Chonburi health officials and volunteers tested nearly 300 shoppers and vendors for the coronavirus at an East Pattaya market.
Sompol Jittiruengkiat of the Chonburi Public Health Department, staff from Chonburi Hospital and village health volunteers administered the tests Jan. 18 using a royally donated “biosafety mobile unit” van at Chuen Long Market in Soi Nernplabwan.
The van is one of 12 paid for by HM the King to allow health departments around the country to collect coronavirus samples safely and without contaminating the nasal swabs.
Chonburi is rolling the van into schools, temples, crowded communities and other high-risk areas for mass virus testing, a departure from Thailand’s approach during the first eight months of the pandemic when only targeted testing was done.
Kanlapa Mukdasanit, director of Pattaya’s Communicable Disease Prevention and Control Office, also joined the event, handing out pamphlets on mask use and quarantine, while giving out masks to people not wearing them.
