Photographer: Jack Taylor / AFP / Getty Images
Photographer: Jack Taylor / AFP / Getty Images
Thailand reported 46 new cases of coronavirus on Wednesday, 89% less than on Tuesday, as it omitted new infections among migrant workers who formed the majority of cases in an outbreak reported earlier this week.
“We will not report the number of cases found during proactive search operations among migrant workers,” Taweesilp Witsanuyotin, a spokesman for the Covid-19 center, said on Wednesday, without revealing the reason for the omission. “It stays at zero for now, as we have many reasons why we need to debate more.”
Virus-free as of September, about a fifth of all Thai cases occurred last week, with a record 548 on Sunday, 382 on Monday and 427 on Tuesday after discovering a group of infections over the weekend. past in the coastal province. of Samut Sakhon. This brought infections reported in Thailand since January to 5,762, Taweesilp said.
About 90 percent of infections reported over the weekend were found among migrant workers in Myanmar, the health ministry said earlier this week.
The discovery of the new outbreak, which has put the coastal province of Samut Sakhon in a 14-day closure, threatens to derail plans to revive Thailand’s vital tourism industry, risking continuing a recession.
“Right now we know the origin of this outbreak and we have sanitary measures to contain the virus. We are still able to manage it,” Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha told reporters in Bangkok on Wednesday. “I’m concerned that the cause of this outbreak may be from migrant labor.”
Prayuth said he will decide on Thursday at a Covid-19 committee meeting what measures to implement before the new year. The meeting will also determine which provinces have a high risk of spreading the virus.
Health and Labor ministers have been ordered to take action against undocumented workers, the prime minister said.
Of the cases reported Wednesday in Thailand, most of the 39 local transmissions were Thai connected to producers or seafood markets, with seven infections found among people in state quarantine, according to Taweesilp.