THAILAND has become the fourth Asian country to register the MERS, with its health minister announcing yesterday that a businessman from Oman has tested positive for the deadly virus.
The man, along with with 56 people being monitored for the virus and three under quarantine, are warded at the Bamrasnaradura Infectious Diseases Institute in Nonthaburi province, reported Reuters.
“We are confident that we can control the outbreak,” said government spokesman major general Sunsern Kaewkamnerd in a statement, adding that the health of the man’s three family members who accompanied him to Thailand would also be monitored.
Authorities will also regularly telephone those who came into contact with the man and request them to stop work temporarily. Their conditions will be monitored over the next two weeks, the Bangkok Post quoted Thanarak Phaliphat, director of the epidemiology bureau under the Disease Control Department (DCD), as saying.
Pratana Pattanasiri, Thai Airway’s vice-president overseeing aviation safety, security and standards, said the airline has set out seven strict measures to deal with the MERS situation, including screening passengers before checking in and observing their health conditions during the flight.
The airline is also disinfecting airline cabins and monitoring the hygiene of airline staff, he added.
The DCD has told all hospitals in the country to be on alert and to thoroughly check those who came back from the Middle East and South Korea. It is also screening travellers at 67 points of entry from land, sea and air.
Meanwhile, South Korea is experiencing a deluge of flight cancellations worldwide as travellers fear the spread of the virus.
Nevertheless, South Korea’s ambassador to Singapore, Suh Chung Ha, told local broadsheet The Straits Times that Singaporean travellers need not worry about catching MERS there.
Citing findings by the World Health Organization, he said those who caught the virus visited health facilities such as hospitals and there is no evidence that it circulated in the community.
MERS continues to claim lives in South Korea, though the number of daily new cases has been slowing down. As of press time, South Korea has 166 confirmed cases and 24 deaths from the virus.
