60 Burmese test negative for Covid-19 after contact with infected teen at border district

Caitlin AshworthFriday, October 2, 2020Last Updated: Monday, December 25, 2023

248 1 minute read

60 Burmese test negative for Covid-19 after contact with infected teen at border district

PHOTO: Thairath

Those in the Kanchanburi province, close to the Thai-Myanmar border in the west of Thailand, have been on high alert since a Burmese teenager in a border town tested positive for Covid-19 last month. Myanmar health officials now report that 60 people in the Payantongsu district, who were in close contact with the 17 year old, have all tested negative for Covid-19.

With the rising number of cases in Myanmar and the report of the teen’s case, both Thai and Myanmar authorities agreed to close the Three Pagodas Pass border checkpoint, in Prachuap Khiri Kgan, until October 5. In Kanchanburi’s Sangkhla Buri district, health officials took saliva samples from 100 villagers who had recently crossed the border to Payatongsu. The results have not come back yet, but a senior public health official says all the samples are being tested by the Institute of Medical Sciences in Samut Songkhram. He says the results will be released before the border crossing is opened.

Burmese health officials tested 33 local residents, 12 hospital staff members and 15 rescue workers who all came in close contact with the teenager. The negative test results were recently shared with Thai officials.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post

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Caitlin Ashworth

Caitlin Ashworth is a writer from the United States who has lived in Thailand since 2018. She graduated from the University of South Florida St. Petersburg with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and media studies in 2016. She was a reporter for the Daily Hampshire Gazette In Massachusetts. She also interned at the Richmond Times-Dispatch in Virginia and Sarasota Herald-Tribune in Florida.