The Post Office and other main offices have also undergone a thorough cleanse, and all branches in Patong of 7-Eleven, Family Mart, ‘Mini’ Big C and SuperCheap stores as well as Makro and the Central Food Hall are now closed from 7pm to 5am each night until April 30 to help prevent the spread of the virus.
Local officials and volunteers first targetted the Baan Mon community, then moved on to Baan Nanai to check people there, Patong Mayor Chalermluck Kebsup explained to The Phuket News.
“We are working on proactive action in Patong, like officers in South Korea did,” she said.
“We are asking people to stay home. If we find anyone with symptoms of being infected, they will be taken to the local hospital immediately.
“We can’t wait, the faster infected people are found, the faster they can recover,” she added.
“We are also checking whether there are too many people staying in each house,” Mayor Chalermluk said.
“If we find overcrowding, say five to 10 people staying in the one house, we will ask some of the residents to stay at hotels that we have already arranged. We have some 200 rooms for them. At this stage, 20 rooms already have been taken,” she explained.
“We have tried our best to prevent the spread of the virus. The most important thing is cooperation from everyone.
“Please work with us. We expect that we will be able to stop the spread of the virus in about one month,” Mayor Chalermluck said.
“Since the entertainment venues were closed, we went to clean up and sanitise Bangla Rd and other risk areas. We have told people not to go to risk areas, and they have given good cooperation so far,” she noted.