Researchers have begun collecting samples from horseshoe bats in Chanthaburi to test them for coronavirus amid concerns they may pose a threat to local residents.
They plan to collect 300 bats over three days from a cave in the eastern province, according to a government statement.
Thailand has 23 species of the horseshoe bat, but there has not been an investigation before.
The source of the virus has been a matter of heated debate since it emerged in China late last year.
The World Health Organization (WHO) in April said that all available evidence suggests that it originated in bats in China, but it was not clear how the virus had jumped the species barrier to humans.
The research team in Thailand includes Supaporn Watcharaprueksadee, who identified the country’s first case of Covid-19 in January.
“The reason we need to investigate the horseshoe bat is because there are reports from China that the Covid-19 virus is similar to the virus found in the horseshoe bat,” said Ms Supaporn, who is the deputy director of the Centre for Emerging Infectious Diseases at Chulalongkorn University.
Researchers from the National Parks Department, Chulalongkorn Hospital and Kasetsart University entered Tham Sado in Pong Nam Ron district of Chanthaburi on Thursday evening and re-emerged from the cave in the early hours of Friday with samples of bat blood, saliva and faeces.
Investigators were concerned that residents in the area could be at risk of infection.
Local people have been known to eat bats, Ms Supaporn said, adding that adequate education and information programmes were needed.
Thailand was the first country outside China to record a case of the coronavirus. It has so far reported 3,134 cases and 58 deaths.
Thailand has not recorded any local transmissions of the coronavirus for 19 days, with all new cases coming from Thais returning from overseas.
