PHUKET: A Phuket man has been diagnosed with Covid-19 after being in close contact with a friend from Samut Sakhon who was infected with the virus.
Dr Thanis Sermkaew, chief of the provincial public health office, said the 40-year-old was a company manager.
On Dec 10 he had gone to nearby Koh Lanta in Krabi province for a get-together with about 40 friends, one of them from Samut Sakhon.
On Dec 11-12 he had close interaction with the friend from Samut Sakhon without wearing a face mask. The friend was later found to have Covid-19.
He returned to Phuket on Dec 13 and went to work on Dec 14, mixing with his employees without wearing a face mask. Of the 15 employees, some wore masks, some did not.
On Dec 16, he experienced head and body aches, a throat irritation and coughing.
He took Dec 17-18 off and returned to the office on Dec 19 to finish up some work. The following day he learned his Samut Sakhon friend was infected. He went to Vachira Phuket Hospital for testing. The result, on Tuesday, showed he was also infected.
Dr Thanis said 28 of the people he had been contact with were at high risk of infection, and 10 low risk. Three had developed Covid-like symptoms and had been treated as people under investigation (PUI) in hospital. The 25 others were now in quarantine. Their test results would be known by noon Wednesday.
Kajonkiet Pattana School, which the infected man's children attend, and other schools in the same chain were ordered to close on Wednesday and Thursday, pending the results of tests on the children.
Some other schools have also been closed out of Covid-19 concerns. Phuket Withayalai, Satree Phuket, Phuket Vocational College and Phuket Technology College have been shut from Dec 23-25, and Kanokkhwan Kindergarten from Dec 23-Jan 4.
Asked about the Myanmar community in Phuket, he said there were an estimated 20,000 migrant workers living in 308 camps. Health officials began testing them for Covid-19 on Dec 21, Dr Thanis said
So far about 7,800 had been tested. None were positive.
Vikrom Jakthi, the Phuket deputy governor, said checkpoints had been set up to screen people travelling in and out of the island province - at the land crossing at Tha Chatchai, all sea ports and Phuket international airport.