Thailand reports 1st local coronavirus case in 100 days
BANGKOK (AP) — A prison inmate in Thailand has tested positive for the coronavirus in the country’s first confirmed locally transmitted case in 100 days, health officials said Thursday.
They identified the inmate as a 37-year-old man arrested for drug abuse who was brought to prison in Bangkok on Aug. 26 and tested positive Wednesday at the prison's health center.
Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha on Wednesday had congratulated the nation for having achieved 100 days without any confirmed local cases of the coronavirus. The last person to test positive was on May 24.
Dr. Suwannachai Wattanayingcharoenchai, director-general of the Health Ministry’s Disease Control Department, said the infected man had been kept in a small group of quarantined inmates in a standard procedure to limit the possible spread of the virus. In another routine procedure, he was tested as part of a group of 34 new inmates. He had only a mild possible symptom, excessive mucous. The infected man lived in Bangkok and worked as a DJ in several bars.
Thailand has sustained relatively light health damage from the pandemic, even though in January it was the first country outside China to confirm a case. But its economy has been devastated by the absence of foreign tourists, who are banned from entry, and by a drop in exports.
The country finds itself in a position similar to that of New Zealand, which had a 102-day streak without local transmissions, and Vietnam, which had 99 days.
Both countries learned that keeping the virus at bay is not the same as defeating it, and when new cases sprung up they were forced to reinstate socially restrictive measures, including lockdowns in affected urban areas.
Thai officials in recent weeks have suggested various plans to allow the entry of visitors...
