27 returnees, one hospital personnel test positive for Covid-19

Most of the cases are travellers, both Thai and foreign, from overseas who are completing their mandatory quarantine in Bangkok, Samut Prakan and Chonburi.

The cases include a British man, 36, and two women, 44, who travelled from the UK; two Thai men, 55 and 56, who came from France; a Thai woman, 37, travelling from Pakistan; a Thai man, 43, from Azerbaijan; a Thai woman, 39, from Germany; two Thai men, 23 and 27, and four women, 33, 34, 36, and 37, travelling from Myanmar; a Thai woman, 53, from Ukraine; Thai man, 24, and woman, 40, from Poland (a re-active case after testing positive on October 17); seven Thai women, 23, 24, 32, 33, 34, 35 and 42 from Bahrain; an Indonesian man, 31; Swiss man, 43; and a Georgian man, 51, (a re-active case after testing positive in October) arriving from their respective countries.

Meanwhile, a female health worker in Bangkok, 27, tested positive after developing a sore throat during quarantine in hospital. She had shared a room with personnel from a private hospital who had tested positive. Her first test on December 8 came out negative, but then she tested positive on December 12.

Meanwhile, 17 patients have recovered and been discharged.

The total number of confirmed cases in Thailand has risen to 4,237 (1,243 in state quarantine), 237 of whom are in hospital and 3,940 have recovered and been discharged. The death toll remains unchanged at 60.

According to Worldometer, as of 10am, the total number of confirmed cases globally has risen to 72.64 million (up by 539,289). Of them, 50.86 million have recovered, while 20.16 million are active cases (106,189 in severe condition) and 1.61 million have died (up by 7,650).

Thailand ranks 151st for most cases in the world, while the US tops the list with 16.73 million, followed by India 9.88 million, Brazil 6.9 million, Russia 2.65 million and France 2.37 million.