Furniture plant ordered closed, obstructed Covid probe

Furniture plant ordered closed, obstructed Covid probe

A closure order is posted on the gate of the Sima Furnish Co in tambon Hua Talay of Muang district, Nakhon Ratchasima, on Thursday. (Photo: Prasit Tangprasert)
A closure order is posted on the gate of the Sima Furnish Co in tambon Hua Talay of Muang district, Nakhon Ratchasima, on Thursday. (Photo: Prasit Tangprasert)

NAKHON RATCHASIMA: The provincial communicable disease committee has ordered a furniture factory with 130 workers to close until Dec 1 for obstructing an investigation into a Covid-19 outbreak.

The plant belongs to Sima Furnish Co and is on Phet Matukhla Road in tambon Hua Talay of Muang district.

The gate has been locked and the committee's closure order posted on it. 

Last Friday workers there were given antigen tests and three were positive for Covid-19. They were ordered to go home and isolate.

On Tuesday acting Muang district chief Narong Chanon led a disease investigation team to the factory, but found the premises were locked and they could not enter. 

They waited there for an hour. The factory's recently recruited manager then talked to them but gave no useful information about the Covid outbreak. The team then left the factory.

Nakhon Ratchasima governor Wichian Chantharanothai, as chairman of the communicable disease committee, then ordered the temporary closure of the factory until Dec 1, citing its failure to cooperate with the disease investigation.

The Nakhon Ratchasima health office reported that the factory employed 130 workers in an enclosed and poorly ventilated area. The latest antigen tests were Covid-positive for 37 workers. Most live in Muang district and the others in Khong, Non Sung, Chalerm Phrakiat or Phimai.

The 93 other workers were considered at high-risk and health officials were tracing them for quarantine.

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