BANGKOK: Thailand has 4 new local coronavirus infections, health officers said on Friday (Dec 18), simply because the nation has started reopening for tourists after months of keeping the virus at bay.
A 67-year-old woman who sells shrimp within the Samut Sakhon province was confirmed to have the infection, senior health official Sopon Iamsirithaworn instructed an information conference, including that three of her family members later also tested positive.
She didn’t have a historical past of traveling outdoors the nation, the official mentioned, including they had been ready for the outcomes of the checks of 165 different individuals who had been in shut contact with the girl.
“We’re gathering info to seek out the origins of this an infection,” mentioned Illness Management Division director-general, Opas Karnkawinpong on the identical information convention.
Local cases have been within the single-digits in the latest months, with most of them found in folks observing quarantine after having been in shut contact with an infected person. Most of Thailand’s latest cases have been imported.
Thailand has managed to maintain infections relatively low, reporting a total of 4,297 cases and 60 COVID-19 deaths, but the success has come at a cost to its tourism-dependent economy.
The new infections come as authorities on Thursday began easing travel restrictions to allow foreign tourists to return to the country in a bid to revive its battered tourism industry.
Thailand eased restrictions for citizens from more than 50 countries, however, guests will need to quarantine for two weeks upon arrival and can want a certificate to show they had been free of COVID-19 72 hours earlier than the travel.
Last month, authorities tested over 300 people after Thai nationals entered the country illegally from Myanmar, however most new infections were found in quarantine.
