discharged on June 9.

On a separate matter, bidding on the construction of the Fifth ThaiLao Friendship Bridge project is scheduled in July with a winning contractor being scheduled to sign for it in August, confirmed government spokesman Narumon Pinyosinwat on Saturday.

The construction of the friendship bridge is expected to get started later this year and to be finished in three years, she said.

The bridge project, designed to link Thailand’s Bueng Kan province with Laos’ Bolikhamsai province across the Mekong River, is estimated to cost about US$40.88mil (RM175mil), the spokesman said.