Quarantine alone 'not enough'

Disease control officials guide arrivals at Suvarnabhumi airport to a quarantine process last month. (Photo by Varuth Hirunyatheb)
Disease control officials guide arrivals at Suvarnabhumi airport to a quarantine process last month. (Photo by Varuth Hirunyatheb)

A top Ministry of Public Health official on Monday said that quarantine alone will not keep the country safe.

Dr Sophon Iamsirithavorn, director of the ministry's Communicable Diseases Division, told media on Monday that infected people will still cross the border no matter how stringent isolation measures for arrivals are.

"The most recent Covid-19 cases in Thailand were among returnees who appear to have been asymptomatic for long periods of time, possibly even the duration of their quarantine," said Dr Sophon.

The department has raised its alert level after two particular cases -- the first a French woman who tested positive a week after leaving quarantine and the second an Indian restaurateur living in Krabi who returned in February.


The doctor urged the public to maintain all health and safety practices adopted at the height of the domestic Covid-19 infection period.

Meanwhile, Dr Supakij Sirilak, acting chief of the Department of Medical Sciences, said the test result for the wife of the Indian restaurateur will be known today as efforts continue to trace any potential lines of infection in Krabi, Phuket, Chiang Mai and Sukhothai, all of which the man had visited recently.

Authorities in Sukhothai on Monday revealed the patient's timeline when he was visiting the province and said he had come into close contact with 32 people during his one-day stay.

Low-risk contacts were advised to observe social distancing and, where possible, self-isolate until doctors give them the all-clear.

Vocabulary

  • adopt: to accept or to start using something new - นำมาใช้
  • asymptomatic (adj): (of a person or illness) having no symptoms, i.e., not signs of a disease or medical condition - ไร้อาการ
  • communicable disease: a disease that can spread from one person or animal to another - โรคที่สามารถติดต่อได้
  • contact (noun): a situation in which people or things touch each other or come very close to each other - การสัมผัส
  • height (noun): peak; the time when something is at its highest or greatest level - ช่วงเวลาที่พบมากที่สุด
  • isolate: to separate from other people - แยกจากกัน
  • quarantine (noun): a situation in which a person or animal that might have a disease is kept separate from other people or animals so that they do not catch the disease - การกักบริเวณ, การจำกัดบริเวณ
  • restaurateur: someone who owns or manages a restaurant - เจ้าของร้านอาหาร
  • stringent: (of a rule, law, etc.) very strict and that must be obeyed - เข้มงวด
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