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BANGKOK: Thailand has four new local coronavirus infections, health officials said on Friday (Dec. 18), just as the country has begun reopening to tourists after months of keeping the virus at bay.
A 67-year-old woman selling shrimp in Samut Sakhon province was confirmed to have the infection, senior health official Sopon Iamsirithaworn told a news conference, adding that three of her family members later tested positive as well. .
She had no history of traveling outside of the country, the official said, adding that they were awaiting test results from 165 other people who had been in close contact with the woman.
“We are collecting information to find the origin of this infection,” said the director general of the Department of Disease Control, Opas Karnkawinpong, at the same press conference.
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Local cases have been in the single digits in recent months, with most of them found in people observing quarantine after having been in close contact with an infected person. Most of the recent cases from Thailand have been imported.
Thailand has managed to keep infections relatively low, reporting a total of 4,297 cases and 60 deaths from COVID-19, but the success has come at a cost to its tourism-dependent economy.
The new infections come as authorities on Thursday began easing travel restrictions to allow foreign tourists to return to the country in a bid to revive its battered tourism industry.
Thailand eased restrictions for citizens of more than 50 countries, but visitors will need to be quarantined for two weeks upon arrival and will need a certificate proving they were COVID-19 free 72 hours before travel.
Last month, authorities tested more than 300 people after Thai nationals illegally entered the country from Myanmar, but most of the new infections were found in quarantine.
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