VIENTIANE, March 16 (Xinhua) -- Lao National Taskforce Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control is ready to supply any necessary assistance and equipment to schools to prevent the outbreak of the COVID-19, the Health Ministry said Monday.
"If schools need assistance or equipment to prevent the virus they can inform the Ministry of Education and Sports, and the ministry will forward their requests to be considered by committee members," Local daily Vientiane Times on Monday quoted Director General of Communicable Disease Control Department under Health Ministry Rattanaxay Phetsavanh as saying in a report.
Soap for handwashing, temperature monitors and face masks are deemed as necessary to prevent the COVID-19 infection in crowded areas including schools.
To help contain a COVID-19 outbreak in schools, the committee has advised teachers and students to keep track of the situation and monitor updates from the Ministry of Health.
The Health Ministry would order officials to sanitize areas in schools and educational institutions nationwide and strictly follow the instructions, Lao Minister of Education and Sports, Sengdeuane Lachanthaboun told a press conference in Lao capital Vientiane last week.
The ministry has advised school administrators to ensure their premises are kept clean to reduce the risk of infection.
"The ministry also will join hands with the UNICEF and Save the Children to do school activities to promote methods to prevent the virus, handwashing, and exercise at school campuses across the country," Sengdeuane said.
"The ministry is calling on school administrators, teachers and parents to monitor student temperatures closely. Anyone who has flu-like symptoms will be taken to a hospital for observation or ordered to stay at home," she explained.
Sengdeuane added that "The ministry is not considering ordering the closure of either state or private schools. And there is no need to do so at present because there are no reports of the virus in Laos."
