Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, April 15, 2003
Thai Health Ministry Advises People to Drop Face Masks
The Thai Public Health Ministry has stressed that the spread of SARS is well under control in the country and people can go outside without face masks, the Nation newspaper reported Tuesday.
The Thai Public Health Ministry has stressed that the spread of SARS is well under control in the country and people can go outside without face masks, the Nation newspaper reported Tuesday.
Thawat Suntarajan, deputy permanent secretary of the ministry and head of the ministry's SARS task force, was quoted as saying that people no longer need to wear masks while using public transport or visiting department stores as they are no longer at risk of contracting the pneumonia-like disease.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has also certified that Thailand is not a SARS-hit area, Thawat said.
According to reports, only eight people with SARS-like symptoms have been detected in the kingdom. Two of them died, while five others have recovered and discharged from hospital.
Thawat also advised the public not to be alarmed by rumors of a SARS outbreak and to trust information only from his center, saying the center has examined 87 people who were reported to haveSARS-like symptoms, but all of them were found only to have a common cold.
Nevertheless, Thawat said, the number of people infected with SARS in other areas is on the rise, so the ministry would continueits physical examinations on passengers who are from SARS-hit countries at two medical posts at Don Muang international airport with the help of 20 doctors and 50 nurses.
Bunloet Sakchainanon, head of International Disease Control at the airport, said there were 3,137 arrivals on 48 flights from SARS-hit areas on Sunday, including 811 Thai nationals, but none was found to have SARS-like symptoms.