A citizen runs aside the Patuxay Monument during the COVID-19 pandemic in Vientiane, Laos, April 3, 2020. Photo:Xinhua

Students, Lao citizens, experts and diplomats are now permitted to enter and exit Laos with travel documents authorized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, according to officials.

People were required to continue strictly following the government guidelines to ensure effective control of COVID-19 and prevent the spread of the virus, even though no new case has been reported in the country for 44 days, Director General of the Department of Communicable Disease Control under Lao Ministry of Health, Rattanaxay Phetsavanh, told a press conference on Tuesday.

On Monday, a total of 1,934 people entered Laos through international border checkpoints. Of these, 1,093 people crossed the border with Thailand, 30 of them were Lao returning workers, and others were truck drivers bringing freight into Laos.

Four people crossed the border into Laos from China, while 777 entered Laos from Vietnam.

The temperature of each person entering Laos was checked and no one showed signs of fever. All Lao workers returning to their homes were sent to stay in a quarantine center for 14 days, according to the report.

The National Taskforce Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control on Tuesday announced it has been monitoring 3,756 people at 90 accommodation centers across the country.

As of Tuesday, Laos has tested 5,855 suspected cases with 19 cases tested positive, and 14 patients have recovered.

The five active cases are treated in designated hospital -- Mittaphab Hospital (Hospital 150) in Lao capital Vientiane.

Laos announced its first two COVID-19 confirmed cases on March 24.