BANGKOK, July 26 (TNA) – An academic committee on communicable diseases has not defined monkeypox as a dangerous communicable disease yet.
Dr Chakkarat Pittayawonganon, the epidemiology director of the Department of Disease Control, said the committee had not defined monkeypox as a dangerous communicable disease because the Communicable Disease Act defined a dangerous communicable disease as the disease that caused severe symptoms and was highly transmissible.
Monkeypox did not meet the criteria and the committee still considered it as a communicable disease under surveillance.
Dr Opas Karnkawinpong, director-general of the Department of Disease Control, said almost 3,000 people had arrived from the countries where monkeypox was spreading and they included one person who had suspicious symptoms which, however, were not those of monkeypox.
The department established an effective surveillance and screening system and cooperated with immigration police to screen visitors from countries with monkeypox outbreaks at Suvarnabhumi airport. The measure would be expanded to other international airports in the country, Dr Opas said. (TNA)
