By Panarat Thepgumpanat
BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thai well being officers are stepping up monitoring and inspection at its airports for the brand new thriller virus from China forward of Lunar New 12 months, when Chinese language guests flock to the Southeast Asian nation, a well being official mentioned on Wednesday.
The procedures comes days after a Chinese language girl was quarantined in Thailand with the thriller pressure of the coronavirus, within the first occasion of its detection outdoors of China.
Coronaviruses are a big household of viruses that may trigger infections starting from the frequent chilly to SARS.
The World Well being Organisation has mentioned there could have been restricted human-to-human transmission of the brand new coronavirus in China inside households.
Authorities within the central Chinese language metropolis of Wuhan confirmed on Wednesday married couple have been amongst 41 individuals identified with pneumonia believed to be brought on by the brand new virus.
The prospect of human-to-human transmission of a brand new virus has put Thai authorities on alert.
The president of the Tourism Council of Thailand informed Reuters on Wednesday that about 800,000 guests from China have been anticipated to go to the nation over the Lunar New 12 months vacation later this month.
The Public Well being Ministry has elevated its monitoring at 4 airports which have each day flights from Wuhan – Suvarnabhumi, Don Mueng, Chiang Mai and Phuket – and any airports that receives constitution flights from town.
Preliminary lab exams cited by Chinese language state media confirmed the 41 pneumonia circumstances in Wuhan, the place one affected person has died, may very well be from a brand new sort of coronavirus. There have since been no new circumstances or deaths, Wuhan well being authorities mentioned on Tuesday.
“Normally there are 1,200 arrivals from Wuhan in Thailand, which may go as much as 1,500 to 1,600 throughout Lunar New 12 months, so we are going to improve personnel,” Thai Illness Management Division Director Sophon Iamsirithaworn informed Reuters on Wednesday.
“At present, officers are working 24 hours in three shifts of 5 to six,” he mentioned including that two infrared thermal scan machines have been getting used, with two in reserve.
Reminiscences stay contemporary in Asia of a 2002-2003 outbreak of SARS, or Extreme Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which emerged in China and killed practically 800 individuals worldwide.
(Reporting by Panarat Thepgumpanat; Writing by Chayut Setboonsarng; Modifying by Alex Richardson)
