Situation Repot of COVID-19 in the ASEAN Region – 29 September 2021

Global Update

• Worldwide, there have been over 233 million cases and over 4 million deaths attributed to COVID-19.

Regional Update

• Lao Ministry of Health on September 28 (Tuesday) called for continued vigilance as local cases of COVID-19 continued to increase and spread across multiple provinces in Laos. Deputy Director General of the Department of Communicable Diseases Control under the Lao Ministry of Health told a press conference that all the people in the country must continue to fully comply with government guidelines against COVID-19 in order to curb the spread of the virus. He added that 5,911 tests were conducted across the country over the past 24 hours, with 500 cases confirmed, with 471 cases of community spread and 29 imported ones across the country. Among the community cases, 363 were reported in the Lao capital Vientiane and the rest logged in other provinces. Meanwhile, 29 imported cases were recorded, with 20 in Savannakhet province, six in Vientiane, and three in Champasak province. As of Tuesday, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Laos has reached 22,941 with 16 deaths.

• Vietnam’s Prime Minister said that the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control has agreed to change the strategy policy from “zero COVID-19” to “safe and flexible adaptation and effective control of the COVID-19 pandemic”, striving to bring the country back to a new normal by the end of the month. Speaking at the online meeting between the Steering Committee and officials from 10,400 communes, wards and townships, 705 districts, and 63 cities and provinces nationwide on Saturday, the Prime Minister noted that so far, COVID-19 has been gradually controlled in the majority of localities. A report from the steering committee at the meeting said that, from the beginning of the fourth wave of the pandemic to Sept 24, the whole country recorded 734,000 cases, while 503,000 people or 69% have recovered, and more than 18,000 deaths were reported. Last week, there were 72,236 new cases, down 9.7% compared to the previous week and the number of deaths in the week decreased by 12.1% compared to the previous week. Currently, there are 16 out of 63 provinces and cities that have gone 14 days without any new infections. In 23 localities implementing social distancing measures, the pandemic situation is gradually being controlled, the number of cases in the last seven days decreased by 9.8% compared to the same previous period.