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BANGKOK (REUTERS) – Thailand has nine new local coronavirus infections, the largest one-day increase in local broadcasts in more than seven months, health officials said on Saturday (December 19).
The nine cases are related to a shrimp market in Samut Sakhon province, near Bangkok, where four infections were reported on Friday, authorities said in a briefing.
The cases began with a 67-year-old woman who sells shrimp at the market and was confirmed to have the infection before three members of her family also tested positive.
There is no need for a lockdown yet, but action will be taken if cases continue to rise, Taweesin Wisanuyothin, a spokesperson for Thailand’s Covid-19 task force, told the conference.
“If the number of cases is not reduced tomorrow or the day after and it becomes a group with unknown origins, we will choose measures from mild to strong to handle it,” he said.
Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said late on Friday that the situation was not worrisome and that more than 2,000 people in the area had been examined and further tests would be carried out.
Local cases have been found mainly in people who observed quarantine after having been in close contact with an infected person. Most of the recent cases from Thailand have been imported.
Thailand has kept infections down to just 4,331 cases and 60 deaths, but its tourism-dependent economy has suffered a travel ban imposed since April to stem the outbreak.
On Thursday, the country further lowered 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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