The government on Wednesday reported one new case of coronavirus disease, another of the soldiers who were quarantined on returning from a military exercise in Hawaii.

Tanarak Plipat, deputy director-general of the Disease Control Department, said the man arrived on July 22 and was quarantined in Chon Buri province. He tested positive on Monday, the fifth day after his return.

The soldier fell sick last Saturday with a fever, cough, sore throat, runny nose, excessive phlegm, muscle pain and headache. He was  admitted at a hospital in Bangkok, Dr Tanarak said.

He took part in the joint US-Thai military exercise in Hawaii from July 1 to 22, along with 150 other Thai soldiers. They stayed in tents that each held 7-8 soldiers.

The drill was in three phases. The second included working in close contact with American soldiers, and they camped together.

No one fell sick during the exercise, Dr Tanarak said. 

From July 19 -21 the soldiers were allowed  to buy souvenirs at a shop in a military camp.

To date, nine of the Thai soldiers were confirmed with Covid-19.

"The present situation is quite good because all patients arrived from other countries, but that does not mean there is no risk within the country... There is a chance that Thailand will again log locally infected patients," Dr Tanarak said.

"Our goal is to respond the best we can to local infection when it is detected."

Total cases in the country rose to 3,298, 3,111 of whom recovered and 129 patients were at hospitals. The death toll has been unchanged at 58 since the last reported fatality on June 2.

Global Covid-19 cases rose by 248,909 over the previous 24 hours to 16.89 million. The death toll increased by 6,847 to 663,335. The United States had the most cases at 4.49 million, up by 64,933.

 

Bangkok Post