As Thailand registered "zero new" Covid-19 infections yesterday, the government's Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) should have had every reason to rejoice. There's just one catch. The country, in fact, posted double-digit infection numbers on Monday. So what's with the Thai government infographic showing all those smiling faces celebrating under a big zero? One only needs to check out the fine print. As it turns out, there were no new cases among Thais, while 18 new infections had been detected among "illegal migrants".
At best, such an announcement is lacking in sensitivity. At worst, it smacks of outright racism.
The infographic, which the CCSA would later amend, unsurprisingly became a lightning rod for criticism. On some levels, it risks inciting hate as some Thais could interpret it to mean the migrants being detained at a Songkhla detention center are marring the country's otherwise unblemished Covid-19 record.
The CCSA said 17 of the 18 infected are female, one of whom is reportedly only 10 years old. What a 10-year-old is doing in a detention facility raises serious questions about domestic and international laws on child protection.
In any case, the CCSA has never hid its ambition of achieving zero Covid-19 cases. In fact, it's a condition, as oft repeated by CCSA spokesman Taweesilp Visanuyothin, necessary for Thailand's return to business as usual on the economic and social fronts.
The target, unrealistic as it is, has led the government to implement extreme lockdown measures that have stripped millions of people of their jobs, bankrupting many overnight. Loopholes in the government's 5,000-baht aid scheme, meanwhile, have consistently left people in the lurch.
At the same time, the preoccupation with "zero new infections" on the part of health policy makers has been blamed for a raft of questionable state policies, among them the measure barring Thais stranded overseas from returning home earlier for fear that their arrival, especially from hotspots, might cause a spike in cases. That mindset led the government to set quotas for would-be Thai returnees, along with near-impossible stumbling blocks on the road home.
There are also claims the "zero case" pipe dream may explain why the CCSA has been reluctant when asked about active case-finding operations. The CCSA spokesman has been adamant that such an operation would be a waste of money and time. Instead, he insisted such operations will be conducted in areas deemed necessary. Many believe these tactics are used to cook the infection rate books.
It's true that illegal migrants form a big infection cluster in the country. On April 24, for example, 42 illegal migrants in the Songkhla detention facility tested positive for Covid-19.
But some observers dispute the idea that migrants are super spreaders, saying these people had entered Thailand long before the outbreak, which was confirmed in mid-January, and had likely become infected after the borders were closed. Rather, it is the poor living conditions, with people living on top of each other, that caused the virus to spread.
Local health authorities have worked very hard and deserve praise for treating the sick migrants. They must continue the search for cases among these detainees and shelter those who have not been infected. At the policy level, the CCSA must refrain from making racist remarks that may intensify hatred of non-Thais, even if that shatters the illusory dream of an infection-free Thailand.