A British man, 43, is the latest and 48th local case of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) infection, and a Thai worker returning from South Korea is also suspected of having caught the virus, the Public Health Ministry reported on Friday.
Dr Sukhum Karnchanapimai, permanent secretary for health, said the British business consultant left London on Feb 28 and changed planes in Hong Kong on Feb 29 before arriving in Thailand. He was in Hong Kong for about eight hours.
On Tuesday he sought treatment for a fever and chest phlegm at a private hospital. He was referred to the Central Chest Institute of Thailand in Nonthaburi province.
This raised the number of local Covid-19 cases to 48, of which 31 had fully recovered while 16 others remained at hospitals, one seriously ill, and one had died.
Dr Sukhum also said a Thai woman who was an informal worker in South Korea and returned to Thailand had tested positive for Covid-19 at one laboratory, and doctors were waiting for her test result from another laboratory for confirmation.
The woman was detected with a fever at Suvarnabhumi airport on Thursday and was sent to the Bamrasnaradura Infectious Diseases Institute in Nonthaburi, he said.
Patients under investigation numbered 4,023, 59% of whom had fully recovered and mostly suffered from seasonal influenza. The other 1,631 remained at hospitals.