THE Governor of Samut Sakhon province, from where the new round of Covid-19 outbreak sprang, has got infected with the deadly disease with confirmation coming a day after he led the Public Health Minister on a visit to the province but the minister has got a negative result, Siam Rath newspaper reported today (Dec. 28, 2020).
The governor, Mr. Weerasak Wijitsaengsri, had the previously day taken Deputy Prime Minister and Public Health Minister Mr. Anutin Charnvirakul along with Dr. Kiattaphum Wongrajit, permanent secretary of this ministry, and Dr. Suwanchai Wattanaying-charoenchai, director-general of the Department of Health, and other officials to attend a meeting at Samut Sakhon Hospital on the progress in treating coronavirus patients.
After that Anutin and his team visited some seafood restaurants in this province to encourage the owners. He also showed his cooking skill by making shrimp fried rice, which he served to all those who came with him, to underscore that seafood is safe to eat.
The minister then went to a field hospital at the central shrimp market which is within a demarcated area and only serves those at this market. It is a cohort ward that takes care of asymptomatic patients or those mildly infected while also providing initial treatment for those who have common diseases.
Anutin has undergone the more accurate Swab test for Covid-19 and got a negative result and will be quarantined for 14 days in keeping with the public health measures.
Meanwhile the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) said late this morning that 144 more Covid-19 cases emerged over the past 24 hours with 115 being locally infected while proactive screening of migrant workers found additional 14 patients.
Dr. Taweesilp Visanuyothin, CCSA’s spokesman, said a total of 15 travellers came to the country with all of them placed in state quarantine. Three each came from the UK and Japan, two each from the US and Germany, and one each from Switzerland, the Netherlands, Nepal, India and Denmark.
This deadly disease has now spread to 43 provinces with five more, Surin, Narathiwat, Nakhon Nayok, Chiang Mai and Lopburi, joining the list.
The new cases take the total to 6,285, of which 4,302 are domestic cases, 1,370 found through proactive screening of migrant workers and 1,983 foreign travellers.
Currently there are1,450 people in state quarantine facilities while 19 more patients have been cured raising the total to 4,180. There still remains 2,045 patients undergoing treatment but no additional deaths with the toll stationary at 60.
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Top: Samut Sakhon Governor Weerasak Wijitsaengsri has also got infected with coronavirus. Photo: Siam Rath
