Government Asks The Public To Meet Contact-tracing Requirements

The spokesperson for Thailand’sCovid-19 Situation Administration Center, Taweeslip Wisanuyothin, said that it is important for the public to comply with the government’s monitoring and tracing program if the virus is to be suppressed.

The country is currently reporting new cases on a regular basis in single digits, most of them returning and already in state quarantine. One of the three new cases today was a 25-year-old female student who recently returned from the Philippines. She entered state quarantine on May 13 and was found to have been contaminated on Tuesday, although she remains asymptomatic.

Nevertheless, reports state that the government remains worried that, if the general public continues to not comply with the contact-tracing criteria, the country may see a second wave. Dr Taweeslip says that while more than 5 million people had “checked in” at various businesses on the weekend, more than 700,000 of them had not “checked out” yet, creating disparities in numbers.

“If one infection happens, we can trace back precisely where that person has gone. It can reduce the number of people that must be tested, as shopping centres can have thousands of visitors each day.”

When asked why the data are kept for 60 days when the virus normally has an incubation period of only 14 days, Dr Taweeslip cited the Lumphini Boxing Stadium ‘cluster’ as an example. The cluster of cases that occurred there in March appeared to infect four generations, each with an incubation period of 14 days.

Contact-tracking apps are increasingly being deployed around the world in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. In South Korea, the very early introduction of monitoring and surveillance meant that the nation avoided going to lock-down.

Read More: 5 Million People Have Registered On Covid-19 Tracking Website

SOURCE: Coconuts

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