Riot policeman infected with Covid-19

Demonstrators clash with riot police near the 1st Infantry Regiment on Vibhavadi Rangsit Road in Bangkok on Sunday. A riot policeman who was deployed there has tested positive for Covid-19. (Photo: Wichan Charoenkiatpakul)
Demonstrators clash with riot police near the 1st Infantry Regiment on Vibhavadi Rangsit Road in Bangkok on Sunday. A riot policeman who was deployed there has tested positive for Covid-19. (Photo: Wichan Charoenkiatpakul)

A riot policeman deployed at anti-government protests in Bangkok after visiting his home in Samut Sakhon province last month has tested positive for Covid-19.

Police said on Thursday that Pol Sen Sgt Maj Somyot Nuamcharoen tested positive for Covid-19 at a hospital on Wednesday.

The police chief ordered the disinfection of Wang Thonglang station and items the infected policeman had handled, and other riot police who had worked closely with him were ordered to quarantine.

Somyot had returned to his home province of Samut Sakhon, the epicentre of the second Covid-19 wave, on Feb 18. He had met up with friends there. One of them had later tested positive for Covid-19.

The policeman had returned from Samut Sakhon to Bangkok on Feb 19 and the following day was deployed to a protest outside the parliament.

Last Sunday, he was among riot police assigned to the demonstration outside the 1st Infantry Regiment barracks on Vibhavadi Rangsit Road, Bangkok.

On Monday, Somyot had played football in the compound of the Mass Rapid Transit Authority on Rama IX Road.

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Vocabulary

  • barracks: a group of buildings where members of the armed forces live and work - โรงหรืออาคารใหญ่เป็นที่พักทหาร
  • demonstration: an occasion when a group of people gather together to support or protest about something - การชุมนุม
  • deploy: (of police or soldiers) to put in place ready for action - ส่ง (ทหาร, ตำรวจ) ประจำการ.
  • disinfect: to make something clean by treating it with a substance that kills disease causing organisms - ฆ่าเชื้อโรค, ทำให้ปลอดเชื้อ
  • epicentre (noun): the point on the earth's surface where the effects of an earthquake are felt most strongly; the central point of something - ศูนย์กลาง
  • parliament: the group of people who are elected to make and change the laws of a country; the building where members of parliament meet. - รัฐสภา
  • riot police: police who are trained to deal with violent groups of people - ตำรวจปราบจราจล
  • test positive: to show in a medical test that a particular virus, bacteria, disease or drug is present in the body - ตรวจพบว่าติดเชื้อ
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