Mahachai, major Covid-19 outbreak in a fish market

In a few days, over 800 infections were registered in the nation’s most important fish market, most of which asymptomatic. Eyes on migrant workers from Myanmar. The province of Samut Sakhon, where the cluster emerged, is in lockdown and night curfew until January 3. Further restrictions are expected if the numbers increase.

Bangkok (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Thailand has just started a mass screening, in an attempt to extinguish its’ worst outbreak of Covid-19 since the beginning of the global health emergency in February. Until now, the country had limited cases thanks to a policy of strict control and quarantine, together with heavy restrictions on tourism, one of the main resources of the local economy: an outbreak in a fish market quickly led to hundreds of people testing positive for coronavirus.

In these hours, tens of thousands of citizens are subjected to the molecular swab, after the discovery of numerous positive cases in the most important equestrian centre in the country. The government has already arranged a lockdown in the coastal province of Samut Sakhon, not far from the capital Bangkok. The large majority of immigrants from neighbouring Myanmar work inside the facility. Employees are required to confine themselves to their homes, with an absolute ban on going out.

Thailand was the first nation to register a case of Covid-19 after China, but it has been able to block the transmission, recording only 4 thousand cases and 60 victims in recent months. The outbreak at the Mahachai fish market, the multibillion dollar heart of the local industry, has been traced back to a 67-year-old shrimp seller, but at the moment the transmission line is unknown and other infections are being sought further afield. From the first case of positivity, in a few days, over 800 infections were registered, while the work of testing and tracking continues, also because the woman has never left the country and it is very unlikely that she could be the origin of the cluster.

The authorities have imposed restrictions on migrant workers from Myanmar who now must stay in their accommodation, where they are supplied with water and food but cannot leave their rooms for any reason. "We have locked them up and imposed a ban on moving" underlines the Minister of Health Kietphgum Wongit, with the only exception of going out to undergo the molecular swab. Health sources underline that the vast majority of infections detected so far are asymptomatic.

The province of Samut Sakhon will remain in lockdown and night curfew until January 3, but closures are also expected in the other provinces of the country in the event of further outbreaks. Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, who already has to face the emergency triggered by anti-government protests, demanding a democratic revision of the Constitution, wants to reassure the nation: "We will have to cut the epidemic cycle quickly. We already have experience in handling it.”