VIENTIANE, May 14 (Xinhua) -- The Lao Ministry of Health on Friday reported the second death from COVID-19 in the Southeast Asian country.

Deputy Director General of the Department of Communicable Disease Control under the Lao Ministry of Health, Latsamy Vongkhamsao, told a press conference held in the Lao capital Vientiane on Friday that the country recorded 16 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and one more death from the coronavirus epidemic.

The victim was a 29-year-old patient treated in a hospital in Vientiane, who came from the central province of Savannakhet.
Laos reported its first COVID-19 death on May 9.

As of Friday, the total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Laos has risen to 1,498 with two deaths. A total of 513 COVID-19 patients have recovered and been discharged from hospitals.

Laos reported its first two confirmed cases of COVID-19 on March 24 last year.