Military herds Sattahip Market Covid-19 patients into quarantine

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Soldiers in full personal protective equipment spray disinfectant on people who tested positive for Covid-19 at Sattahip Morning Market.

Testing of Sattahip Morning Market vendors found another 50 positive cases of Covid-19, with military authorities taking the infected to field hospitals and closing the market until July 4.

Chonburi reported another 111 cases linked to the market on June 23 after a cluster was discovered there two days earlier. As usual, authorities kept the market open so migrant workers and Thai sellers could be tested for the disease.



Chonburi public health officials said earlier this week that they do not immediately close markets or businesses where clusters are found as workers would disappear and even leave the province, spreading the disease nationwide. They are closed after a couple rounds of testing.

About 500 market workers turned up at Sattahip Temple June 23 for testing at a mobile lab. Of those, ten percent were found to be infected with Covid-19. Chonburi reported another 183 cases on Friday, which included the 50 testing positive the day before.

Positive cases found at the market were loaded into military transports and taken to field hospitals.

Taking what possessions they brought with them, the infected were cordoned off into a secure area to wait for ambulances to Sattahip Km. 10 Hospital and, for the asymptomatic, military transports to a navy field hospital for 14 days of quarantine.

All the people were sprayed with disinfectant by soldiers in full personal protective equipment before being loaded into trucks.

Officers roped off people in the area to contain the spread of the virus.



Sattahip Morning Market was closed June 21 and will remain off-limits until July 4, or until the situation gets better.