THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
nationthailand

Swimming pools ‘not a Covid-19 risk’ if properly chlorinated

Swimming pools ‘not a Covid-19 risk’ if properly chlorinated

Chlorine in swimming pools kills Covid-19, but swimmers could still catch the virus from each other, a senior health official warned today (May 25).

Dr Thanarak Palipat, deputy director-general of the Disease Control Department, was responding to questions about the risks of swimming now that pools have been permitted to reopen after lockdown restrictions were relaxed.
The most important thing for swimmers to remember is to keep their distance from others, he said. Therefore the pool should not be too crowded.
He advised pool users and operators to limit the number of people using the pool at one time, so that social distancing could be maintained in the water.
He added that proper pool maintenance, with chlorine kept at the standard level, was an effective disinfectant against the coronavirus. However, swimmers still faced a very small risk of getting infected with Covid-19 via airborne droplets from the mouth or nose of an infected pool user.

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