18 Jul, 2020
About 2,500 people were tested for Covid-19 in Rayong and Bangkok on Wednesday and Thursday following the two infected VIP health scares.
About half of the results were in and so far, all tested negative, according to the Disease Control Department yesterday.
Suwannachai Wattanayingcharoenchai, director-general of the department, reported the test results amid public concern about a shopping trip in Rayong by an infected Egyptian military officer and the arrival of a daughter of a Sudanese diplomat who tested positive for the disease late last week.
On Tuesday, 1,336 people were tested in Rayong and 267 were tested in Bangkok. The people tested were at the same hotel and mall as the Egyptian and the same condominium building as the diplomat's daughter before she was admitted to hospital.
Dr Suwannachai said they all tested negative.
On Wednesday, 1,252 more people were tested in Rayong and 1,247 of them had come back negative for the disease. Five people are still waiting for their results.
On Thursday, another 1,244 people in the eastern province of Rayong and 97 in Bangkok were tested. Their results are still pending.
Those with negative results should still strictly observe disease control measures including wearing masks, washing hands regularly, observing social distancing rules and not making trips away from home for 14 days, Dr Suwannachai said.
Late yesterday morning Taweesilp Visanuyothin, spokesman of the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA), said three new cases of Covid-19 were reported among those who had flown into the country from Sudan with the diplomat's daughter. The number of confirmed cases in the kingdom is now 3,239.
Dr Taweesilp identified the patients as women aged 22, 23 and 28, who arrived on July 10. All three are now under quarantine in Chon Buri province. Two of the patients, the 22 and 23-year-old, were students who tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday. They were asymptomatic, he said.
The other patient had a fever, excess phlegm and a cough but she first tested negative before another test was conducted on Wednesday.
