Cook triggers new Covid-19 cluster in Bangkok

BANGKOK: A cook at a hotel that served as a quarantine centre in Bangkok, tested positive for Covid-19 and this has started a new cluster as the virus spread to several others at the hotel.

Health authorities said the reason for this unexpected cluster was failure to follow Covid-19 controls by the cook at the hotel in Samut Prakan province.

Thailand’s Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration assistant spokeswoman Dr Apisamai Srirangson confirmed that the 28-year-old female cook was the index case for the new cluster, which has recorded nine cases so far.

She said the woman tested positive for Covid-19 on March 22 after a swab test was carried out after she displayed symptoms of the virus.

According to a Bangkok Post report, she was working in the catering department of the unnamed hotel that authorities were using as an alternative state quarantine facility in Bangkok.

She had reportedly lost her sense of smell and taste, and became feverish on March 17.

Authorities then identified five close contacts and all tested positive for the virus.

A woman colleague, 25, tested positive on March 23. She had by then passed the virus to her 19month-old son and a younger sister, who worked at a school in Samut Prakan.

The cook also infected her husband, 24, who is a delivery truck driver, and three other women colleagues aged 30, 35 and 64 working in the catering and reception sections of the same hotel.

The 64-year-old woman then infected another woman, who worked in the catering department of another ho- tel in Bangkok.

The cook had served meals and collected rubbish from people who were quarantined at the hotel. It was learnt that she sometimes did not wear gloves at work, and failed to wash her hands after work.

The spokeswoman said that except for the toddler and the 35year-old woman, others in the cluster were symptomatic. Thailand’s Covid-19 Information Centre posted on Facebook that nine cases have been linked to the cluster, while tests results are pending on other suspected cases.

Dr Apisamai cautioned that just two days after being infected with the Covid-19 virus, a person could start passing it to others.

She said health officials were considering giving Covid-19 vaccinations to high-risk people working at quarantine facilities.

She added that Covid-19 infections among illegal migrants detained in Bang Khen had spread to three police officers and other workers at the Immigration detention facility.

...health officials are considering whether to give Covid-19 vaccinations to high-risk people working at quarantine facilities. DR APISAMAI SRIRANGSON Assistant spokeswoman, Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration