BANGKOK — Thailand reported a new case of coronavirus on Tuesday, bringing the total tally to 2,988 since the outbreak began.
The country’s latest patient is a 45-year-old in Narathiwat province, Taweesin Visanuyothin, spokesman of the Center for the COVID-19 Situation Administration, said. The man had a history of attending a religious ceremony abroad and spending time in a crowded environment, he added.
“This could be because of our mask wearing habits. Today’s number of new confirmed cases is only one,” Taweesin said.
The largest cluster of new cases in two weeks remains the foreign inmates who are being held at a immigration detention facility in Songkhla province where 60 cases were found, Taweesin said.
This is followed by those who were in close contact with infected patients, at 49 cases, and found during an active case-finding operation, at 31 cases.
The spokesman also cited information from a survey on health measures conducted by the Ministry of Public Health that found only 60 percent of the public keep their distances from others and refrain from touching their faces.
However, the majority of them, at 91 percent, do wear masks regularly.
“This is not good, the only thing we passed is wearing masks,” Taweesin said. “This is especially crucial as we are now relaxing restriction rules.”
A total of 12,385 returning from abroad have been put under state-run quarantine facilities for two weeks as of May 4, Taweesin said. Only 84 of them were found to be infected with the virus, while another batch of 7,000 people are expected to return in the coming weeks, he added.
As of Tuesday, 187 infected patients are being treated at hospitals, while 2,747 patients have recovered.
