By Patpicha Tanakasempipat and Orathai Chinthanet
BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thailand on Saturday reported more than 500 cases of coronavirus among migrant workers at the center of its seafood industry, by far the largest one-day increase in a country that had previously brought the epidemic largely under control. .
The outbreak occurred in Samut Sakhon province, southwest of Bangkok, where four infections were reported in a shrimp market on Friday. The first confirmed case was a 67-year-old woman who was a saleswoman on the market.
The director general of the Department of Disease Control, Opas Karnkawinpong, said in a press conference that 516 new cases were found after tests that included 1,192 migrant workers. More than 90 percent were asymptomatic, he said.
In all, more than 550 new cases were reported on Saturday, bringing the total to more than 4,800, with 60 deaths in the country of 70 million – fewer cases than any country with such a large population, except Vietnam.
Most migrant workers in Samut Sakhon come from Myanmar, which has suffered a much more severe coronavirus outbreak than Thailand, where health authorities are taking early action to limit the spread of the virus.
“Although more infections are likely to be found in crowded foreign communities around the shrimp market, these are low-risk groups because they are working-age and healthy,” Opas said.
The province was ordered to be closed until January 3 and put under control from 10 am to 5 pm.
Governor Samut Sakhon Wirasak Wichitsaengsi said the number of infections was more than expected “making it necessary to lift control measures to stop the rapid spread of the epidemic.”
Thailand is among the top 10 shrimp exporters in the world.
Nearly 1.9 million Myanmar workers were officially in Thailand in 2019. Another recent outbreak was seen in people crossing the porous border illegally. Myanmar has recorded more than 115,000 cases of coronavirus and 2,424 deaths.
Other Southeast Asian countries, including Singapore and Malaysia, have also reported thousands of cases of migrant workers.
The increase in the number of cases in Thailand comes just as it is trying to revive an epidemic-ravaged tourism industry. On Thursday, he relaxed restrictions to allow more foreign tourists to return.
(Additional reporting by Panarat Thepgumpanat, Satawasin Staporncharnchai, Jiraporn Kuhakan; Editing by Matthew Tostevin, David Evans and Clelia Oziel)