Nearly 71 per cent of 900 new cases in Samut Sakhon are Myanmar migrants

The official told Nation TV that the province had recently tested 3,800 people as part of its aggressive Covid-19 testing campaign. The results of some 900 people had come back positive.

“There are rumours shared on the internet that the 900 new cases were from a canned fish factory in the province, and that the government’s CCSA [Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration] has not been notified yet, and that the province was forced to shut down the factory, ordering all employees to self-quarantine at home,” said the official. “All these rumours are false. The 900 new cases have been found across several factories in the province since the new wave of the outbreak had been reported, and the province has already submitted the statistics to the CCSA.”

Meanwhile, Dr Opas Karnkawinpong, director-general of the Disease Control Department, said on Tuesday that the cluster cases in Samut Sakhon had been spreading to 45 provinces nationwide, and 71 per cent of patients are Myanmar migrants, 24 per cent are Thais and 5 per cent are of other nationalities.

“Accumulated confirmed patients in the province are at 2,296. These are the results of active case finding by public health officers in several factories in the province,” he added. “If a factory is found to have several infected people, we will turn it into a quarantine facility for its infected employees. Those who have severe symptoms will be sent to a hospital for treatment, while those who have been tested positive with no symptoms for more than 10 days will be allowed to live in a controlled zone together with those who have been ordered to undergo a 14-day quarantine.”