Samut Prakan uncovers Covid-19 cluster of 800 infections

Worries that Covid-19 had spread through a condominium complex with 8,000 residents in Samut Prakan were justified today as a cluster of 800 infections were uncovered in the housing community. Over 8,000 people residing in the Sin Charoen Thani condo complex are being tested for Covid-19 by a team of public health officials and immigration officers led by the Muang District Chief.

The residents of the condo complex are mostly Thai and foreign workers, with many condo residents working at the nearby Bang Pu industrial estate, the site of a recent cluster of hundreds of Covid-19 infections.

Full testing of every resident in the complex is underway now and authorities are expecting to be finished within the next 5 days. After the outbreak in the industrial estate, the governor commanded agencies to test all employees of three factories located within the estate. There are about 4,000 total employees and so far 800 have tested positive for Covid-19.

The majority of employees of these factories live in 3 nearby condo complexes. Muang is an industrial district with more than half of the 550,000 people residing within the district working in the local factories. Authorities have now banned movement for foreign factory workers in the Muang district.

Samut Prakan saw 3 Covid-19 fatalities yesterday, more than any other province except for neighbouring Bangkok which had 24 deaths, 2 of which were prison inmates. Thailand saw a total of 34 deaths from Covid-19 yesterday.

The cluster of 800 Covid-19 infected people from this condo complex and nearby factories in Samut Prakan dwarfs the 3 clusters uncovered in Bangkok yesterday, according to the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration. Those outbreaks, 89 in Bang Khae, 36 in Min Buri market and 5 in Watthana are amongst the 39 clusters CCSA is currently monitoring in 27 of Bangkok’s 50 districts.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post