Thailand Coronavirus News: As Thailand Opens Up For Tourism, New COVID-19 Cases Appears In Private Hospitals And Quarantine Centers!

Thailand Coronavirus News: Thailand recently announced that it has opened the country to tourist from all countries as long as they have relevant COVID-19 tests prior to boarding and have applied and paid for the relevant visas in their home countries and have signed up for the 14 day prepaid quarantine packages in Thailand coupled with relevant medical insurance and other preconditions.


 
However while the country is trying to promote its tourism and also medical tourism industry, a new outbreak of COVID-19 cases has emerged in the capital Bangkok including at private hospitals and quarantine centers with to date 6 nursing staff already confirmed to have the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus while many others are being tested.
 
But has usual the Thai government has announced that they have everything in control and that both locals and foreigners alike need not have to worry as the government knows what they are doing just in the case of numerous other issues in the country.
 
Today the CSSA announced that a sixth nurse was among the 18 new COVID-19 cases reported in the country. (We guess that these must be the lucky ones arbitrarily picked up to be highlighted!).
 
Importantly the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) spokesman Thaweesilp Visanuyothin publicly said the new locally transmitted COVID-19 infection was a 29-year-old nurse from BNH Hospital at Soi Convent, Silom. This raised the number of infected nurses in Bangkok to six. (It should be noted that the detailed job locations of the other 5 nurses were never properly revealed so we guess that BDMS group must be well liked by the government for whatever reasons. BNH Hospital is part of the BDMS group of hospitals)
 
It was claimed that health officials had tested 851 people close to them, and all 745 results so far were negative. ( We are not sure what type of test kits are being used whether its locally developed ones that do not have studies to show its efficacy or whether its ones purchased from China, Thailand’s favorite trading partner.)
 
Also the time line published by certain du _ _ authorities on the movement of the 5 earlier cases does not give a chance for those that might have been infected in public areas for them to go for testing as there were literally not much details revealed!
 
Local authorities are blaming the first of the six nurses infected after failing to wear her protective gear properly while handling arrivals at an alternative state quarantine facility. (Location not disclosed!) She later transmitted the disease to the other nurses during meals although some were said to be working in a different entity!
 
Director of general communicable diseases, Dr Sophon Iamsirithaworn, said that on Dec 2 the first infected nurse boarded an MRT train from 10am to 10.10am and travelled to Thon Buri for a job interview at a hospital.
 
The nurse took a BTS train back from 2pm-2.10pm to Silom. Individuals on board the same trains at the same periods had a low risk of infection because the nurse wore a face mask while travelling, he said!
 
The CCSA said today that seventeen more infected individuals have arrived from 10 countries. Four From Switzerland, two Thai women, aged 53 and 56, and two Swiss men, aged 53 and 64. They arrived on the same flight as 11 previously confirmed cases.
 
Another two ca ses were from Sweden ie a Thai women, 16 and 63, who took the same flight as three previously confirmed cases.
 
There were also two cases arriving from the Philippines, an American man, 65, and a Philippine woman, 28.
 
The two cases from the United Kingdom were an Italian woman, 23, and an American man, 23. Also was two from Italy, a Thai man, 22, and a Thai woman, 30.
 
Then there was one case from Nepal, a Nepalese woman student, 20, who took the same flight as one previously confirmed case, case is from Kenya, a Kenyan male teacher, 35, who was on the same flight as two previously confirmed cases and one case from Russia, a Thai masseuse, 53.
 
 Also there was one from the United States, an American man, 56, and one from Libya, a Thai man aged 52.
 
It is being claimed by Thai authorities that there is only 4,169 cases in the country to date, of which 3,888 (93.26%) have ‘recovered’ including eight discharged over the past 24 hours and 221 were at hospitals across the country. The claimed death toll remained unchanged at 60.
 
Local Thai ‘experts’ are also publicly commenting that SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus spreading in Myanmar is a different strain that spreads 20% faster than the original one in Wuhan. (How they could even determine the percentage of its effectiveness at spreading was not published in any journal to date!)
 
According to this ‘experts’ around 60% of COVID-19 infections in Myanmar were caused by the G614 strain.(Even the Myanmar officials were not able to verify this yet!) The strain that spread in Wuhan last year was called D614.The G614 strain has spread significantly in Western countries and is responsible for the most cases at present. "G614, which can spread faster, therefore needs a faster response.”
 
It was reported that Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha had instructed all military units responsible for security at the Thai-Myanmar border to step up measures by patrolling more frequently, by foot and drone, around the clock.
Thai returnees travelling back from Myanmar would not face serious punishment.
 
To date the director-general of the Disease Control Department Opas Kankawinphong said there were 46 confirmed cases related to infected Thai returnees from Myanmar.
 
Shockingly it was reported that over 5,100 at-risk individuals who had been in contact with the infected returnees had been tested. (We are unable to verify this.) The only person who tested positive was a friend of the returnees and they had travelled together.
 
Sopon Iamsirithaworn, director of the division of communicable diseases, said all 55 individuals who had been in contact with a 51-year-old infected woman from Sing Buri had tested negative for the virus. Also passengers on Nok Air flight DD8717ie the flight she and two of the infected returnees travelled on, all tested negative.
 
As usual, government spokesman Anucha Buraphachaisri on Wednesday said the government had the situation under control and the infected returnees were not superspreaders.
 
Thais and foreigners should not fear the current new COVID-19 cases as the country has some of the best doctors with even 'breakthrough protocols to treat COVID-19' as it was reported in the past, and it was also reported that they were developing a local vaccine that could rival others.(We are not sure if this is still ongoing as we have not seen any news on this yet since their last boastful media release.)
 
We should see some fun times in Thailand in a couple of months.
 
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