Third monkeypox case in Thailand confirmed

Director-general Dr Opas Karnkawinpong told reporters after a meeting of senior officials at the Public Health Ministry that the third case of monkeypox had been confirmed in a lab test.

He said the tourist was a 25-year-old man who entered Thailand on July 18 to visit Phuket.

The provincial administration will report the detailed timeline of the German tourist to the DCD as soon as possible in a bid to find and monitor all people who came into close contact with him.

Opas said that shortly after the tourist entered Thailand, he developed symptoms, so the DCD believed he contracted the virus before entering the country.

The man had visited Thailand several times earlier, the DCD chief added.

Health officials are trying to locate all the people who had been in close contact with the German tourist to monitor their condition. So far, none of the identified persons known to have been in close contact with him have tested positive.

Opas said those who come in close contact with monkeypox patients must be monitored for 21 days, during which they do not have to be quarantined but should not touch or be in close contact with others.

He noted that all the three confirmed cases so far are men.

“This is in line with World Health Organisation data that 98 per cent of the patients are homosexual men,” he said.

The two other confirmed patients detected in Thailand are a Nigerian man and a Thai man, Opas added.