The Laotian Times spoke with an official from the Lao Farmer Network regarding a poultry disease that has been killing many chickens lately as discussed by several residents in Laos on social media.

Many Lao residents including foreigners living in Laos recently took to social media to state that many of their chickens started dying due to an unknown ailment. It started with the death of one chicken that eventually claimed the lives of others as well.

According to a Lao Farmer Network representative, late winter is a time when poultry sickness is the most rampant.

“This is one of the times when the bodies of chickens are at their weakest. It is when they are most exposed to major poultry diseases in Laos, such as Fowl cholera and Newcastle disease,” he explained.

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Thailand’s main Covid-19 task force will meet later this week to review the suspension of its quarantine-free entry program for vaccinated visitors amid an uptick in new omicron cases among foreign tourists.

The Center for Covid-19 Situation Administration, headed by Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha, will meet on Friday to review the visa rules, according to Traisuree Taisaranakul, a government spokeswoman. The nation’s health ministry has already recommended extending the suspension of the so-called Test & Go program for vaccinated travelers from more than 60 countries to Jan. 31.

The initial ban announced on Dec. 21 was for 14 days, or until further announcement, according to a Royal Gazette notification.  

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The post Thailand Keeps Quarantine-Free Entry Ban as Omicron Cases Surge first appeared on Open Development Mekong.

Thailand plans to reopen its borders to workers from neighbouring Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos, a government official said on Tuesday (Nov 9), in a bid to ease a labour shortage that is hurting its export and tourism-dependent economy.

Pairote Chotikasathien, from the Ministry of Labor, said the rules relating to vaccination status for the migrant workers, quarantine procedures and COVID-19 testing will be decided on Wednesday.

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Vietnamese children face greater risks of sexual abuse with prolonged school closures and online classes exposing them to exploitation via social networks.

The post Online child abuse spikes amid pandemic first appeared on Open Development Mekong.

The news that inmates in Thailand are being handed capsules of a herbal medicine called green chiretta (Andrographis paniculata) to treat asymptomatic and mild COVID is unlikely to come as a surprise to the average Thai citizen.

In Thailand, healthcare professionals and the public alike are familiar with green chiretta – nicknamed the “king of bitters” – which is as popular as paracetamol for treating cold and flu.

In 1991, researchers at Mahidol University in Bangkok, Thailand, concluded after a clinical trial that chiretta (6g a day) was as effective as paracetamol (4g a day) at relieving fever and sore throat in patients with inflammation of the pharynx and tonsils (pharyngotonsillitis). Since then, several reviews have found that chiretta may be more effective than placebo at treating uncomplicated upper respiratory tract infections. Reported side-effects tend to be mild and short-lived.

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The post Thailand inmates are taking green chiretta to fight mild COVID – here’s what we know about this herbal drug first appeared on Open Development Mekong.

Khin, a 59-year-old rice farmer, faced a distressing choice at the height of Myanmar’s monsoon season three months ago: sell a cow, a prized asset for agricultural households, or go hungry.

She sold the animal for half its value. The proceeds went to buy food for her family and inputs for her small rice farm in the Dry Zone – a drought-prone region in the country’s centre where farmers and agricultural experts say falling income and rising costs are worsening hunger.

“We’re just eating whatever is available,” Khin told The New Humanitarian by phone.

Months after the 1 February military coup, poverty and food insecurity are soaring in Myanmar’s Dry Zone and Ayeyarwady Delta regions – the country’s agricultural heartland – sparking warnings of a hidden crisis in the making as farming households struggle out of view of most humanitarian aid plans.

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The claim: Cambodia did not have a COVID-19 outbreak until vaccines arrived

Vaccine opponents are looking to Cambodia to falsely assert that vaccines may actually make COVID-19 more dangerous.

“Cambodia is one of the most vaccinated countries in the world: 81.3% of its population has received at least one dose of the vaccine,” reads an Oct. 6 Facebook post. “And there are now more COVID-19 ‘cases’ in Cambodia than ever before. According to official government data, before the advent of vaccines against Covid, there were no problems with morbidity in the country.”

The post hasn’t accumulated many shares, but similar claims have circulated on Instagram, messaging apps like Telegram and blogs like Before It’s News. Some of the posts compare a graph of Cambodia’s daily COVID-19 case count with one of the vaccination rate.

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The post Fact check: Post wrong to link vaccinations to a COVID-19 spike in Cambodia first appeared on Open Development Mekong.

Seven delta localities will cooperate to prevent Covid-19, protect people’s health and develop production and business.

The post Mekong Delta localities join forces to fight pandemic, restore economy first appeared on Open Development Mekong.