The south-east Asian country of Laos recorded its first death from Covid-19 on Sunday, losing its place among the few countries yet to suffer a fatality, The Guardian reports.
State media said the victim was a 53-year-old Vietnamese woman who had underlying medical problems, including diabetes, and who worked at a karaoke club in a village outside the capital Vientiane, the state-run Vientiane Times website quoted the national Covid-19 taskforce as saying.
Infections have rocketed in the country of 9 million since last month, when the worst surges also began in neighbouring Thailand and Cambodia.
Laos has still identified only 1,302 infections since the pandemic began.