Coronavirus (Covid-19)

Outbreak in Samut Sakhon is “worrying,” CCSA spokesperson says

Published

Tuesday, January 19, 2021 15:51

PHOTO: Matichon

While the number of daily new Covid-19 cases continues to drop, health officials are still scrambling to contain the virus in the prime hotspot: Samut Sakhon. The outbreak in the coastal fishing province is “worrying,” according to Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration spokesperson Taweesilp Visanuyothin.

Health officials rolled out a proactive mass testing campaign after a spike of Covid-19 cases in mid-December. The vast majority of cases were concentrated around the Central Shrimp Market in the Mahachai fishing hub, which affected a large migrant population. The virus has since spread to 61 of Thailand’s 77 provinces.

With the help of proactive testing, more than 4,000 cases were reported in Samut Sakhon. Field hospitals have been set up on the fly to treat and quarantine those that are infected.

But public health officials are still racing to test as many people in the province as possible with plans to inspect 600 factories and test 50 factory workers per day. There are 12,000 factories in Samut Sakhon and Taweeslip says health officials are speeding up testing to “isolate infected people as soon as possible.”

“The outbreak in Samut Sakhon is worrying. It is difficult to conduct active case-finding there. There are many obstacles, including the number of factories… Meanwhile, factory owners and workers must cooperate. There are more than 10,000 small factories where 1-200 people are employed.”

SOURCE: Bangkok Post

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7 Comments

Fred

Tuesday, January 19, 2021 at 4:54 pm

600 factories and testing 50 workers every day knowing that there are 12000 factories means to me that the number of infected people will keep rising.

Reply
Mister Stretch

Tuesday, January 19, 2021 at 5:54 pm

Didn’t they say, just yesterday, that they were lifting some of the restrictions in Samut Sakhon?

Today, it’s worrying? Who’s running this show, the Marx Brothers?

Reply
Soiboy

Tuesday, January 19, 2021 at 7:45 pm

There is 76 not 77 provinces, Bangkok is Not a province

Reply
- The Thaiger
  
  Tuesday, January 19, 2021 at 7:48 pm
  
  Technically correct. But most publishers say 77 provinces, rather than 76 PLUS Bangkok.
  
  Reply
  - Comicus C.
    
    Tuesday, January 19, 2021 at 11:15 pm
    
    Wouldn’t that make most publishers wrong?
    
    Don’t you think that Bankokians are quite fussy about their face and status!
    
    Reply
Gunther

Tuesday, January 19, 2021 at 8:43 pm

AFAIK they are now only testing the symptomatic cases. And that seems to be supported by the article “public health officials are still racing to test as many people in the province as possible with plans to inspect 600 factories and test 50 factory workers per day”.

Let’s say they actually realize you need to test everyone in the factory, not just . OK, based on “There are more than 10,000 small factories where 1-200 people are employed.” we assume 150 people per factory * 10000 small factories / 50 people per day / 365 days per year = 82 years to finish testing.

Compare this to the Wangjing neighborhood in China last week. Two positive cases, the entire area ran 80,000 tests within 12 hours. Or Shijiazhuang, 11 million tested twice last week in a 4 day period.

50 tests per day in Samut Sakhon is a joke. Way to not deal with the situation effectively, extend out the impact of the spread, while giving themselves a pat on the back

Reply
- Issan John
  
  Thursday, January 21, 2021 at 10:56 am
  
  Wrong.
  
  Read the source article – it’s 50 per day “IN EACH FACTORY” which is very, very different.
  
  Reply

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.

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