No long stay-tourists infected yet: Health Ministry
So far, no long-stay tourists have been found infected with Covid-19, though health authorities have urged Thais to keep their guard up after a symptomless man tested positive in Krabi last week.
The rare local case was an Indian restaurant worker aged 37 and living in Muang district.
He was found to be infected during a routine work-permit test at Krabi Hospital last Wednesday.
He is thought to have contracted the disease abroad before arriving in Thailand three months ago and remaining asymptomatic. Tests on 19 close contacts of the infected man have come back negative, while 32 contacts are in quarantine.
Dr Sopon Iamsirithaworn, chief of the Communicable Diseases Division, praised Krabi locals for not panicking and urged them to report to a medical facility if they experienced a fever, cough, respiratory symptoms, or lost their sense of smell.
Thailand is gradually opening its tourism industry via Special Tourist Visas (STV) offered to residents of countries at low risk of Covid19 transmission, such as China, Vietnam, Taiwan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.
The Public Health Ministry reports that so far, all tests on long-stay STV tourists in alternative state quarantine hotels have come back negative.
