BANGKOK (AP) – Thai health officials said on Saturday that two new groups of coronavirus cases had been found and appeared to be linked to a major outbreak discovered a week earlier among migrant workers in an industrial province near Bangkok.
The new cases were found in 19 members of a motorcycle club who held a holiday meeting on the island of Lanta, in Krabi province, and in nine people who were in a gambling house in Rayong province, the Control Department said. of Diseases.
The first motorcycle rider to be diagnosed with the virus came from Samut Sakhon province, where the outbreak among migrant workers occurred.
As of Saturday morning, 110 new cases of coronavirus were reported, bringing Thailand’s total to 6,020. Sixty of the 110 were linked to the Samut Sakhon outbreak.
In early December, Thailand had 4,008 cases. The death toll has remained at 60 since the beginning of November. Until recently, almost all new cases were found among people who were quarantined on arrival from abroad.
Cases linked to the Samut Sakhon outbreak, which was first found in a large seafood market, have been reported in 33 provinces.
The Center for COVID-19 Situation Administration, which coordinates Thailand’s battle with the virus, said on Friday that unless social distance and other restrictions are observed, a national blockade may have to be implemented by March.
Thailand was considered a success story in controlling the disease, taking significant initial steps, including banning the arrival of virtually all foreign tourists. She has recently tried to restart her lucrative travel industry, but the discovery of more than 1,300 cases in Samut Sakhon among migrant workers, mostly from Myanmar, has put authorities on high alert.
Restrictions, including limiting night hours in public places and temporarily closing schools, have been tightened province by province, according to the number of infections.
There are 40 active cases in Bangkok, and contact tracking has caused several restaurants and other businesses to be closed for decontamination and city schools closed for 12 days.