Suvarnabhumi Airport is adopting stricter health measures to monitor travellers arriving from China where a mysterious viral pneumonia has broken out. (Photo: bangkokpost.com) Bangkok (VNA) – Thai Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has urged people not to panic over the outbreak of a mysterious viral pneumonia in China, and gave assurance that measures are in place to keep Thailand free of the disease.
The Department of Disease Control is working with the Airports of Thailand Plc (AoT) to closely monitor tourists from Wuhan, China’s Hubei province where the lung infections have been found, he said.
According to AoT President Nitinai Sirismatthakarn, infrared temperature screening devices have been installed at the four AoT airports: Suvarnabhumi, Dong Mueang, Phuket and Chiang Mai, which currently serve daily flights from Wuhan.
Other countries and territories in the region like mainland China, China’s Hong Kong and Singapore are implementing necessary measures to control and prevent the mysterious pneumonia.
The first viral pneumonia case was first reported last week in Wuhan, leading to speculation about the resurgence of the highly contagious severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) virus.
Wuhan health commission said that the infection broke out between December 12 and December 29, with some of the patients employed at a seafood market in the city that has since been closed for disinfection. Seven of the 59 patients are seriously ill but none of them have died. All are being treated in quarantine.
There is no obvious evidence of human-to-human transmission being found so far, it added./.
VNA
