French woman on Samui tests positive

French woman on Samui tests positive

Resident of resort island had completed 14-day quarantine in Samut Prakan days earlier

Doctors check a room prepared to quarantine Covid-19 patients at Koh Samui Hospital after a French woman was found infected with the virus on the holiday island. (Photo by Supapong Chaolan)
Doctors check a room prepared to quarantine Covid-19 patients at Koh Samui Hospital after a French woman was found infected with the virus on the holiday island. (Photo by Supapong Chaolan)

SURAT THANI: A local coronavirus infection has been confirmed on Koh Samui involving a 57-year-old French woman, who tested positive days after she completed a quarantine on arriving in Thailand.

Koh Samui Hospital director Veerasak Lorthongkham said on Friday that the woman was being treated for Covid-19 at the hospital and her husband and son were being monitored there.

The woman and her family, who have a home on the resort island, arrived in Bangkok on Thai Airways International flight TG933 from Paris on Sept 30. They were quarantined in Samut Prakan for 14 days before returning to Samui on Oct 15.

Dr Veerasak said the woman stayed in her house and wore a face mask whenever she went out in her car.

She developed a fever on Oct 17 and decided to stay home before going to a private hospital for a coronavirus test on Tuesday. The result on Thursday was positive, he added.

Authorities are still trying to determine if the woman became infected while in the country. 

Public health officials have conducted tests on 15 people deemed to be high-risk and have isolated them until the results are known. They are monitoring another 42 people believed to be at low risk.

The Disease Control Department posted a Facebook message saying the high-risk group included the woman’s family members, 10 passengers and two crew on the same flight, and a friend who picked the family up at Samui airport.

The woman’s case was not included in the daily update by the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration on Friday, which added eight new cases involving returnees from abroad, taking the total tally to 3,727. It is expected to be added in the report on Saturday.

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