Day: February 9, 2022

The director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday that even though she was encouraged by dropping COVID-19 hospitalizations and case rates, the pandemic was still not at the point at which the agency could recommend dropping nationwide indoor mask requirements.

During a White House COVID-19 response team briefing, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky told reporters the team was very encouraged by current trends that have shown overall cases dropping more than 44% in the past week and hospitalizations down nearly 25%.

But Walensky said that while hospitalizations were down, U.S. deaths from COVID-19 rose by 3% in the past week, and that both indicators were too high to change the CDC guidance on indoor masking in areas of high transmission.

“We aren’t there yet,” she said.

More state and local governments are announcing plans to begin lifting their mask requirements. Wednesday, New York state became the latest, with Governor Kathy Hochul saying infection rates had declined to a level at which it was safe to rescind the broad masking order.

Hochul said masks would still be required in schools, health care facilities, certain types of shelters and public transit. Private businesses will be free to set their own masking rules for staff and patrons.

Walensky said that many states like New York were lifting their mandates in phases, and that she recognized the need for local governments to be flexible. But she said the CDC was basing its guidance on nationwide surveillance and data, with hospitals, in particular, being a barometer.

White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Jeff Zients said that, in terms of the pandemic, January was a difficult month, but data showed the nation was moving toward a time when COIVD-19 would no longer disrupt our daily lives.

He said 210 million people had been fully vaccinated, and, in the last three weeks, nationwide, daily cases were down 65% and hospitalizations were down 40%.

Source: Voice of America

Department of Customs of the Ministry of Finance organized a training session on customs declaration management, and goods, vehicle and passenger inspection for customs officials.

The session was chaired by Director General of the Department of Customs Phoukhaokham Vannavongxay. It also saw the presence of Director of the Institute of Finance and Accounting Kaseumsy Phommavongsa and representatives of relevant offices.

“The role of custom officials is not only related to revenue collection but also to protecting the safety of the society especially with respect to combating drugs smuggling, money laundry, intellectual property protection, arms use, among others. Therefore it is necessary for custom officials who act as crime suppressors, investigators, and goods inspectors to be multi skilled, fully competent for the work they do, be professional,” said Director General of the Department of Customs Phoukhaokham Vannavongxay.

He also emphasized the capacity building with a focus placed on custom declaration management, goods inspection, smuggling prevention, and internal inspection.

The trainees will be taught the vision and strategy of the finance sector; development plant of the Ministry of Finance and Customs Sector; basic understanding of customs under the frameworks of the World Trade Organisation and the World Customs Organisation; leadership skills; civil servant management; organization administration; official document preparation; the laws on value added tax, excise tax and accounting; enterprise accounting audit; and investment promotion; among others.

They will also exchange points of view on the law on customs, instructions on the implementation of the law on customs, tax declaration procedures, customs valuation, goods origin certification, risk management, international freight forwarding, and smuggling of endangered wildlife.

Source: Lao News Agency

The steering committee of the Laos-Luxembourg statistical cooperation project convened a virtual review meeting on Feb 8.

Co chaired by Director of the National Statistics Bureau of the Ministry of Planning and Investment Phonesaly Souksavath and Representative of Luxembourg Embassy in Vientiane Nicolas Tasch, the meeting, also attended by representatives of Luxembourg’s STATEC – the government statistics service of Luxembourg, and relevant authorities of the two countries, aimed to review the implementation of the project phase I (2017-2020) and discuss directions for phase II (2021-2026).

The implementation of the project phase I has been achieved as expected with the national statistics system improved gradually and the National Statistics Bureau having produced some statistics and indicators.

The use of statistics for research purposes is yet to be in a systematic and sustainable manner and line ministries, sectors and provinces are yet to be able to develop environmental statistics collection systems, according to Director of the National Statistics Bureau Phonesaly Souksavath. “The period between 2021 and beginning months of 2022 has been dedicated to the improvement of the organisational structure of the National Statistics system. Therefore it is necessary to improve systematically data collection, summary and integration to ensure modernized statistics production in line with the national statistics development strategy,” said Ms Phonesaly Souksavath.

The phase II of the cooperation between the Lao PDR and Luxembourg governments is a technical grant project aiming to strengthen the National Statistics Bureau, national statistics system, in particular, with respect to statistic and indicator production that meets international standards for the valuation of Sustainable Development Goals 2030.

The main objectives of the project include assist the government of Laos, the National Statistics Bureau in particular, in producing and disseminating official statistics that are of quality and meet international standards with a focus placed on the implementation and development of environmental statics system; capacity building on data processing and analysis; dissemination of social, income and poverty statistics; revising human resource development strategy; improving collaboration mechanisms; development of economic statistics and business license statistics, promotion of capacity building on economic forecasting, and devising action plan on skills and knowledge exchange on statistical affairs.

Source: Lao News Agency

Some 513 new Covid-19 cases and six new deaths attributed to Covid-19 have been reported nationwide over the previous 24 hours with the total reaching 137,557 including 583 deaths and 3,943 active cases.

Of the new infections, detected among 3,546 people tested for Covid-19, 115 cases were reported in Xieng Khuang, 57 each in Oudomxay and Vientiane, 41 in Huaphan, and 33 in Xekong.

Some 224 Covid-19 patients were discharged from hospitals nationwide, according to the Deputy Director General of the Department of Communicable Diseases Control, Ministry of Health, Dr Sisavath Soutthanilaxay.

Source: Lao News Agency

The 6th Japan Festival will stream live on February 12 and 13, in a record first for the event. The Japan Festival is the biggest Japanese event in the Lao PDR, which has been running once every two or three years since 2011.

In the past, various stage performances and activities delighted the live audience. This year, by holding it online, not only residents in Vientiane but also people living in other provinces can enjoy the various programmes.

The first day will kick off with a dance performance presented by students from Sakura High School in Japan. Short films of the cities of Takayama, Tahara, and Ise, as well as Kumamoto Prefecture will show the charms of different areas and their friendly relationship with the Lao PDR. In addition, Japanese volunteers who are working in the Lao PDR will give presentations about their home-towns.

Meanwhile, JICA’s projects and activities in the Lao PDR will be introduced through a movie and interview with the Chief Resident Representative of JICA Laos. Activities from the Lao-Japan Institute will be also presented, with a demonstration of how to put on and wear a yukata. Furthermore, the Japan Quiz Competition will take place as participants will compete against each other with their knowledge about Japan.

“Art, Culture and Japanese Language” from the Vientiane office of the Japan Foundation Asia Center, will kick off the second day to introduce the role of the center. The Japan Heart, an international medical volunteers’ organization will explain how their medical support has saved many lives in the Lao PDR.

Programs about Japanese home cooking and the Japanese tea ceremony will also be shown. The chef at the Japanese Ambassador’s residence will give a lecture on the characteristics and charms of Japanese cuisine, as well as a presentation on Japanese sake, showing types of sake and how to enjoy sake, with guidance about sake-food pairings.

The event will be a chance for Lao people to deepen understanding of Japan and to increase feelings of closeness toward Japan.

For more information, please see the Facebook of Japan Festival in Laos (https://www.facebook.com/JapanFesLaos).

Source: Lao News Agency