The Lao People’s Revolutionary Party has instructed the government to conduct an official investigation into the cause of the recent outbreak of Covid-19 in Vientiane Capital.
The Party’s Administrative Office issued a notice on 22 September instructing the government to coordinate with relevant sectors and conduct an inquiry into how the outbreak occurred, Vientiane Times reports.
The investigation will also delve deeply into the operations of garment factories where the outbreaks were first recorded.
The nation’s capital went into lockdown on 19 September after cases were recorded at several garment factories, most notably the Alpilao Garment Factory in Nongtha Neua Village, Chanthabouly District.
Initial reports suggested a Thai national working as a machine repairman at the Aliplao factory may have been the first person to spread the virus, however, Present of the Lao Garments Association, Mr. Xaybandith Rasphone, gave an interview to the media to clarify the situation.
He said that the machine repairman employed by Alpilao is a citizen of Laos, however, he used poor judgment in meeting and drinking with two Thai repairmen from another factory in violation of Covid-19 restrictions.
According to Mr. Xaybandith, all garment factories in Vientiane Capital had strictly followed Covid-19 prevention measures since the first outbreak began in 2020, with regular monitoring by both the Department of Industry and Commerce and the Health Department.
He also stated that between 80 to 90 percent of laborers employed by garment factories across Vientiane Capital had been fully vaccinated.
