BANGKOK — No coronavirus infection has been found among those who had been in close contact with a prisoner who tested positive in the country’s first confirmed case of local transmission in 100 days, officials said Monday.
The government’s Center for COVID-19 Situation Administration reported that 516 of a total of 970 people who were in close proximity with the 37-year-old inmate tested negative, while test results of the rest have yet to come out.
Of those 970 people, 492 people were at the Criminal Court where the inmate stood trial for his drug charges on Aug. 26. Another 112 people were those who visited Khaosan Road on Aug. 18, where the man worked as a DJ at First Cafe before his arrest, according to the pandemic center.
The man entered Bangkok Remand Prison on Aug. 26 and tested positive on Sept. 2 during his quarantine at the prison’s reception facility.
Sophon Iamsirithavorn, director of the Infectious Disease Division, said those who shared close contact with the infected man should spend at least 14 days in isolation. Members of the public are urged to keep wearing the face masks and maintaining social distancing measures to mitigate the risk of infection.
The man’s family was put in quarantine at a hotel in Bangkok, while the inmates who shared the same cell with the man were isolated from others, he added.
Officials have yet to identify the man’s source of infection. He had no recent history of traveling overseas and showed no symptoms.
In a separate case, a 50-year-old Korean national who recently returned from Thailand was found to contract the virus on Sept. 5 while he was quarantined upon his arrival to South Korea, according to Pyeongtaek City authorities.
Walairat Chaifu, director of epidemiology at the Department of Disease Control, said officials will work with the Korean counterparts for more information regarding the patient’s test results and other relevant information.
In today’s report, the government’s response center said one new coronavirus patient was reported inside state quarantine. The patient was identified as a Thai national returning from India.
Thailand’s cumulative case of infection stands at 3,445 as of today.
