'Suspects' face fines if they don't cooperate
PEOPLE SUSPECTED of contracting Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) who refuse to be quarantined face fines of up to Bt2,000, Department of Disease Control (DDC) chief Dr Sopon Mekthon warned yesterday.
In future measures to be imposed soon, people who live in areas where MERS has been reported who have been told by local health authorities to clean or sanitise their homes will be fined Bt2,000 if they fail to comply, he said.
This condition was similar, he said, to chicken farmers being ordered to cull chicken in the event of avian flu outbreaks.
He said hospitals were also required to strictly follow hygiene protocols during their treatment of MERS patients or when they transfer them. All transports must be done using sealed ambulances and hospitals that use public transport would be subject to penalties by the ministry, he added.
Deputy Public Health Minister Dr Somsak Chunharas said MERS patients would be subsidised for treatment cost during a 14-day quarantine conducted at private hospitals, or they would be transferred to government hospitals, which would charge much lower rates.
People who can afford to pay are welcome to pay,” he said.
Deputy PM Prawit Wongsuwan said he had instructed all military and police hospitals and medical institutes to help out with the ministry’s management of the MERS situation.
In Chaiyaphum, a young mother and her four-year-old child will be quarantined for another three days to make sure they are not sick with MERS after the end of the 14-day incubation period, Dr Somkhuan Harnphatthanachai, chief of the provincial public health office, said.
In yesterday’s briefing update, officials said four people on inbound flights were found to have a fever – out of 29,345 passengers checked at Thai airports. The four patients were not from countries at risk of MERS or Ebola. Airlines that service 37 flights from such countries at risk were reminded of measures and given advice on risk management.
An Omani man, the sole confirmed case in Thailand, is recovering and able to eat. Three relatives were found not to have the disease. Worldwide, there has been 1,338 confirmed cases of MERS with 475 deaths, including 175 cases and 27 deaths in South Korea.