Authorities step up monitoring of arrivals for flu at Thai borders

REGIONAL DESK, May 16 (TNA) -- Medical officers posted at Thai border provinces have stepped up monitoring on tourists and others entering Thailand at all border crossings after two persons returning to Thailand were found to be infected with the potentially deadly Influenza A (H1N1) virus.

A quarantine centre in the northernmost province of Chiang Rai is cooperating with Mae Sai Hospital in opening another centre, and the local border crossing at the immigration checkpoint in Mae Sai district is now equipped with thermo-scanners.

Any arrivals found to have a body temperature exceeding 38 degrees will be quarantined at the hospital and put under the close supervision of doctors and nurses.

A similar uprade in monitoring is also in place at the border checkpoint in Sadao district in the southern province of Songkhla following reports of an outbreak of the disease in Malaysia.

In Kanchanaburi, a province bordering Myanmar, public health officials hold meetings on a daily basis to review the situation. Close cooperation is also established with hotel and resort operators in the province as well as with immigration authorities at Sangkhla Buri district to monitor for tourists or other arrivals suspected of carrying the virus.

Two persons suspected of having been affected by the Influenza A (H1N1) virus have now been found to have only ordinary influenza. (TNA)