WITH a hospital in Myanmar’s Myawaddy township, across the border from Thailand’s Mae Sot town, now treating over 300 cholera patients, the Thai government today (Dec. 23) closed this stretch of the border for a month for safety, Naewna newspaper said.
Deputy Prime Minister/Defence Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said after a Defence Council meeting that the army and the Public Health Ministry have cooperated to take care of the cholera outbreak in the neighbouring country by more strictly closing the border.
In addition all sectors are being informed about the danger of catching this disease with gloves and facemasks distributed to maintain cleanliness and hygiene while undertaking various operations.
The army earlier said that Shwe Kokko Hospital at Shwe Kokko village, Myawaddy district, Myawaddy township, which is opposite opposite Ban Wang Pha, Mae Charao subdistrict, Mae Ramat district, Tak province, has been treating over 300 cholera patients since last Thursday (Dec. 19).
Around 56 patients at this Myanmar hospital have severe symptoms and two have died.
The Thai Public Health Ministry has set up an Emergency Operations Centre in Tak to step up preparations to handle the situation with Tak Provincial Public Health Office being the frontline operations centre.
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Top and Front Page: Thai soldiers patrolling the Thai-Myanmar border area after a cholera outbreak in the neighbouring country. Photos: Naewna
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