BANGKOK, March 4 (TNA) – A police senior sergeant major of the Wang Thonglang police station tested positive for COVID-19 after returning home in Samut Sakhon and handling demonstrators near the prime minister’s residence.
Pol Col Ekapop Tanprayun, chief of the Wang Thonglang station, said the infected policeman, Pol Sen Sgt Maj Somyot Nuamcharoen, was ordered to stay in his room and wait for an ambulance that would bring him to hospital to repeat COVID-19 testing.
If the new test confirms his infection, he will be sent to treatment, Pol Col Ekapop said.
Pol Sen Sgt Maj Somyot went home and met a friend in Krathum Baen district of Samut Sakhon province on Feb 18. The province is the red zone of maximum COVID-19 control measures.
Yesterday the friend told him on phone that the former contracted COVID-19. The policeman then sought a test which returned positive. He was asymptomatic.
Pol Sen Sgt Maj Somyot had handled demonstrators at many sites including on Vibhavadi Rangsit Road in front of the 1st Infantry Regiment on Feb 28 when he drove a police vehicle, carrying suspects. The residence of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha stands in the compound.
Pol Col Ekapop said disinfection was ordered at the Wang Thonglang station, especially on the surfaces that Pol Sen Sgt Maj Somyot had touched. The station chief also ordered quarantine and COVID-19 tests on the riot policemen who had worked closely with Pol Sen Sgt Maj Somyot. (TNA)
