Koh Kood closed from today until May 1 after 2 hotel employees contract Covid

Koh Kood, an island in Thailand’s southeastern Trat Province, is closing as of today after 2 hotel workers were found to be infected with Covid-19. The island will close until May 1 as a safety precaution. A hotel bartender was the first to register a positive test for the virus, and, after tests on other employees, another infection was found.

Shuttle boat services that go to and from the Gulf island and the mainland are now only being offered to locals. The island will allow tourists to re-enter on May 1 as long as there are no more infections. Meanwhile, Koh Samui, Thailand’s largest tourist island in the Gulf of Thailand, is reporting 46 new infections as of yesterday. All are being treated at the government hospital on the island.

The island has not been shut down to incoming visitors.

Thailand’s daily Covid-19 case count hit a record high today at 2,070, the CCSA reported today in its daily briefing. Since the start of the pandemic last year, the number of new cases reported each day has remained under 2,000. They also reported 4 more coronavirus-related deaths, raising the total number of Covid fatalities in Thailand since the start of the pandemic to 121 deaths.

Active cases have reached 19,873 cases, more than double the peak from the last wave of infections which topped at 7,234 active cases. There have been 21,320 cases and 27 Covid-related deaths since the April 1 outbreak where cases spread primarily at entertainment venues and nightlife events. Doctors have pointed to the UK variant (B117) of the virus to the recent spread of infections which is more contagious than the original strain.

Just yesterday, Thailand confirmed 1,470 new Covid-19 cases and 7 fatalities. All the new cases were local infections reported in 66 provinces, with the capital of Bangkok leading the case increase with 446 new cases, according to the CCSA spokesman Taweesin Visanuyothin.

SOURCE: The Pattaya News