As such, the total number of people in Phuket officially recognised as infected with the virus since the outbreak began stands at 225.
The Phuket office of the Public Relations Department of Thailand (PR Phuket) announced through a post on its official Facebook page today that so far 10,705 people in Phuket had been classified as at risk of contracting COVID-19 since the outbreak began, an increase of 51 on the 10,654 reported yesterday.
Of those, 10,480 were found not infected with the virus.
The PR Phuket report also noted 6,670 people had so far been classified as Persons Under Investigation. Of those, 6,620 had been cleared.
PR Phuket today reported that 50 people remained in hospital, down 27 from yesterday. The 50 comprised 13 people already confirmed as infected, and 37 people still waiting for test results, down 24 from the 61 reported yesterday.
So far three people in Phuket have died as a direct result of being infected with COVID-19, including an Australian hotel manager from Khao Lak whose family lived in Nai Harn.
“All confirmed COVID-19 cases are receiving hospital treatment,” the Phuket Provincial Health Office, which serves as the Phuket Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) Incident Command Center, noted in their report today.
“In this phase, Phuket has relaxed the COVID-19 restrictions by opening additional businesses in shopping centres. Shopping malls and community malls may be open from 10.00 - 20.00 hrs,” the PPHO noted in their report.
Shopping centres are to ensure that the number of customers is limited to one person every five square meters.
People entering shopping centres must adjust to the ‘New Normal’, the PPHO noted. This includes people registering their entry and exit of the venue by using the Thai Chana web portal.
The web portal helps to control the number of people in each venue and helps health officers keep track of where people confirmed as infected are visiting.
“We would like to emphasise that people who use [business] services wear face masks at all times, stand at least one to two metres away from others. If paying with cash, customers must not touch the merchant directly. Payment by e-payment services are preferred,” the PPHO advised.
“Any person who experiences any of the following symptoms – coughing, mucus, sore throat, runny nose, loss of sense of smell, shallow or rapid breathing or a fever – must see a doctor immediately to check for COVID-19,” the PPHO advised.