The director-general of the Department of Disease Control confirmed the first case of COVID-19 South African variant was found in the Tak Bai cluster in the southern border province of Narathiwat. The case was in close contact with infected relatives who had sneaked in from Malaysia.
Dr Opas Karnkawinpong, the director-general, said the South African variant aka B.1.351.2 was confirmed with a Thai man, 32, in Tak Bai district on May 4. Officials found out that his mother, wife and child had sneaked in from Malaysia. They stayed with him from April 11 to May 4 and already returned to Malaysia.
Officials sealed off his neighborhood and imposed strict disease control measures including active case finding with 698 high-risk people. Mass testing with 160 people in his community found 81 COVID-19 cases, 16 of whom recovered.
Three of the infected people were confirmed with the South African variant and all of them recovered. The Public Health Ministry already controlled the disease in the cluster and there was not any new case. (TNA)
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