Thailand mulls to declare MERS-CoV pandemic

BANGKOK, June 11 (TNA) - The Thai government, through the Ministry of Public Health, is considering to declare the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) a pandemic which requires an immediate report to health authorities if any person with suspicious symptoms is found. Thai health experts, including Prof. Dr. Prasert Thongcharoen, an advisor to the ministry's Department of Disease Control, told journalists of the plan on Thursday, after their meeting earlier in the day, reasoning that the move is aimed to control any outbreak of the deadly virus in the country more easily. Regarding to a close monitoring of nine Thai people who were suspicious of, probably, contracting the fatal virus, the health experts said results of laboratory tests show that six of them only caught a normal cold, while results of lab tests for the rest three are expected to be known very soon. (TNA)