BANGKOK, 6 September 2015 (NNT) – Minister of Public Health Piyasakol Sakolsatayadorn gave an interview about Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) situation in Thailand that an Omani man with Mers infection has been completely healed and gone back to his country.
He said Thailand is still free of Mers but needs to keep preventive measures at high level as Middle Eastern tourists are still coming in for medical treatment and Thais are also travelling to the Middle East. Moreover, 10,400 Thai Muslims who have gone to Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia are due to return home during Sep – Oct 2015. First group of them will arrive in Thailand on 26 Sep.
The minister said it is necessary to keep Mers control measures at airports, state and private hospitals as well as in public communities. The Department of Disease Control has been assigned to draw up symptom monitoring criteria in three languages – Thai, English and Arabic – for better public understanding of the disease.
The Mers control measures comprise the registration of travelers, emergency response plan focusing on fast diagnosis and patient searching and screening as well as fast medical treatment.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) report dated 1 Sep 2015, there were 1,478 persons with Mers infection in twenty six countries. 516 of them died. In Saudi Arabia during the past two weeks, there were 73 Mers patients in Riyad and three others in Ha’il, Najran, and Al Hofuf.
