BANGKOK — Three people quarantined upon returning from overseas tested positive for the coronavirus, the government announced Tuesday.
Taweesin Visanuyothin, spokesman of the Center for the COVID-19 Situation Administration, identified the new patients as a 51-year-old Thai masseuse who returned from Russia and two men in their 40s returning from Kuwait. Today’s report brings the total tally to 3,045 since the outbreak began.
“Most of them showed little to no symptoms, that worried us,” Taweesin said.
Responding to questions about why the government decided to extend the emergency decree despite low numbers of new cases recently, Taweesin said the decree is necessary to coordinate the works of different government agencies into a single command.
“Before enacting the decree, we have only one law to contain the virus,” Taweesin said. “But now we can integrate more than 40 laws under the decree. Works between different ministries can now be integrated and centralized.”
The spokesman also urged Thais who are stranded in neighboring countries to return soon since local quarantine facilities, which are mostly hosted in schools, will be closed to make way for the new semester. A total of 14,212 Thais had returned from neighboring countries since April 18.
As of Tuesday, 59 infected patients are being treated at hospitals, while 2,929 patients have recovered.
