COVID-19: 11 individuals in close contact with Malaysian patient test negative

Eleven individuals who were in close contact with a Malaysian man tested positive for COVID-19 after returning home to Kuala Lumpur from Bangkok have tested negative for the virus.

Director-general of the Disease Control Department, Suwannachai Wattanayingcharoenchai said health officials managed to trace and conduct screening on the 46-year-old man's close contacts - 10 individuals in Bangkok and one in Chiang Mai (a 36-year-old Thai woman who flew from Bangkok to Chiang Mai on Aug 17).

"To date, there is no evidence where he contracted the virus.

"The Disease Control Department will work closely with its counterparts in Malaysia to seek more information on the case for further investigation," he said in a statement, here, today.

The man lived in Bangkok and returned to Malaysia on Aug 5. He tested negative in the first COVID-19 screening and positive in the second on Aug 15.

To date, Thailand has recorded 86 days without any local transmission.

Meanwhile, the Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) said a 37-year-old Thai woman who returned from India was the only new COVID-19 patient in the kingdom, over the last 24 hours.

In a statement, CCSA said the patient was on the same flight with 18 previously confirmed cases that arrived in the kingdom on Aug 8.

To date, Thailand has reported 3,382 COVID-19 cases with 58 fatalities.

-- BERNAMA