BANGKOK (AP) – After having managed, against all odds, to keep the coronavirus largely under control for most of the year, Thailand is suddenly challenged by a growing outbreak among migrant workers on the doorstep of Bangkok, the capital.
The spate of cases in Samut Sakhon province threatens to reverse months of efforts to contain the virus and speed the recovery of Thailand’s ailing economy.
To slow the spread of the virus by isolating infected patients, the military and navy have been commissioned by Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha to help set up a 1,000-bed field hospital in the province, ministry spokesman said. of Defense, Lieutenant General Kongcheep Tantrawanit said Wednesday. It would be placed as close to where most patients are already in order to reduce the risks of transmission by moving them elsewhere, he said.
Cases related to the outbreak have already been reported in more than a dozen other provinces, including Bangkok. Officials in the capital enforced existing security measures, such as social distancing, wearing a mask and checking for fever, more strictly in markets, temples, parks and entertainment venues. The city’s more than 700 public schools and daycare centers are due to close for 12 days from Thursday.
Locating contacts found suspected cases for testing, as well as areas that need to be disinfected. In a mall in the popular Siam Square shopping district in downtown Bangkok, three stores visited by a Thai woman who tested positive for the coronavirus were temporarily closed for thorough cleaning, as was a food court in the nearby MBK mall.
The new wave of coronavirus cases abroad already means Thailand’s economic recovery will be slowed as it will take longer to restore the global economy, Prayuth said in a televised speech Tuesday evening.
“What we’ve seen now is that being too relaxed about COVID’s precautions can lead to more economic suffering,” he said.
Prayuth said the situation means Thailand needs to be cautious as it relaxes the rules for admitting visitors from other countries – an approach that could hamper efforts to revive the country’s lucrative tourism industry. .
Shortly before the latest outbreak was discovered last week, a new comprehensive list of countries from which tourists would be admitted under strict restrictions was released, and the idea of shortening a mandatory 14-day quarantine upon arrival was up for debate.
Thailand’s 576 new cases of the coronavirus reported on Sunday – a 13% increase from the previous total of 4,907 – was the country’s largest daily peak. For months, almost all the cases discovered were in people who were already in quarantine after arriving from abroad.
More cases since Sunday have brought Thailand’s total to 5,762. Almost all of them were migrant workers in Samut Sakhon or otherwise connected to a large fish market in the province. Health officials said 44% of migrant workers and people with direct market ties tested so far were infected, although most showed no symptoms.
The fish market closed on weekends and other local restrictions were imposed, including a curfew, bans on travel out of the county, and the closure of many public places. Late Tuesday night, two neighboring counties also imposed lockdown measures, including a ban on New Year’s celebrations. The resort of Pattaya also canceled plans for public celebrations.
The Center for COVID-19 Situation Administration said on Wednesday that 23 counties – nearly one-third of the total – are at high risk based on suppliers identifying where their main customers came from.
While cases involving the fish market have spread across the country, Prayuth expressed confidence that Thailand “could still be one of the least affected countries in the world by this terrible disease.”
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the World Health Organization, has praised Thailand’s approach to the coronavirus crisis several times, citing in a September tweet: “ A whole society and a whole government response, extensive testing, contact tracking, community involvement and nationwide mobilization community #healthworkers. “
Prayuth’s declaration of the state of emergency in March also enabled his government to take measures ranging from lockdowns and censorship to mandating the wearing of a mask and banning the sale of alcohol to combat the virus.
The chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries, Supan Mongkolsuthree, said that as a result of the new outbreak, Samut Sakhon’s industrial sector was experiencing estimated losses of approximately 1 billion baht ($ 33.1 million) per day.
Supan said the federation opposes lockdown measures in other areas because the problem was localized and the government could control it.
Thai Union Group and Charoen Pokphand Foods, both major seafood producers with operations in Samut Sakhon, said they expect little or no disruption to their supply chains.
The origin of the latest outbreak is not yet clear, but in almost all new cases, migrant workers from Thailand’s neighboring country, Myanmar, are employed in the fishing industry.
Low-wage migrant workers are the driving force behind much of the Thai economy, from factories to fishing and construction. According to the Thai Ministry of Labor, there are more than 233,000 documented migrant workers in Samut Sakhon, in addition to an unknown number who are working illegally. According to the UN-affiliated International Organization for Migration, Thailand has an estimated 4-5 million foreign workers.
Despite attempts to regularize their status, many migrant workers are brought to Thailand by traffickers and then forced to work in conditions of near-slavery for small businesses, according to a 2015 study by The Associated Press. found when it peeped into some of the hundreds of shrimp peeling sheds hidden in plain sight on residential streets or behind walls without signs in Samut Sakhon.
Workers’ origins in Myanmar have already led the finger to point to the current outbreak, since a coronavirus outbreak that started in August in Myanmar’s western state of Rakhine, spread to the commercial capital of Yangon and then further east. to the border with Thailand.
Thai authorities tried to restrict cross-border traffic, but the border is notoriously porous. In early December, cases originating from Myanmar were found in northern Thailand. They were Thais who had returned from a stay in Myanmar and dodged the border controls that would have quarantined them. At least two of them flew south to Bangkok before they could be traced.
Still, some popular opinion blames migrant workers who reportedly sneaked into Thailand for the new outbreak.
“This latest flare-up of infections in Samut Sakhon is mainly due to such illegal immigrants,” Prime Minister Prayuth said on Tuesday, without providing evidence. On Wednesday, he ordered the military to step up patrols to track down illegal border crossings and called for an investigation into corrupt officials who may be helping the criminal networks involved in human trafficking.
Migrant workers activists are rearranging the situation, pointing out that two other Southeast Asian countries, Singapore and Malaysia, have also seen major outbreaks among migrant workers.
“Migrant workers across Asia are still at high risk of contracting and disseminating COVID-19 because of their inability to distance themselves socially, both in their labor-intensive workplaces and in their busy and often unsanitary living quarters,” said Andy Hall, a migrant. employee rights specialist working in Asia.