Thai government urges the public to comply with contact-tracing system

The spokesman for Thailand’s Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration, Taweeslip Wisanuyothin, says it’s vital the public complies with the government’s tracking and tracing system if the virus is to be suppressed. The country is currently recording daily new cases in single digits, most of them returnees and already in state quarantine. One of the 3 new cases today was a 25 year old female student who recently returned from the Philippines. She entered state quarantine on May 13 and was found to be infected on Tuesday, though she remains asymptomatic.

However, a report in Coconuts says the government remains concerned that, should the general public fail to comply with contact-tracing requirements, the country could see a second wave. Dr. Taweeslip says that although more than 3 million people “checked in” at various businesses at the weekend, over 700,000 of them had not “checked out” again, causing discrepancies in the numbers.

“If one infection happens, we can trace back precisely where that person has gone. It can reduce the number of people that must be tested, as shopping centres can have thousands of visitors each day.”

When questioned as to why the data is being kept for 60 days when the virus typically has an incubation period of just 14 days, Dr. Taweeslip cited the Lumphini Boxing Stadium ‘cluster’ as an example. The cluster of cases that arose there in March went on to infect four generations, each with an incubation period of 14 days.

Contact-tracing apps are increasingly being deployed around the world in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. In South Korea, very early adoption of tracking and tracing meant the country avoided going into lock-down at all.

SOURCE: Coconuts