The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) will today meeting officials from seven surrounding provinces to lay down measures to prevent an outbreak of rabies in the capital following a number of cases in several provinces.
Bangkok governor Aswin Kwanmuang said the meeting comes after Bangkok was named among 22 provinces declared temporary rabies epidemic zones and rabies-prone areas by the Department of Livestock Development (DLD).
He said authorities in neighbouring provinces should be brought in to discuss preventive measures against the virus and closely monitor the situation.
Citing a situation report from the BMA's Department of Health, Pol Gen Aswin said six people infected by the virus have died this year. Bangkok has reported no human fatalities since 2016.
The governor said the BMA has taken steps to prevent an outbreak of rabies and allocated resources and funds including providing rabies vaccines for pets and stray animals in communities across Bangkok.
The capital is said to have more than 100,000 stray dogs.
However, he said one of the challenges in preventing an outbreak is to encourage pet owners to have their pets vaccinated and not to abandon them.
Meanwhile, livestock officials in Nakhon Si Thammarat Tuesday defended their move to destroy dogs infected with rabies, saying it is part of a DLD outbreak control programme.
They were commenting on the sharing of a video clip showing dogs at a temple in Thung Song district being put down.
At a press conference, the livestock officials led by Siripong Pholsiri said the measure was needed because the office lacked the funds to place infected dogs into quarantine.
They said the animals were checked and confirmed to have rabies after they investigated a case which was limited to an area within a one-kilometre radius.
In Nakhon Si Thammarat, there were six locations in five districts where rabies cases were reported -- two each in Thung Song and Cha-uat, and one each in Thung Yai and Chulabhorn.