Pattaya-
The Pattaya City and Social Security Office has continued proactive targeted Covid-19 testing, even after weeks of no new cases being found in the city despite thousands of people tested in high-risk communities. Chonburi as a whole has only had two cases in the past two weeks and both have been traced to a prior cluster and all their contacts tested negative.
The city just re-opened to domestic tourists and allowed nearly all businesses, including entertainment venues, to open this past Monday.
The active case finding today (February 3rd) was at the Bella Express Hotel in Central Pattaya. The Pattaya City Mayor Sonthaya Khunplume and Lieutenant Commander Wittawat Kuprasert, the Chonburi Social Security Office Chief, made an inspection visit along with Pattaya News reporters.
Mr. Sonthaya told The Pattaya News, “The proactive case finding is aimed to seek out potentially asymptomatic confirmed cases of Covid – 19 in what we consider high-risk areas. These include bar workers, taxi drivers, supermarket workers, and others who work widely with the public. Migrant workers are being tested at length as well and have been for weeks.”
Lieutenant Commander Wittawat added, “There have been in total 12,420 people who have been tested for Covid – 19 for free recently in Chonburi from the active mass testing. Only 2 cases were found in the past two weeks out of those 12,000 cases which led us to believe there is no widespread sign of infection in the area.”
Doctor Sutat Duangden, the director of Vibharam Laemchabang Hospital also spoke to the press and said, “Today, February 3rd, 2021, 530 people have been tested. It will take only 24 hours for the full test result. We do not rely on a single test if positive and utilize the most accurate methods possible. These active case finding tests are focused on asymptomatic patients, we test anyone with symptoms at hospitals.”
All three agreed that proactive testing would continue in Chonburi and Banglamung as the city strives to avoid another devastating closure and identify potential clusters or infections before they spread. The plan is to continue to focus on targeted testing rather than testing everyone which will entail many categories including migrant workers who live in densely packed communities, traffic police, motorbike taxi drivers, bar and nightclub workers, restaurant workers, supermarket workers, hotel workers, and other occupations that mix with large numbers of the public and are on the move often.
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