The kingdom has stepped up screening for Thai and foreign travellers arriving from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, as authorities move to prevent Ebola from entering the country.
The Department of Disease Control (DDC) said the tighter measures follow the World Health Organisation’s declaration on May 17 that the Ebola outbreak in Congo, and related cases in Uganda, constituted a public health emergency of international concern.
The situation has not been classified as a global pandemic.
Thailand has since designated the two countries as Ebola-affected zones under its dangerous communicable disease controls, with the measure taking effect last Thursday.
Director of the DDC’s Division of International Communicable Disease Control Dr Rome Buathong said last Friday that all travellers from the two countries, regardless of nationality, must undergo health screening and travel-history checks at communicable disease control checkpoints.
Travellers from risk areas are required to register their health status in advance through a health declaration system. For foreign nationals, this will be integrated with the Thailand Digital Arrival Card, while Thai nationals must register through Thai Health Pass.
Airlines are also required to submit passenger information to the DDC before aircraft land in Thailand, allowing officials to receive travellers and assess their risk immediately on arrival.
Dr Buathong said more countries could be added to Thailand’s Ebola-affected list if the outbreak spreads further.
The DDC has outlined three levels of measures for travellers after screening.
The first is health observation. Travellers who show no symptoms on arrival will be allowed to continue their normal activities, but public health officials will monitor their condition for 21 days.
The second is quarantine for high-risk travellers. This includes people who have had close contact with an Ebola patient.
Such travellers will be sent from the international communicable disease control checkpoint to the quarantine centre at the Bamrasnaradura Infectious Diseases Institute in Nonthaburi, which has 60 rooms and can accommodate 90 people. If symptoms develop, they will be transferred to hospital isolation.
The third is immediate isolation. Travellers found to have symptoms at the checkpoint will be sent directly to hospital isolation.
Dr Buathong said Thailand currently has no direct flights from either Congo or Uganda.
On May 21, five travellers from the two countries entered Thailand. Four had travelled from Uganda and one from Congo. They included one Thai national, one Filipino national and three Ugandan nationals. All had Bangkok as their final destination.
None showed symptoms during screening, so they were placed under health observation, with officials checking their condition daily for 21 days.
Dr Buathong said Thailand was currently receiving around six to seven travellers a day from the two countries, a number he described as manageable.
DDC spokesman Dr Jurai Wongsawat said medicines and vaccines exist for the Zaire strain of Ebola, but there is still no medicine or vaccine for the Bundibugyo strain currently spreading. She said vaccine development could take at least three to nine months.
The incubation period for Ebola is two to 21 days. Early symptoms can resemble influenza, including sudden high fever, headache, fatigue, body aches, vomiting and diarrhoea, before the disease may progress to more severe symptoms such as abnormal bleeding.
The fatality rate is estimated at around 40% to 80%. — The Nation/ANN
