Coronavirus (Covid-19)

3 returnees to Thailand reported as “re-infected” with Covid-19

Published

Sunday, September 6, 2020 16:04

FILE PHOTO

There has been 6 new cases of Covid-19 announced in Thailand today. But 3 of the men, all Thais, were previously infected but had been certified “virus-free” before their flights from Singapore on Friday. The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration today announced that the men, aged 43, 53 and 56, tested positive for Covid-19 after arriving in Thailand just 2 days ago.

A spokesperson says they had contracted the virus in Singapore, but since made a full recovery and were cleared as fit-to-fly and received certificates from the Royal Thai Embassy in Singapore as ‘clear’ – a requirement for all Thai and foreign citizens coming back to Thailand.

But when the 3 arrived they were tested again, as is the current practice for all arrivees, and tested positive for a second time.
Officials are assuming that either the final Singapore tests could have returned a false negative, or the tests when they arrived in Thailand have returned a false positive.

Another option is that the men contracted the disease in Singapore, recovered and caught it again – something that has been reported irregularly but appears to have happened before with other ‘recovered’ patients around the world. The fear is that a bout of the coronavirus is no security against re-infection and may render some of the current vaccine trials ineffective.

There were also 3 other imported cases to report day. 2 Thai nationals, a 46 year old maid and a woman aged 83, both discovered during routine quarantine tests 2 days ago after landing from the US last Monday.

The other case was a 46 year old French citizen, working as a teacher in Thailand, who arrived last Tuesday from the UK. He also tested positive on Friday during a routine test at his Bangkok quarantine.

SOURVE: Bangkok Post

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12 Comments

Mike

Sunday, September 6, 2020 at 4:19 pm

The tests used to find out if someone is COVID positive could be finding traces of the virus that are no longer active, some scientists are saying.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/covid-tests-may-be-picking-up-dead-traces-of-virus/ar-BB18JutX

There had also been a case in Singapore where a women kept showing positive after recovering after months

I would question the test on arrival at BKK, here they are suing a new tyoe of repaid testing?

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Anon

Sunday, September 6, 2020 at 5:53 pm

But why is the picture of farang???

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- Waverider
  
  Tuesday, September 8, 2020 at 8:51 am
  
  Cos Thais are running the show now the CEO has been silenced
  
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Preesy Chepuce

Sunday, September 6, 2020 at 6:27 pm

I am sceptical about the testing, at the moment.

My son in the UK was given two “home testing kits”, one after the other, each sent to a different test centre, and each one was inconclusive. E.g.: the sample had a problem being detected or not detected, so it had to be done again, and that was also unclear.

It doesn’t give much confidence in testing anywhere in the world, if the results aren’t unambiguous and reliable, repeatable. I don’t even know which type of test they were.

With this and the incident in Asia, there’s no way to be sure which test was right or wrong or why they gave different results.

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- Steve G
  
  Tuesday, September 8, 2020 at 10:11 am
  
  I heard a leading Immunologist on the radio yesterday stating that the tests will show positive from a previously positive person as the dead cells are still detected by the testing, but because they are dead cells they are inactive so the person is not contagious.
  Surely the Thai health people have this awareness?
  
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Malo Ji

Sunday, September 6, 2020 at 10:18 pm

If “There has been 6 new cases of Covid-19 announced in Thailand today. But 3 of the men, all Thais …”, why is the article illustrated with what appears to be two non-Thais? This gives the impression falangs are those who entered the kingdom with Covid-19.

Are there no stock photos of Thais arriving at the airport?

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Jeab

Monday, September 7, 2020 at 7:51 am

Headline news three returnees to Thailand have covid.

So why is the picture of a western couple there ?

As it goes on to state that they are returning Thais.

Why not just show a picture of the airport empty.

As many people only skim read ,and a picture is worth a thousand words .

Realy dont see the need to show pictures of people Thai or from any other country .

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- Ron
  
  Monday, September 7, 2020 at 8:54 am
  
  Well said. It’s click bait.
  
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- Steven Turner
  
  Monday, September 7, 2020 at 3:00 pm
  
  I was thinking the same thing
  
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Waverider

Monday, September 7, 2020 at 8:00 pm

My eyes are dim I can not see clearly, but this maybe a advertisement for skin whitening cream and it does look like they have a copy nose.
Yim.,.

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- CM
  
  Tuesday, September 8, 2020 at 12:25 am
  
  @Waverider – What? Are you commenting, while drunk?
  
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  - Waverider
    
    Tuesday, September 8, 2020 at 5:12 pm
    
    Sarcasum, most Thai want to be white.
    Don’t know Thais ?
    
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