Nigerian man crossed edge at Sa Kaeo after leaving Phuket, where contact tracing continues
Police in Cambodia have arrested a Nigerian man which fled there from Thailand after getting diagnosed with monkeypox — the first known case in the country — earlier this week in Phuket.
The particular arrest took place on Saturday afternoon in a market in Phnom Penh, the Khmer Moments reported , quoting Keut Chhe, the deputy governor from the Cambodian capital region.
After his arrest, the 27-year-old man has been handed over to the Cambodian Ministry of Health. Because he represents the first monkeypox case in Cambodia, officials generally there have urgently started tracing to find out where the man has been plus who he has experienced contact with since getting into the country.
The man was thought to have crossed directly into Cambodia on Friday after his mobile phone signal was detected in a Thai boundary province, said Dr Opas Karnkawinpong, director-general of the Department associated with Disease Control.
Speaking in a briefing earlier on Sunday, Dr Opas did not name the province or the neighbouring nation but his display showed the location as Sa Kaeo, which borders Banteay Meanchey province in Cambodia.
Following reports in Cambodia suggested the man might have been heading for the beach destination resort town associated with Sihanoukville. However , it now appears which he instead made their way to Phnom Penh, which has a large Nigerian expat community, according to the Khmer Times .
Dr Opas said the 27-year-old Nigerian fled with help from other individuals, adding that police would be asked to take action against anyone who caused his escape.
Public wellness officials have not discovered the man by title out of respect meant for medical privacy, however it has been widely reported in both social plus mainstream media.
Pichet Panapong, the deputy governor of Phuket, said all he understood was that the man experienced left the isle.
Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said the Department of Condition Control had monitored down those who had close contact with the individual.
“As of now, new monkeypox cases have not been reported, ” he said upon Saturday. “People do not have need to worry as every member of the at-risk group is being closely monitored by the section. ”
The man reportedly boarded Ethiopian Airlines trip ET0618 to Suvarnabhumi airport on April 21 with a non-immigrant visa to study vocabulary at an university within Chiang Mai till Jan 18, according to the Public Health Ministry.
Phuket officials said the person went to a private hospital on the island on July 16 per week after he created a fever, hacking and coughing, a sore throat plus runny nose. He or she also had a rash and lesions on his genital area that will spread to other areas of his body plus face.
The doctor suspected the man may have been infected along with monkeypox so samples from the patient had been sent for confirmation. A PCR laboratory test by the Thai Red Cross Emerging Infectious Diseases Clinical Centre on Tuesday confirmed monkeypox. This was later confirmed by tests arranged by Department of Illness Control.
Later the hospital attempted to contact the man to tell him to receive therapy at the state-run Vachira Phuket Hospital, yet he had turned off his mobile phone. Officials went to his apartment in Kathu district to arrange treatment but this individual was not there.
Mr Pichet said two people who was simply in close contact with the Nigerian patient had their blood samples tested and the results came back negative. The taxi driver who seem to took the contaminated man to various locations in Phuket was being taken for blood tests on Sunday, the deputy governor added.