Health authorities have allayed fears of Covid-19 transmissions after new lab tests showed a 35-year-old Thai woman who completed 14-day quarantine had later tested positive for Covid-19 antibodies, not a live virus.
Dr Taweeslip Visanuyothin, spokesman for the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CSSA), a team of doctors from Ramathibodi Hospital and the Department of Disease Control on Thursday evening, announced the test results of the woman.
Dr Surasak Leela-Udomlipi, director of of Ramathibodi Hospital, said the woman was tested on Aug 19 and Aug 20 and the results from two labs were negative. However, her blood test was positive, indicating she had at some point been infected but already developed an antibody against the coronavirus. She had no symptoms.
However, doctors suggested she stay at Ramathibodi Hospital for culture testing to ensure what she had in her would not spread to others.
In any case, health officials would interrogate 24 people who were in close contact with the woman in Loei and Bangkok, said Dr Walairat Chaifu, diirector of Epidemiology, Department of Disease Control.
The 35-year-old woman arrived in Thailand from the United Arab Emirates on June 24 and was taken to a state quarantine facility in Chon Buri province. She tested negative twice during the quarantine before returning to her home in Loei.
She travelled by car to Bangkok on Sunday and tested positive at the hospital on Tuesday in a mandatory check prior to travelling overseas for work.
Dr Taweeslip said the woman was not considered a patient as the latest two lab tests showed she tested negative.
All places that the woman had visited including a hotel she stayed in Bangkok would open normally, said the CSSA spokesman.
The Loei national was one of two cases of new coronavirus infections after 14-day quarantine following their return from overseas.
The first case was a 34-year-old woman from UAE, who arrived in Thailand on June 2 and returned home to Chaiyaphum after being quarantined. She tested positive for a non-transmissible form of the novel coronavirus at Ramathibodi Hospital on Tuesday as she planned to go overseas.