A BUS DRIVER working for Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) on route 34 and lives in adjacent Pathum Thani province has contracted coronavirus and is now undergoing treatment at Lumlooka Hospital, Sanook.com said today (Feb. 15).
This driver resides in Suchart market area which is one of two markets where proactive searches were conducted yesterday, with the other being Phon Phat market, with 41 new cases being found. Of these cases 22 were Thai and 19 foreigners. The total number of patients in this province in the current outbreak reached 214 as of yesterday.
BMTA has sprayed alcohol to kill germs on all buses where the infected driver worked. The fare collector who worked with this driver has taken leave and immediately went to see a doctor.
The timeline of the recent activities of this route 34 bus driver who worked in the afternoon is as follows:
Feb. 1- 12: Not sick at all.
Feb 11: Provincial health officials mounted a proactive search in Suchart market and commercial buildings in Thanyaburi district with this driver being among those tested and he got a negative result.
Feb, 13: The driver went to work as usual, drove the bus with licence number 1 – 40063. At the start of the shift his body temperature was 36.5 degrees Celsius and he wore a face mask while on duty and cleaned his hands with alcohol gel.
The bus left Rangsit depot at 1.45 p.m., reached Hua Lamphong at 3 p.m., and returned to Rangsit at 7.28 p.m.
After that he went to Ruean Phaet Clinic to get tested again for coronavirus.
Feb. 14: Informed at 9 a.m. that he has contracted Covid-19.
BMTA added that the afternoon shift is the last one of the day and no other driver took over from him.The bus was immediately sprayed and cleaned. This bus will not be used for three days to continue disinfection with the depot too being thoroughly cleaned
Meanwhile the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) announced late this morning that there were 143 new coronavirus cases in the past day with two more patients having died raising the toll to 82.
The new cases take cumulative confirmed cases to 24,714 with 22,883 having recovered while 1,749 are still undergoing treatment.
The two persons who passed away were 62 and 78 years of age.
Altogether 64 cases emerged through surveillance and service systems while proactive search in communities found 68 more.
There were 11 overseas travellers who were quarantined with five coming from the UK, three from the United Arab Emirates and one each from Egypt, Germany and the US.
CAPTION:
Top: Bus passengers getting on a Bangkok bus. Photo: Sanook.com
Home Page: A health team testing people for coronavirus at Suchart market. Thai headline says, “41 infected at market.” Photo: Sanook.com
