ASEAN COVID-19 PANDEMIC: THAILAND- 3 more local Covid transmissions in Mae Sot
Security authorities arrest 12 Thai citizens illegally returning to Mae Sot district of Tak province from Myawaddy, as they fled the virus outbreak in Myanmar, on Sunday. (Photo by Assawin Pinitwong)
The update-10.18.2020
Sick Earth-Plague Day 324
Thailand reported seven new cases of Covid-19 on Sunday, including three local transmissions among Myanmar nationals in Mae Sot.
Thailand reported seven new cases of Covid-19 on Sunday, including three local transmissions among Myanmar nationals in Mae Sot.
Three of the four cases in Mae Sot district, the busy border town in Tak province, are family members of the Myanmar couple who tested positive for the novel coronavirus last Tuesday, the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration said.
The three — a daughter, a niece and a nephew of the couple — were treated at Mae Sot Hospital. They tested positive on Friday and confirmation tests were conducted on Saturday before the report was sent to the centre.
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The fourth case from Myanmar was a lorry driver who entered Thailand on Friday and was sent back across the border to quarantine in his own country.
Two other cases were Thais who recently returned from Sweden and the United Kingdom.
One was a Thai woman who arrived from Sweden on Oct 11 and tested positive on Thursday. The other Thai case was a woman who returned the UK on Monda, and was found to have contracted the novel coronavirus in a test on Thursday.
The seventh new case of Covid-19 recorded on Sunday was a Belgian man who flew into the country on Monday and tested positive on Thursday.
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Mae Sot fears
The new cases took the accumulated total to 3,686. No new deaths were reported, leaving the toll at 59.
Before the five new cases this week, the country last confirmed a local transmission on Sept 11.
The Thai-Myanmar border in Tak is now the epicentre for concern over the virus infiltrating the country. The border between the two countries stretches more than 500 kilometres along the province’s western perimeter.
Security authorities arrested 12 Thais illegally crossing the Moei River from Myawaddy to Mae Sot on Sunday. They said they worked in Myawaddy but fled the town in fear of the virus outbreak in Myanmar.
Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said in Mae Sot on Sunday he was concerned that people crossing the border illegally could bring the virus with them from Myanmar.
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