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BANGKOK (REUTERS) – Thailand on Saturday (December 19) reported more than 500 cases of coronavirus in the center of its fishing industry, where there are many migrant workers, in by far the largest increase in a day in a country than previously. had caused the epidemic. largely under control.
The new cases were reported in Samut Sakhon province, southwest of Bangkok, where four infections were reported at a shrimp market on Friday, the first in a 67-year-old woman.
The director general of the Department of Disease Control, Opas Karnkawinpong, told a news conference that 516 new cases were found after tests that included 1,192 migrant workers.
More than 90 percent were asymptomatic, he said.
A total of 535 new cases reported on Saturday, bringing Thailand’s total number to more than 4,800 with 60 deaths.
Most of the migrant workers in Samut Sakhon are from Myanmar, which has suffered a coronavirus outbreak much worse than Thailand, where health authorities attribute early action to limiting the spread of the virus.
“While there is the possibility of finding more infections in crowded foreign communities around the shrimp market, they are low risk groups because they are of working age and healthy,” said Dr. Opas.
The closure of the province was ordered until January 3.
Local cases had previously been found largely in people observing quarantine after having been in close contact with an infected person.
Most of the recent cases from Thailand have been imported.
The increase in cases comes just as Thailand seeks to revive a tourism industry that has been devastated by the epidemic.
On Thursday, it eased restrictions to allow more foreign tourists to return.
The government predicts around 8 million foreign tourists in 2021 after the 6.7 million forecast for this year. Last year’s foreign visitors were a record nearly 40 million.
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