BANGKOK (UCAN): Laos has remained largely unscathed by the Covid-19 coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic, the country’s government said, with the number of people so far infected standing at 19, deputy minister of Health Phouthone Meaungpak told a press conference on April 29 in the capital, Vientiane. Eight people have recovered while 11 remain hospitalised.
Laos, which has a population of just over seven million, has tested 1,917 people suspected of having contracted the virus. However, it remains uncertain how reliable these figures are since there is strict media censorship in Laos, a communist holdout with a one-party government.
Local journalists routinely self-censor in filing their reports, steering clear of any subjects that could be deemed controversial by the Communist Party.
In its annual survey released last month, Reporters Without Borders ranked Laos at 172 out of 180 countries surveyed regarding freedom of the press, saying that the government exercised total control over the local media.
“Increasingly aware of the restrictions imposed on the official media, Laotians are turning to the internet and social media,” Reporters Without Borders said.
“However, the use of online news and information platforms is held back by a 2014 decree under which Internet users who criticise the government and the Marxist-Leninist LPRP can be jailed,” it said.
Local reporters “have no freedom to conduct independent investigative reporting or cover news stories in-depth,” a source affiliated to Reporters Without Borders told Radio Free Asia.
“What I know is that reporters working in the field are directed by high-ranking officials who are in charge of particular projects, so they report the news in ways that support official objectives,” the source said.
The work of foreign journalists is likewise severely curtailed around the country.
Although many locals have turned to social media for more reliable information, their online activities are monitored by the government.
Last November 30-year-old Houayheung Xayabouly was sentenced to five years in prison after she said in a Facebook Live video that the government’s response to devastating floods in two southern provinces had been inadequate.
Many lost their homes in the floods and were left stranded for extended periods without any outside help. They received little assistance from the government, according to anonymous accounts posted on social media.
A wider spread of Covid-19 could be devastating in one of Asia’s poorest nations with its rudimentary medical services across much of the country.
A lockdown was in place around the country throughout April with strict controls on the movement on people.
The lockdown was scheduled to be lifted as of May 3 in tandem with the easing of a similar lockdown in neighbouring Thailand.
