Coronavirus Thailand

Coronavirus Thailand – The latest news from Thailand. Daily updates including articles, headlines, breaking stories and videos from our local reporters.

Coronavirus disease outbreak 2019 (COVID-19), part of the 2019–2020 global pandemic, has been occurring in Thailand since 13 January 2020, when the nation first verified a case outside of China. Oversight of incoming tourists has reported a small number of cases during January, almost all of which were tourists or people returning from China. The first local transmission recorded was confirmed on 31 January. The number of cases remained low throughout February, with 40 confirmed by the end of the month. Reports saw a significant rise in mid-March, due to multiple transmission clusters, the bulk of which occurred in the Muay Thai war at the Lumpinee Boxing Stadium on 6 March. Confirmed cases grew to more than a hundred per day in the following week, and community properties and companies were forced to close down in Bangkok and several other provinces. Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha declared a state of emergency effective 26 March. A curfew has been declared, starting from the night of 3 April 2020. The response of the Thai government to the outbreak was initially centered on surveillance and contact tracking in accordance with the three-stage intervention model of the Department of Disease Control. Temperature and symptom monitoring for coronavirus infections has been carried out at international airports as well as in clinics for people with transit or communication records. Investigations have been performed in response to outbreak clusters. Public education focused on self-monitoring for at-risk groups, following hygiene (especially hand washing) and avoiding crowds (or wearing masks if not possible). Although residents returning from high-risk countries were urged to self-quarantine, travel restrictions were not revealed until 5 March, when four countries were listed as “disease-infected areas” and quarantine-infected travelers, while those traveling from other high-risk countries are under surveillance. Additional limits, requiring medical certificates for international visitors and also health insurance for foreign nationals, were announced on 19 March.

Coronavirus Bangkok • Coronavirus Koh Samui • Coronavirus Phuket

Be sure to check out our Coronavirus Asia News page as well.