Thailand on equal alert against MER-CoV, Ebola

BANGKOK, June 10 (TNA) - The Thai government, through the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Public Health, has prepared measures against the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MER-CoV) equally to those against Ebola, expressing confidence that the domestic tourism should not be affected by overseas outbreaks of the two types of fatal virus. Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister General Tanasak Patimapragorn told journalists of the updated information on Wednesday, after chairing a meeting of a government committee on national tourism policies at Bangkok's Government House. General Tanasak said both the Thai ministries have worked together to install scanning devices in local areas being at risk of a possible MER-CoV outbreak, the same vigilance prepared against the fatal Ebola virus, and he, therefore, believes that overseas outbreaks of the two types of deadly virus currently should not affect the Thai tourism. According to the deputy prime minister and foreign minister, the Ministry of Public Health is launching a public relations (PR) campaign in all channels to inform people of necessary measures against the two forms of deadly virus and the Cabinet has been reported on the move. Besides, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has instructed the Thai Embassy to South Korea to fully take care of Thai citizens there, while volunteer doctors have been dispatched to provide free medical check-ups for Thais in the East Asian nation, where there have been 108 confirmed MER-CoV cases since May 20, nine of them have died as of June 10. The deputy prime minister and foreign minister acknowledged that Wednesday's meeting also endorsed a strategic plan on sustainable domestic tourism from 2015-2017, under which Thailand's tourism-related revenues are set at 2 trillion baht annually. (TNA)