21 Vietnamese fishermen taken for coronavirus testing in Songkhla

21 Vietnamese crew from four Vietnamese fishing boats looking for sea cucumbers have been taken ashore to a Songkhla Navy hospital by Royal Thai Navy officials last night. They are being quarantined whilst being tested for coronavirus.

Sea cucumbers are echinoderms from the class Holothuroidea. They are marine animals with a leathery skin and an elongated body containing a single, branched gonad. Sea cucumbers are found on the sea floor worldwide.

The Songkhla Naval Base Hospital’s medical team has now screened the entire crew following a report that the Vietnamese boat had travelled to China since the start of the outbreak. Concerns were raised when Maritime Information Sharing Centre was informed on February 14 that foreign ships searching for sea cucumbers had also encroached into Thailand’s maritime zone.

Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam share parts of the Gulf of Thailand.

Its name in Malay and Khmer translates as the “Gulf of Siam”. In Thai, the gulf is historically known as Ao Sayam. In Vietnamese it is known as Vịnh Thái Lan.

Of the fishermen brought ashore, 16 didn’t show any symptoms of coronavirus while the condition of the other five, who have now been screened, is yet to be confirmed.

SOURCE: The Nation