BANGKOK, Jan 30 (TNA) – Public health officials and
medical staff from all over Thailand have stepped up their preparedness for
disease control and public campaign to prevent the coronavirus from spreading.
Thailand’s Department of Disease Control called a meeting of
officials from public health agencies to update on novel coronavirus on
Thursday.
The Department’s Director-General Dr. Suwannachai
Watanacharoenying said the ever-changing situation required medical personnel
to make proper response, particularly the human-to-human transmission of the
virus that had been found outside China.
Possible virus carriers were not only those travelled to
China but also everyone who travelled abroad, he said. Community-based surveillance mechanism was
necessary to prevent an outbreak in the country, he added.
During the press conference, Public Health Minister Anutin
Charnvirakul rejected rumours related to coronavirus including a taxi driver
has been infected with the coronavirus.
He urged the public to follow official updates from
government agencies and called on people who spread rumours to stop spreading
fake news and misleading information.
On the fate of Thai citizens in Wuhan, the epicenter of the
outbreak, Anutin said the government could send chartered flight to evacuate them
at any time when it received permission from the Chinese government.
The minister also revealed that a national panel on emerging
disease would hold a meeting on Friday when members were to introduce new
preventive measures.
Meanwhile, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA)
called a meeting with the managements of 922 hotels in the capital city to give
instructions on infectious disease protections.
They learned about
guidelines for emergency response and procedures to report to BMA’s health
office and medical office. (TNA)
