30 medics quarantined after infected patient lied after visiting high-risk country
About 30 medical personnel at the B Care Medical Centre have been suspended from work and placed under home quarantine after having close contact with a patient infected with COVID-19, who had lied about his recent return from a high-risk country.
The hospital said, in a statement issued on Tuesday that, although all the medics and staff tested negative for the virus, as soon as the patient was found to be infected they were all sent home and placed under self-quarantine for 14 days. The medics will be subjected to more tests to make sure that they have not contracted the disease.
The hospital said that the patient came to the hospital on February 23rd with a fever and a cough, but he denied that he had recently returned from abroad when asked. He was diagnosed with a lung inflammation and admitted for treatment.
The following day, doctors checked on his condition and he, again, denied he had been abroad until, later that afternoon, he admitted he had just returned from a high-risk country.
The B Care Medical Centre then transferred the patient to a negative pressure room for observation and sent fluid samples for testing. The same night it was confirmed that he is infected with COVID-19. Eventually, the patient was transferred to a state hospital for further treatment.
Meanwhile, Thai Air Asia reported today that it has suspended all cabin crew who worked on Flight XJ621 from Japan’s Hokkaido airport to Bangkok on February 20th, on which the COVID-19 positive patient was a passenger.
The airline has also contacted other passengers on the same flight to ask them to see a doctor immediately if they develop flu-like symptoms.
The plane has been fumigated and sprayed with disinfectants.
Furthermore, the Thanachart Bank branch in the Don Mueang area has been ordered closed until Friday after it was discovered that the patient is the father of a member of staff.
All staff at the branch have been examined by doctors and told to monitor their health for 14 days. The bank branch is to be fumigated today and sprayed with disinfectant, according to the bank.
