Samut Sakhon governor orders officials to break isolation regulations if it saves lives

As the number of Covid-19 patients at isolation centres grows, the governor of the central province of Samut Sakhon says officials can bend the rules if it saves lives. The current Public Health Ministry rules on isolating patients from their families are aimed at preventing the spread of infection, but governor Veerasak Vichitsangsri says a backlog of infected people at isolation centres is leading to more infections and deaths.

“If regulations cause people to die because of a lack of quarantine places, just bypass those regulations and do it. I issue the order. Let’s see what is more important, the regulations or deaths.”

Yesterday, according to a Bangkok Post report, the number of infections in the province rose to nearly 1,000. There are 32 isolation centres planned, in order to keep patients away from their families and hopefully curb the spread of the virus. Currently 13 are in operation, but the Bangkok Post reports that the admittance process is slow, which led the governor to issue an order permitting officials to bypass isolation rules. Last year, Veerasak himself spent nearly 3 months in hospital after falling seriously ill with Covid-19.

Yesterday, Samut Sakhon reported another 975 infections. Of those, 199 were found through mass testing, 10 are in prisons, and 766 at hospitals. Today, Thailand has reported another 14,575 new infections and 114 deaths.

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SOURCE: Bangkok Post