Residents of Jana district, in Thailand’s southern province of Songkhla, are considering taking legal action against the Southern Border Provinces Administration Centre (SBPAC) for allegedly defying an order of the provincial communicable disease committee by holding a Muay Thai boxing match on April 8th.

A representative of the residents, Mr. Surasak Manee, said today (Saturday) that he has already consulted a lawyer about filing a complaint with Jana district police, after it was discovered that some boxers, boxing promoters and several fans, who came from high-risk provinces, were not quarantined as required.

The SBPAC was the organizer of the boxing event, with Deputy Interior Minister Niphon Boonyamanee, also a Democrat MP, as the honorary advisory chairman of the event.

Dr. Supat Hasuwankit, director of Jana district hospital, advisedthe organizing committee to postpone the event the day before,after an infection had been found in the district, but his warning was ignored by the SBPC, claiming that the boxing event would be devoid of spectators and that several preventive measures were in place at the boxing stadium.

It was, however, reported that about 500 people were inside and outside the stadium watching the matches, although they were not sitting around the boxing ring and remained behind the TV cameras live-broadcasting the fights.

After the boxing event, 258 boxing fans and officials were tested for COVID-19 and all showed negative results.

Two VIP fans were, however, earlier found to be infected by the virus.