Rayong virus tests all turn up negative

Rayong villagers can “return to a normal life” after Covid-19 tests conducted on 6,916 people between July 10 and yesterday all turned up negative, the Department of Disease Control says.

“Rayong residents can return to normalcy,” Dr Suwannachai Wattanayingcharoenchai, director-general of Department of Disease Control (DDC) said yesterday. “But they still have to wear masks, wash their hands regularly and practise social distancing.”

The tests were conducted after two groups of foreigners — Egyptian military personnel and a Sudanese diplomat family — defied state quarantine measures after entering Thailand under a special quota early this month.

Thirty-one Egyptians went out to shop in malls in Rayong province and one was later found to be infected with Covid-19.

In Bangkok, the nine-year-old daughter of a diplomat stayed in selfquarantine in an apartment building in the Sukhumvit area for a few hours before being sent to hospital after it was discovered she had been infected by the coronavirus.

Despite tests before entering Thailand having proved negative, the girl was tested at Suvarnabhumi airport on arrival which later came back positive.

Both cases caused widespread fear about a resurgence of Covid-19. Hard hit was local tourism in Rayong province that faced mass hotel cancellations.

The DDC conducted mass Covid19 tests among vulnerable groups in Rayong and 364 people in Bangkok. In Bangkok, all those tests were negative.

Dr Suwannachai said the cases in Rayong and Bangkok served as good lessons to urge Thailand to be more wary and plug loopholes.

The upside of both cases, he said, is that the DDC prescribed new guidelines to instruct local administrations about how to deal with infections.

According to the guidelines, a potentially affected site must be closed immediately for three days even if there is only one suspected case.