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Brief Summary:
The Respiratory infection COVID-19, due to a new coronavirus, SARS-CoV2, appeared in December 2019 in several people who attended the wildlife market in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. While COVID-19 has spread to nearly 200 countries and caused two millions infections, Lao PDR detected its first confirmed case very recently, on March 20, three months after the start of the outbreak in China. As of April 12th, 2020, Lao PDR has only recorded 18 confirmed cases, a very low number compared to other countries around the world.
However, several key factors suggest that Lao PDR could be much more affected by COVID-19 because of the following reasons: (i) The multiple and massive trans-border movements between Lao PDR and China. (ii) The similar biogeographical and socio-ecological characteristics with South-Western China. (iii) The detection of a high diversity of Betacoronavirus sequences in several species of bats in Lao PDR. (iv) The numerous markets selling hi