The Lao Ministry of Health announced on January 9 that the country has recorded 924 new COVID-19 infections and seven deaths over the past 24 hours.

COVID-19 patient receives treament in Manila, the Philippines (Photo: AFP/VNA)

After a few days back to the 4-digit increase, the number of new cases in Laos returned to a 3-digit increase and decreased by 142 cases compared to that on January 8. Vientiane continues to be the epicentre with 354 new cases.

To date, the total number of COVID-19 infections in Laos has reached 118,880, of which 487 people have died.

On January 9, the Philippines continued to record a new high number of COVID-19 cases with 28,707 infections after a record number of 26,458 infections of the day before.

Since the beginning of the pandemic outbreak, this Southeast Asian country has reported a total of 2,965,447 infections, including 52,150 fatalities.

Cambodia’s Ministry of Health earlier on January 9 announced that it had detected the first Omicron community case in the country.

It said the man, a 23-year-old from Phnom Penh’s Russey Keo district – had visited his cousin at a hospital before being detected with the variant, reported The Phnom Penh Post.

The ministry noted that from December 27 to January 5, the man had travelled with his cousin – who arrived in Cambodia from Australia on December 27 – to various places including Phnom Penh and the provinces of Kampong Thom, Siem Reap and Kampot.

He visited the cousin at the hospital on January 5 and was detected with the coronavirus later that day. His sample was then sent to the Pasteur Institut du Cambodge and was confirmed as Omicron on January 8.

Source: VNA