Dead Covid-19 train passenger had just returned from India, Pakistan, had contact with 3 Phuket cases

“The deceased had participated in a Dawah [Muslim missionary] activity in India in February, and before that he had been to Pakistan.”

The 57-year-old Thai man found dead on a Bangkok-Narathiwat train on Tuesday had recently returned from India. Preecha Nuannoi, district chief of Su-Ngai Kolok in Narathiwat province, made the announcement yesterday.

“He was a local of Su-Ngai Kolok and had boarded the train from Bangkok on March 30 to return home. However, he was found dead when the train made a rest stop at Prachuap Khiri Khan’s Thap Sakae district.”

Tests on the body at Songkhla hospital came back positive for the Covid-19 coronavirus on Wednesday.

Preecha says Narathiwat public health authorities sent officials to interview and test the victim’s family members and also disinfect his home.

The body was not sent to Narathiwat but instead buried Wednesday at an Islamic cemetery in Thap Sakae district, where family members joined the ceremony.

The dead man is known to have had contact in Pakistan with 3 cases of the virus confirmed in Phuket today. The southern island province reported 13 new cases, bring its total to 100.

The State Railway of Thailand announced it had disinfected and cleaned the train thoroughly. Eight train staff were ordered home for 14 days of self-quarantine, while a list of about 10 passengers who may have come into close contact with the victim was sent to the Public Health Ministry.

SOURCE: The Nation