Officers isolated after contact with infected suspect
Four probation officers who were in close contact with a detained drug suspect who was later confirmed to have Covid-19 have been ordered to self-quarantine at home for 14 days, the Department of Probation (DP) said yesterday.
The infected suspect had been transferred to come under the Department of Disease Control (DDC) care for treatment, said Witthawan Sunthonkhachit, director-general of the probation department.
The officers who were attached to Bangkok Probation Office 1 were involved in questioning and handling the suspect last week, he said. The suspect was detained at Klongprem Central Prison at that time where he was screened for Covid-19 and found to have a high fever, he said. He was separated from other detained suspects before he was transferred to the DDC’s care, he said.
“Although other detained suspects didn’t come to the prison in the same vehicle as the infected suspect, they were all screened for the infection and put under a 14-day observation. None of them have showed any signs of infection so far,” he said.
The probation officers questioning the infected suspect didn’t have any close contact with any other detained suspects either, he said. Citing an order by the director of Bangkok Probation Office 1, a source said the infected suspect was detained at the prison on March 13.
Pol Col Naras Savestanan, directorgeneral of the Department of Corrections (DC), meanwhile, said his department still has no report about a suspect being infected with Covid-19.
He was responding to a daily press briefing by the government’s Covid-19 press centre, which said yesterday one detained suspect was confirmed to have contracted Covid-19. The briefing was referring to the inmate who has since been transferred to the DDC.
Pol Col Naras said he wasn’t sure if the suspect was being detained by police or at a prison. Asadang Ruayajin, deputy director-general of the DDC, said he would check who the infected suspect was and where he was being treated.