Twenty-six medical staff at the Su-ngai Kolok hospital in the southern province of Narathiwat will be placed under 14-day self-quarantine after coming into contact with Covid-19 patients, despite wearing personal protective gear.
"We think our medical staff will not be infected as they properly wore PPE [personal protective equipment] and followed our strict measures," Inn Chandang, director of the hospital told the media on Wednesday. "We need to comply with the 14-day quarantine order."
According to the Centre for the Covid-19 Situation Administration, health workers are categorised as a "patients under investigation" (PUI).
Dr Inn said that was to ensure that the 26 do not infect the hospital's 800 medical workers.
He told the Bangkok Post in a phone interview on Wednesday that the 26 health professionals came in contact with a 45-year-old patient who tested positive for the novel coronavirus last weekend after going to the hospital to receive treatment for pneumonia.
Dr Inn said the patient had travelled to Malaysia to attend a religious event in January, but two prior tests showed negative results, prompting the authorities to suspect he may have contracted the disease locally.
Dr Inn said that after the man's test showed positive, tambon Waeng in Waeng district of Narathiwat province was locked down.
This tambon is considered an at-risk area as many Thais return home through its border checkpoint.
The 45-year-old patient is now at Naradhiwas Rajanagarindra Hospital in a stable condition, Dr Inn said.
