BANGKOK (AP) – After controlling the odds of keeping the coronavirus largely under control for most of the year, Thailand has suddenly been challenged by an expanding outbreak among migrant workers at the gates of Bangkok, the capital.
Rising cases in Samut Sakhon province threaten to undo months ’efforts to contain the virus and accelerate the recovery of Thailand’s economy.
Aiming to curb the spread of the virus by isolating infected patients, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha ordered the army and navy to help establish a 1,000-bed field hospital in the province, the ministry spokesman said. Defense, Lieutenant General Kongcheep Tantrawanit. he said Wednesday. It would be located as close as possible to where there are already more patients in order to reduce the risks of transmission by transporting them to another location, he said.
Outbreak-related cases have already been reported in more than a dozen other provinces, including Bangkok. Capital officials ordered that existing security measures, such as social distancing, the use of masks and the control of fevers, be observed more strictly in markets, temples, parks and entertainment venues. More than 700 public schools and kindergartens in the city have been ordered to close 12 days from Thursday.
Contact monitoring has detected suspicious cases of tests and areas to be disinfected. In a mall in the popular Siam Square shopping area in central Bangkok, three shops visited by a Thai woman who tested positive for coronavirus were temporarily closed for deep cleaning, as well as a dining area in the nearby MBK mall.
The new wave of coronavirus cases abroad already means Thailand’s economic rebound will slow as the world economy takes longer to recover, Prayuth said in a televised speech Tuesday evening.
“What we have seen now is that being too relaxed about COVID’s precautionary measures can lead to greater economic suffering,” he said.
Prayuth said the situation means Thailand needs to step on it as it relaxes visitor admission rules from other countries, an approach that could hamper efforts to revive the country’s lucrative tourism industry, whose business it dried up after Thailand closed regular passenger flights from abroad in early April. .
Shortly before the latest outbreak occurred last week, a new expanded list of countries that would allow tourists to enter under strict restrictions was published and the idea of shortening a mandatory 14-day quarantine to the arrival.
The 576 new Thai coronavirus cases reported on Sunday (a 13% increase from the previous global total of 4,907) were the largest daily rise in the country. For months, almost all the cases detected were in people who were already in quarantine after arriving from abroad.
More cases since Sunday have raised Thailand’s total to 5,762. Virtually all were migrant workers in Samut Sakhon or otherwise related to a large seafood market in the province. Health officials said it was found that 44% of migrant workers and people with direct links to the market who have been tested so far are infected, although most showed no symptoms.
The seafood market closed over the weekend and other local restrictions were imposed, such as a night curfew, a ban on travel outside the province and the closure of many public places. On Tuesday night, two neighboring provinces also imposed closure measures, including bans on New Year’s Eve celebrations. The coastal city of Pattaya also canceled plans for public celebrations.
The Situation Management Center COVID-19 on Wednesday declared in 23 provinces (almost a third of the total) a high risk according to vendors who identify where their main customers came from.
Although cases related to the seafood market have spread across the country, Prayuth expressed confidence that Thailand “can continue to be one of the least affected countries in the world by this terrible disease.”
The head of the World Health Organization, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has repeatedly praised Thailand’s treatment of its coronavirus crisis, and quoted in a September tweet: “A response from society as a whole and the whole government, extensive testing, contact tracking, community engagement and national mobilization # community health workers “.
Prayuth’s statement in March of a state of emergency allowed his government to also implement measures ranging from closures and censorship to forcing the wearing of masks and banning the sale of alcohol to fight the virus.
The president of the Federation of Thai Industries, Supan Mongkolsuthree, said that due to the new outbreak, Samut Sakhon’s industrial sector was facing losses of about 1 billion baht ($ 33.1 million) in day.
Supan said the federation opposes blocking measures in other areas, because the problem was localized and the government could contain it.
Thai Union Group and Charoen Pokphand Foods, both major seafood producers with operations in Samut Sakhon, said they expect little or no disruption to their supply chains.
The origin of the latest outbreak is still unclear, but virtually all new cases include migrant workers from Myanmar, neighboring Thailand, who work in the marine industry.
Low-wage immigrant labor powers much of the Thai economy, from factories to fishing and construction. According to the Thai Ministry of Labor, there are more than 233,000 documented migrant workers in Samut Sakhon, in addition to an unknown number working illegally. There are an estimated 4 to 5 million foreign workers in Thailand, according to the UN-affiliated International Organization for Migration.
Despite efforts to regularize their status, many migrant workers are relocated to Thailand by human traffickers and then forced to work in conditions of slavery close to small businesses, according to a 2015 investigation by The Associated Press. was found when he examined some of the hundreds of shrimp peel sheds hidden from view in the residential streets or behind unmarked walls in Samut Sakhon.
Myanmar’s workers’ origins have already led to the current outbreak, as a coronavirus outbreak that began in August east of Rakhine, west of Myanmar, spread to the commercial capital, Yangon. , and then east to the Thai border.
Thai authorities have tried to limit cross-border traffic, but the border is notoriously porous. In early December, cases were found in northern Thailand that originated in Myanmar. They were Thais who had returned from their stays in Myanmar and had avoided border controls that would have forced them into quarantine. At least two flew south to Bangkok before they could be tracked down.
Still, a segment of popular opinion blames migrant workers who allegedly sneaked into Thailand for the new outbreak.
“This latest outbreak of infections in Samut Sakhon is mainly due to these illegal immigrants,” Prime Minister Prayuth said on Tuesday, without providing evidence. He on Wednesday ordered the military to step up patrols to detect illegal border crossings and called for investigations into corrupt officials who could help criminal networks engaged in human trafficking.
Activists for migrant workers frame the situation differently and point out that two other Southeast Asian countries, Singapore and Malaysia, have also had major outbreaks among migrant workers.
“Migrant workers in Asia continue to be at high risk of contracting and disseminating COVID-19 due to their inability to practice social distancing both in their intensive workplaces and in their often unhealthy accommodations,” he said Andy Hall, a migrant rights specialist working across Asia.