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BANGKOK: Thailand reported its first local transmission of coronavirus in more than 100 days on Thursday (September 3), authorities said, after a man who was recently incarcerated failed a routine test in a Bangkok jail.
The 37-year-old man tested positive Wednesday during scheduled weekly tests, the Department of Corrections said in a statement, adding that he had not traveled abroad or been in close contact with a known positive case.
The man was arrested for drug abuse on August 26, according to the Associated Press.
The man, a former nightclub DJ, has been hospitalized and prisoners who came into contact with him have been isolated.
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All cases from Thailand in the last three months have been imported and detected in quarantine.
Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha congratulated the nation on Wednesday for achieving 100 days without any confirmed local cases of the coronavirus. The last person to test positive was May 24.
Thailand has suffered relatively minor health damage from the pandemic, despite being the first country outside of China to confirm a case in January.
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But its economy has been devastated by the absence of foreign tourists, whose entry is prohibited, and by the drop in exports.
Suwannachai Wattanayingcharoenchai, director general of the disease control department of the Ministry of Health, stressed that the infected man had been kept in a small group of quarantined inmates in a standard procedure to limit the possible spread of the virus.
In another routine procedure, he was examined as part of a group of 34 new inmates. I only had one possible mild symptom, excessive mucus.
“This case confirms what we tried to say from the beginning. We cannot keep the number of cases at zero, but what we can do is detect cases quickly and limit transmission, ”Suwannachai said at a press conference.
“Right now, we are ready in terms of medical supplies, medical personnel and hospital beds. We must be aware of existing cases but we must not be afraid ”.
Authorities will test five close contacts in his family and 20 people, including lawyers who were in court with him, and inmates who were quarantined with him will also be retested for COVID-19.
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