Permanent secretary for health, Kiatiphum Wongrajit, on Tuesday expressed confidence that authorities in Samut Sakhon will be able to bring the spread of Covid-19 under control in the next few weeks, adding that around 4,000 workers living at the epidemic centre have been detained for over 10 days, meaning they are unlikely to spread the disease to others in the province.
The country is now facing a new wave of Covid-19 after a 67-year-old female stall owner at the Central Shrimp Market in Samut Sakhon province tested positive for the virus on Dec 17. The market, crowded with traders and migrant workers, became an epicentre for Covid-19. Unfortunately, the disease has already spread to 45 provinces, just 13 days after the first case was found.
The ministry said the disease was likely to spread further over the next 14 days as people travel during the New Year long weekend. Another outbreak in Samut Sakhon and other nearby provinces, not to mention further afield, was possible if there are no measures in place to control it, he said.
Regarding the ministry's next step towards managing the epidemic centre, Opas Karnkawinpong, chief of the Department of Disease Control, said workers who developed immunity will be moved to stay in one building.
They will receive a certificate for being disease-free, but will still be under monitoring. The group that has not yet developed immunity will be moved to stay in another building.
Meanwhile, the group testing negative will be sectioned off to stay in another zone.
By this method, the province will be able to turn the market into an ultimate control zone within the next two weeks.
He added that blood tests showed many of them have developed immunity and that asymptomatic patients could not transmit the disease after the eighth day of infection.
