They will help build field hospitals, enhance intensive care and Covid testing capabilities.

They also brought $500,000 and medical items including 200 ventilators and two million face masks to help with Laos's Covid fight.

Laos has sought Vietnam's support in the capital Vientiane and Savannakhet city, Son said.

Its health ministry had on Sunday informed Vietnamese health minister Nguyen Thanh Long that it needs 32 medical experts in various areas including intensive care, disinfection and epidemiology.

The Vietnamese delegation is drawn from several major facilities like Hanoi's Bach Mai Hospital and National Hospital for Tropical Diseases and HCMC's Pasteur Institute and the Institute of Hygiene and Public Health.

On April 29, at a meeting with his Lao counterpart, Long had also promised to help treat Laos' coronavirus patients remotely by using a telemedicine system.

Laos has so far had nearly 1,000 Covid cases, but there has been a steady increase in recent weeks, peaking at 100 a day, putting a big burden on the medical system.