A 38 year old woman from Thailand’s northeastern Chaiyaphum province in the Issan region appears to have contracted the Covid-19 coronavirus for a second time, after she was ‘cured’ of the virus in Bangkok in the middle of March.

The woman, who in March had only recently returned from overseas, was found to be infected with the virus and was admitted to Phyathai 2 Hospital in Bangkok. She apparently made a full recovery and was discharged, and soon returned to her hometown.

But somewhere around April 3-5, she became sick again and went for a test. The result showed that her throat was infected with Covid-19.

A similar case involved a 42 year old construction worker who returned from Qatar on April 2.

Both cases are now under treatment in local hospitals, and authorities are trying to trace people who might have been in close contact with them. Doctors in New York now believe its possible for the virus to lie dormant in patients who’ve been treated

A report yesterday showed that Chaiyaphum currently has 109 Covid-19 patients. 8 were new cases. The local government has asked its residents to strictly follow curfew directives to limit the spread of the virus.

Testing remains the core of identifying patients with Covid-19 but there have been cases of false positives that may lead to apparent re-infections.

SOURCE: The Nation

Joining other provinces such as Pattaya and Phuket, the southern province of Trang will ban entry and exit from tomorrow until April 30. The decision was announced by the province’ Communicable Disease Committee today.

No one will be allowed to enter or leave the province, except for the transport of medical personnel, goods, fuel, and parcels. It will also close most retail outlets, except supermarkets, pharmacies, banks and telecom shops.

Trang residents who return to the province will be allwed to enter but will be quarantined for 14 days.

Phuket sealed its land and sea borders two weeks ago and will close its airport tomorrow. Pattaya went under a state of “restricted access” as of this afternoon.

SOURCE: The Nation

Even as it prepares to restrict travel between its 17 tambon (subdistricts), the southern island province of Phuket is set to become Thailand’s first to launch door-to-door checks of body temperature. The aim is to identify infected people early so they can seek treatment before their symptoms become severe, and potentially end up infecting other Phuketians with the Covid-19 coronavirus.

Phuket’s Governor Phakaphong Tavipatan announced the news during a ceremony where he was given 3,000 infrared thermometers from the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation.

In Phuket to present the devices to was the depatment’s regional director Udomsak Khao Nuna.

The governor thanked Udomsak for the delivery, and said Phuket will be the first province where every household will be checked for possible infection of the deadly virus, which as of today has infected 2,423 people across Thailand, resulting in a total of 32 deaths so far.

“The 3,000 infrared thermometer that we received will be given to teams of volunteers comprising health volunteers, civil defense volunteers, members of the public and village headmen, who will knock on every household door to check people’s temperatures to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.”

The thermometers will be used together with a mobile phone application to report the teams’ findings.

SOURCE: The Phuket News