Thai healthcare worker tests positive for COVID-19 coronavirus

In a first, a Thai healthcare worker was diagnosed with the COVID-19 coronavirus yesterday. The new case brings the country’s total confirmed cases to 34 since the outbreak. Fourteen patients have recovered and returned home. Thailand has so far not recorded a fatality from the virus.

The director-general of the Department of Disease Control told a news conference today that the new patient is a 35 year old woman who got the disease from contact with a patient.

Health workers are among the most vulnerable groups exposed to the coronavirus. Beijing revealed yesterday that 1,716 medical workers there have been infected, with six dying from the illness.

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The vast majority of infections among health workers have been in Wuhan, epicentre of the outbreak and the capital of China’s Hupei province, where many lack proper protections in hospitals dealing with a deluge of patients.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post