Published 18:27 IST, March 3rd 2020
Thailand: Compulsory quarantine for passengers arriving from coronavirus-hit countries
Thailand's Public Health Minister said that people arriving from multiple places in Asia, the Middle East and Europe will be forced to self-quarantine.
Amid the unprecedented coronavirus outbreak, Thailand's Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said that people arriving from multiple places in Asia, the Middle East and Europe will be forced to self-quarantine by Thai authorities. The minister further said that the authorities have declared Japan, Germany, South Korea, China, Macao, Hong Kong, Taiwan, France, Singapore, Italy and Iran as 'dangerous communicable disease areas'. Charnvirakul reportedly said that anyone travelling from any one of the nine countries will have to self-quarantine for 14 days 'with no exceptions'.
According to international media reports, the recent measures by the Thai authorities also include isolating or quaranting those with a temperature above 37.5 degrees Celsius or with suspicious coronavirus symptoms. The Thai authorities have also said that travellers who have no fever and show no symptoms will still have to enter self-quarantine for 14 days. Furthermore, the travellers will not be allowed to leave their premises unless special permits from Thai authorities are obtained.
Thailand's first fatality
Thailand has reportedly confirmed its first death in the country due to the novel Coronavirus on March 1. A 35-year-old Thai National contracted COVID-19 due to declining immunity after he suffered from dengue, the Director-General of the Department of Disease Control Suwannachai Wattanayingcharoenchai told Thai media.
According to news reports, the patient - a retail worker - was detected with soaring temperature due to dengue fever and incurred multiple organ failure. He was isolated and was being medically treated at a hospital for nearly a month. The health ministry, however, is yet to investigate the role coronavirus played in the fatality.
First detected in the city of Wuhan, in Hubei Province of China, the virus outbreak has now spread across more than 60 countries since December 2019. The total number of confirmed cases within China has reportedly hit 80,152 and more than 90,000 worldwide. According to reports, the death toll in China has also surpassed 2,900 and the National Health Commission also confirmed more than 126 new cases.
Leaders around the world have reportedly rolled out bans on gatherings and stricter travel restrictions as the confirmed cases around the globe are increasing day-by-day. The deadly outbreak has disrupted flight demand and several airlines have also suspended or modified services in response. WHO chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has also said that the officials “should not be too eager to declare a pandemic” in the absence of “clear-minded analysis of the facts”.
Updated 18:27 IST, March 3rd 2020