UPDATE: Covid-19 detected on gym equipment, Koh Samui covid case

The Department of Disease Control has provided some updates relating to the Koh Samui-based 57 year old French woman who tested positive on Thursday for a case of Covid-19, the first case on the Gulf island in 7 months. Quite swiftly authorities have been able to come up with a possible reason for the case after claiming they detected the coronavirus on gym equipment at the hotel where the woman, her husband and teenage son, were conducting their 14 day ASQ.

The woman, her husband and male teenager, had recently returned from France. Art this stage the government has not responded to questions to the type of visa they are travelling on and how they were able to enter Thailand under the current regime of restrictions and border closures. They all spent 2 weeks in an Alternative State Quarantine hotel in Samut Prakan, south east of Bangkok. She tested negative twice whilst in quarantine. 5 days after being released she tested positive.

Dr. Opas Karnkawinpong, Acting Director-General of the Thai Disease Control Department, says that health officials, tracking down the possible sources of the coronavirus, found traces of Covid-19 on gym equipment used by the woman at the ASQ hotel in Samut Prakan, leading officials to believe the case was not spread on Koh Samui.

Health officials have also conducted Covid-19 tests on 67 employees and other people who were quarantining at the hotel and all were cleared of infection. The Department of Disease Control says, because of this incident, they are planning further restrictions and measures for ASQ hotels.

The woman’s husband, son and a close family friend, who collected the family at the Koh Samui Airport and drove them home in her car, have all tested negative for the virus. All remain under observation in quarantine at this stage. 10 others, including flight staff, on the Bangkok Airways flight that took them from Bangkok to Koh Samui, have also all tested negative for the virus but have been quarantined as a precaution.

Yesterday there were 4 new Covid-19 cases reported in Thailand, including 3 cases identified whilst in state quarantine and a domestic infection (the 57 year old woman), according to the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration.

Of the 3 returnees, 1 patient, aged 38, had arrived from Austria and 2, aged 26 and 38, had returned from Hong Kong. They were all female.

SOURCES: The Pattaya News | Nation Thailand