CHIANG MAI, Dec 2 (TNA) — Authorities in the northern province of Chiang Mai have confirmed that the novel coronavirus was under control after a Thai woman infected with the disease illegally returned from Myanmar through Chiang Rai province and visited Chiang Mai.
Chiang Mai governor Charoenrit Sa-nguansat said that after the infection case of the 29-year-old woman, officials had not detected the spread of the disease and people there could continue with their “new normal” life with infection-prevention habits.
He also ordered checkpoints on routes from Chiang Rai to Chiang Mai until it could be concluded that there is no more local infection in his province.
Joining a press conference by the Chiang Mai governor, representatives of the private sector including tourism operators in the northern province promised payouts worth 100,000 baht for each COVID-19 infection and 1 million baht for each COVID-related death for any visitor who happen to contract the disease there. The offerings were aimed at restoring tourism confidence in Chiang Mai.
Meanwhile, Chiang Mai’s health chief Dr Jatuchai Maneerat said 312 at-risk people were identified in the province. They include 90 with high risks of infection from the 29-year-old woman. Officials had yet to find two of them. Of all at-risk people, 220 tested negative initially.
In Chiang Rai which borders Myanmar, soldiers from the Pha Muang Task Force intensified their border patrols in Mae Sai, Mae Chan and Mae Fa Luang districts. The patrols focused on areas in jungles and along the Sai border river in Mae Sai district where three COVID-infected women sneaked into Thailand and about 30 illegal migrants were arrested recently.
All schools in Mae Sai will be closed until Dec 6 and all cargo trucks and drivers from Myanmar’s border town of Tachileik were disinfected upon arriving in Mae Sai in the wake of reports on the infected illegal returnees. (TNA)
