Thai factory owners warned over not following disease control measures

Factory owners in Thailand are being warned to strictly adhere to disease control measures set forth by The Department of Disease Control as the risk of spreading Covid-19 is high in such densely populated buildings. The DDC director-general says the Thai Stop Covid Plus platform has surveyed 1,386 factories so far, finding that 76% of them complied with the measures. 24% of factories that were surveyed, did not.

Factories in Samut Prakan, Pathum Thani, Samut Sakhon, Nonthaburi and Prachuap Khiri Khan have seen 250 Covid infections so far. Most of those factories employ more than 500 workers each. The director-general says the workplaces were poorly ventilated and social distancing wasn’t being followed. She says the virus spread at those factories who weren’t checking employees’ health on a daily basis before going to work. Partying and the sharing of cups at the employee dormitories also was cited for spreading the virus.

Meanwhile, Thailand’s public health department has reported its tally for the past 24 hours from around the country. There has been 30 new Covid-related deaths and 2,256 new cases. Out of today’s new infection total, 183 of those were from the prison system. Yesterday the numbers jumped substantially because of the release of case numbers from two highly infected prisons – Bangkok Remand Prison and the Central Women’s Correctional Institution.

A worker’s camp in Bangkok’s north has been closed by officials after 196 people tested positive for Covid. The new cluster was discovered during proactive testing at the Italian-Thai workers’ camp on Soi Yai Phol, Chalermprakiat Chulabhorn Road in Lak Si, just south of the Don Mueang Airport area.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand has now downgraded its outlook for domestic trips and revenues for the rest of this year “because of the economic downturn”.

The TAT governor Yuthasak Supasorn said last year’s 90.5 million domestic trips, supported by the Thai government’s stimulus measures, such as “We Travel Together” and “Tour Teaw Thai” (Travel Around Thailand), have set the bar for expectations this year. But last year’s receipts also include the first 3 months of 2020 which were largely unaffected by the approaching pandemic response and border closures.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post