BANGKOK — Thailand reported a single case of coronavirus on Thursday, bringing the total tally to 3,018 since the outbreak began.
The country’s latest patient is a 39-year-old man in Chiang Mai province who has a history of working in Phuket province, Taweesin Visanuyothin, spokesman of the Center for the COVID-19 Situation Administration, said. He credited upcountry health volunteers, known by Thai acronym Aor Sor Mor, for finding the patient.
“The man was asymptomatic,” Taweesin said. “It is the ability of Aor Sor Mor volunteers in the area who took the man to test for COVID-19. This shows how important local personnel are. I also appreciate Chiang Mai province for welcoming and taking care of their people who came from high-risk areas.”
He defended the country’s relatively low number of cases, which some people speculated that the real figure was written off as pneumonia. He said the number of pneumonia cases in Thailand has been dropping and follows a similar trend from 2019.
“Our campaign on the use of face masks and hand washing does not only help contain the coronavirus, but also pneumonia,” Taweesin said. “We didn’t cover it up with pneumonia or other diseases, the data from the Department of Disease Control clearly showed that.”
As of Thursday, 112 infected patients are being treated at hospitals, while 2,850 patients have recovered.
