A second set of swabs, taken from 40 asymptomatic in-patients at a hospital in Thailand’s Yala province, have been sent to a laboratory in Songkhla for analysis. This comes after new infections in Yaha district jumped by about 30% after initial tests on 78 people showed 24 of have COVID-19, said Dr. Songkran Maichum, head of Yala’s provincial health office, this evening (Sunday).
Dr. Songkran said that the new infection rate in Yaha district is unusually high, compared to Active Case Tests (ACT) on more than 3,000 people, conducted between April 18th and 24th in Yala province, in which only 20 tested positive for the virus.
Those 20 cases, confirmed by the results of the tests performed on more than 3,000 returnees from pilgrimages to Malaysia, Indonesia and Pakistan, returnees from Bangkok and other provinces and people in high-risk communities, have already been reported to the CCSA, said Dr. Songkran.
Due to the unusually high percentage of positive results, he said that it was normal for health professionals to launch an investigation into the sources of the infections.
He added that health officials want to confirm the results of the initial tests, to make sure they are accurate, and had the new swabs from 40 asymptomatic cases sent to the laboratory in Songkhla for analysis, the results of which are expected tonight at the earliest.
