No MERS-CoV cases found among Thai Muslim pilgrims

BANGKOK, October 8 (TNA) - There have been no cases of the fatal Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) among Thai Muslim pilgrims who have returned home from their annual Hajj pilgrimage this year. Permanent Secretary for Public Health Dr. Sophon Mekthon said on Thursday that reports from disease control checkpoints at four Thai international airports, including Suvarnabhumi, Phuket, Narathiwat and Hat Yai Airports, from September 30 to October 7 have shown that 85 out of 5,867 Thai-Muslims who have already been back to Thailand from Saudi Arabia were admitted to hospitals for close observation, but laboratory tests confirmed that none of them contracted MERS-CoV, as they were found to be infected with only seasonal influenza. Dr. Sophon insisted his ministry has had "Mr. Hajj" and local public health volunteers to closely follow up on conditions of all the 85 patients for further 30 days after they were discharged from hospitals to make sure that they are free from MERS-CoV. The senior health official confirmed that Thailand has had only one confirmed case of MERS-CoV in June 2015, a Middle East male visitor who has fully recovered and already returned to his home country. Meanwhile, Thai Public Health Minister Dr. Piyasakon Sakonsatayatorn told journalists that his ministry is still implementing strict daily screenings of pilgrims returning from Saudi Arabia at disease control checkpoints of all international airports nationwide, as well as at hospitals and in local communities. According to the minister, a total of 10,400 Thai Muslims who traveled to Saudi Arabia to join the Hajj have gradually returned to Thailand since September 30 and his ministry will continue strictly screening Muslim returnees until the last arriving flight from Saudi Arabi, scheduled for October 26. (TNA)