Thai health authorities cope with MERS-CoV

BANGKOK, June 4 (TNA) - The Thai Ministry of Public Health says it is confident in being able to cope with the deadly Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), which has spread to South Korea. Deputy Permanent Secretary for Public Health Dr. Surachet Sathitniramai voiced the confidence at a teleconference on MERS-CoV with provincial health chiefs and directors of nationwide hospitals on Thursday. Dr. Surachet acknowledged that Thailand have had four measures in place to prevent and contain MERS-CoV. Firstly, health officials must identify patients as soon as possible by monitoring ill people who return from countries with the epidemic for 14 days. Secondly, health officials must verify any infection with laboratory tests that will take 5-8 hours each. Thirdly, patients must be treated in isolated rooms to prevent the fatal disease from spreading. Fourthly, the general public must be educated on the deadly emerging disease. Dr. Surachet insisted that the MERS-CoV epidemic in Asia has been reported only in South Korea, where there have been 35 patients of the fatal disease, two of them have died. The senior Thai health official admitted, however, that infected people may visit Thailand because the Kingdom is a transport center in the region. Meanwhile, Captain Wisut Chanthana, Director of Chiang Mai International Airport in the Thai North, told reporters that provincial disease control officials have intensified precautions at the airport, where Korean Air operate flights from South Korea's Incheon City to Chiang Mai four days a week. According to the Chiang Mai Airport's director, local health officials have been also looking for any suspicious case of the deadly disease, including people with coughing, sneezing and breathing with difficulties, as well as those seeming to have a high fever. (TNA)