A construction camp off Bangkok’s Chaeng Wattana Road, which also features the Immigration Office, is reporting that 196 out of 300 workers have tested positive for Covid-19. Palang Pracharat MP Sira Jenjaka made the announcement after an inspection of the camp ended in testing many for Covid. Tomorrow, another 500 workers at the camp are scheduled to take Covid tests. Then, on May 15, the Thai workers at the site will be tested. Siri says the construction camp is an at-risk area as the new infections need a more stringent approach, to keep the virus from spreading.
He says the camp, in Laksi district, was closed after the infections were found. The owner of the camp, Italian-Thai Development, says all the migrant workers at the camp are legally registered. He says the district office told him the area would be closed for 7 days, but did not say why the Thai workers were being tested last. Siri asked the Labour Minister to conduct virus testing at the Thai-Japan sports stadium in the Din Daeng area of Bangkok, saying residents who live around the stadium should be tested free of charge.
Meanwhile, a spike in daily new Covid-19 infections was reported in Thailand today with more than half of the 4,887 infections confirmed today linked to outbreaks at 2 Bangkok prisons. Thailand now has 32,661 active Covid-19 cases, a record high in Thailand since the start of the pandemic last year. There has been a total of 93,794 Covid-19 infections since last year, according to the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration.
32 new Covid-related deaths were reported by the CCSA today, raising the pandemic’s death toll in Thailand to 518. A spokesperson for the CCSA says the patient fatalities continue to primarily be the elderly and those with underlying medical conditions such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes.
Ann Carter is an award-winning journalist from the United States with over 12 years experience in print and broadcast news. Her work has been featured in America, China and Thailand as she has worked internationally at major news stations as a writer and producer. Carter graduated from the Walter Williams Missouri School of Journalism in the USA.
