Thailand tests nearly 600 people exposed to mystery coronavirus case

[webfact]

Thailand tests nearly 600 people exposed to mystery coronavirus case

 

FILE PHOTO: A medical staff wearing personnel protective equipment (PPE) is seen at the COVID-19 testing laboratory at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International airport amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Thailand, June 3, 2020. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha

 

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand said on Wednesday it had tested nearly 600 people potentially exposed to the country's first domestic coronavirus case in over three months, but has so far found no new infections.

 

The man, 37, had worked as a nightclub DJ at three different venues in the capital Bangkok in the two weeks before he tested positive on arrival in prison, following his recent conviction for a drugs-related offence.

 

Individuals deemed at risk across 12 venues including the court where he appeared, nightclubs and supermarkets were tracked down and 569 tests were administered, the Public Health Ministry said.

 

So far, all tests have come back negative and 32 individuals were awaiting results. Authorities have asked 400 other individuals considered low-risk to self-quarantine for 14 days.

 

How the man became infected remains a mystery, with all of Thailand's recent cases, typically less than a handful each day, detected in state quarantine among people returning from abroad.

 

Thailand has reported a total of 3,447 confirmed infections, 58 fatalities and has relaxed internal restrictions. That toll is one of the region's lowest, with Indonesia and the Philippines the highest with more than 200,000 cases each.

 

Natural border crossings and check points with neighbouring countries like Myanmar and Laos have been tightened to prevent illegal entry, Thai Interior Ministry Permanent Secretary Chatchai Promlert said.

 

Myanmar last week sealed up its capital city after seeing cases more than double in just a few weeks.

 

The re-emergence of the virus in Thailand was another blow to its economy, delaying a plan from Oct. 1 to start allowing the return of foreign tourists, initially on the island-resort of Phuket, with mandatory quarantine and limits on movement.

 

Southeast Asia's second-largest economy suffered its biggest shrinkage in more than two decades in the second quarter as the coronavirus outbreak froze tourism and slowed consumption.

 

(Reporting by Panarat Thepgumpanat and Chayut Setboonsarng; Editing by Martin Petty)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-09-09

 

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[ThailandRyan]

And yet the Baht tied to a basket of currencies, who all in all have taken hits because of the pandemic, still seems to be an anomaly against all of those currencies, rising up higher once again even when Thailand's economy is taking a bath and unemployment keeps rising as the Government plays more games to ensure more workers are let go.  

[Puchaiyank]

They forget to test the toilet cleaning lady.

[Blumpie]

With all the false positives that they get per hundred tests I am fairly certain that they are not telling the truth at all.

False positives riddle these tests.

 

[Nout]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8711477/Dont-panic-Ten-reasons-fear-second-wave-coronavirus.html

[DrTuner]

No sign of decoding the genome of the virus they got from the DJ, I suppose? If it was an imported strain, they'd be all over it. If on the other hand it's the same as was here in pre-March .. well.

[DirtyHarry55]

Strange considering just how Contagious it is anyways we definitely still need SOE now lol.

[tribalfusion001]

Must be like the virgin Mary, no transmission of fluids needed...

[rtco]

15 hours ago, webfact said:

How the man became infected remains a mystery

Is it? He got infected by another Thai ... simple rally. The virus is still among us have no doubt about that.

[bodga]

let me  guess...............601  showed  no sign of infection

[hotchilli]

16 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

And yet the Baht tied to a basket of currencies, who all in all have taken hits because of the pandemic, still seems to be an anomaly against all of those currencies, rising up higher once again even when Thailand's economy is taking a bath and unemployment keeps rising as the Government plays more games to ensure more workers are let go.  

Amazing Thailand.

[ThailandRyan]

1 minute ago, hotchilli said:

Amazing Thailand.

Truly Amazing

[rupert the bear]

this highly infectious pathogen in clubs pubs and supermkts and no ones infected ,it must the the superman DNA.how silly of me

[Sheryl]

20 hours ago, Blumpie said:

With all the false positives that they get per hundred tests I am fairly certain that they are not telling the truth at all.

False positives riddle these tests.

 

Actually false pisitives are rare as specificity is quite high (98-99%). Sensitivity is what is low so false negatives are common not false positives.

 

In addition they do not report a result as positive until a second test has been done. Odds of 2 separate tests giving a false positive are about one in a thousand.

 

Add that to this man being symptomatic and I doubt false positive test is the answer.

 

Odds that a drug offender might have some contacts he is unwilling to disclose/cannot disclose to the authorities are, on the orher hand,  IMO pretty good. Possibly even contacts who have illegally crossed borders.

[unblocktheplanet]

13 hours ago, rtco said:

He got infected by another Thai ... simple really. The virus is still among us have no doubt about that.

You may remember the junta's public assembly laws, forbidding all gatherings of more than 5 people. The UK has just banned gatherings of more than 6. We may be back to the future soon. Even if there isn't a new coup.