Bangkok has five new Covid-19 clusters, raising the total to 34, health authorities announced on Wednesday.
Unhygienic construction camps, many housing more than 1,000 workers, are a major cause of concern.
Apisamai Srirangson, a spokeswoman for the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration, said the new clusters were at Bang Kapi market, a construction workers’ camp in Bang Kholaem district, an ice factory in Chatuchak district, a construction workers’ camp of Italian-Thai Development Plc in Don Muang district, and a cargo warehouse in Bang Sue district.
“There are concerns about construction workers’ camps, which exist in all 50 districts of Bangkok. Some districts have more than 20 camps each, including Bang Kapi, Bang Khen, Lat Phrao and Huai Khwang,” she said.
Dr Apisamai said some camps housed more than 1,000 workers. One camp in Bang Khoaem had 1,374 workers. There were seven construction camps in the district.
Medical and local officials were conducting mass testing and promoting hygienic practices in the camps.
“In some camps, workers share buckets and cups of drinking water.
They must be informed that cannot be allowed. In addition, transport to and from the camps of infected workers must be restricted, to prevent disease transmission to other camps,” Dr Apisamai said.
The camps that were at construction sites could be sealed off.
For those situated outside construction sites, transport of workers to and from the job must be restricted to specific vehicles and routes.
Their vehicles could not stop along the way.
The respective district offices were authorised to examine their employers’ transport plans to ensure they met disease control standards, and to close any camps that failed to comply, she said.
Since the third wave of Covid-19 started on April 1, the country has logged 88,086 cases.
Bangkok has the most, with 29,534 — including 876 over the previous 24 hours, the highest daily increment in the country.
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