The Phuket Communicable Disease Committee announced the man’s death in a report issued this morning.
The report gave only limited information about the man, reporting only the same information initially reported when the man was confirmed as infected on Mar 31.
He was recognised by officials as Case 63. An Australian man, 69, who worked as manager of a hotel in Khao Lak. He also usually stayed in Khao Lak. He did not go abroad within 14 days before he was tested and confirmed as infected. He had a chronic lung disease. He came to Phuket on Mar 19-21 and became ill on Mar 24, officials noted in their initial report. Forty people had high risk exposure to the man, officials reported at that time.
On Apr 3 officials confirmed that a Thai woman, 56, an accountant at a hotel in Nai Harn, had been confirmed as infected (Case 91), The woman had a history of contact with the 69-year-old Australian hotel manager. The woman also had a history of contact with foreign tourists. The woman became ill on Mar 14. Twelve people had high risk exposure to her.
The next day (Apr 4), that woman’s daughter, a Thai woman, 27, who worked as a Chinese language teacher, was confirmed as infected with COVID-19 (Case 107). The daughter was also reported to have had close contact with foreign tourists. However, the report at that time did not note when the daughter became ill, but did mark that no people had high risk exposure to this patient.
So far no further updates have been provided as to the condition of the 56-year-old Thai woman or her daughter.
The report by officials today (May 6) marked zero new confirmed cases of people infected with the virus, making it the fourth consecutive day that officials have reported zero new infections on the island.
As such, the total number of people in Phuket confirmed as infected COVID-19 since the outbreak remains at 220.
According to the Phuket office of the Public Relations Department of Thailand (PR Phuket) this morning, so far 9,354 people had been classified as at risk of contracting COVID-19. Of those, 9,134 were found not infected with the virus, the PR Phuket report said.
The PPHO itself, which serves as the Phuket Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) Incident Command Center, reported this morning that 136 new Persons Under Investigation had been identified, bringing the total of PUIs identified in Phuket since the outbreak began to 5,319.
Of those, 5,226 had been cleared, the PPHO said. The remaining 93 people were still in hospital, comprising 36 people already confirmed as infected and 57 people still waiting for test results, up 10 from the 47 reported yesterday.
A total of 9,354 people had been checked by laboratory tests, with 220 people confirmed as infected with the virus, the PPHO confirmed. Of those, 182 were PUIs tested for the virus. Proactive screening of 4,035 people had resulted in 38 people being confirmed with the virus, the report added.
The report today marked that no people confirmed as infected are suffering serious effects from infection.
The report by the PPHO also noted that 180 people who had been confirmed as infected since the outbreak began had recovered and were no longer receiving hospital care.
Of note, the infographic posted by the Phuket office of the Public Relations Department marked that figure as 181, including the three people who have died from the virus.