Mayor Aroon announced the lockdown late yesterday (Sept 9). However, details of the lockdown have yet to be revealed.
Calls to Mayor Aroon by The Phuket News today went unanswered.
An official at Rawai Municipality, who asked not to be named, said that Mayor Aroon and all other high-ranking officials at rawai Municipality were in a meeting about the lockdown all afternoon.
The officer declined to answer any questions as to why the lockdown was brought into effect only yesterday, especially since mass testing of sea gypsies in the village was conducted on Aug 31 and health workers conducted a mass sanitising of homes and public areas in the village last Sunday (Sept 5).
The mass testing on Aug 31 saw 465 villagers tested for COVID-19 by staff from Chalong Hospital using antigen test kits (ATKs).
The number of villagers confirmed as infected was never reported.
However, in confirming to the press that sea gypsies across the island were being mass tested for COVID-19 under the “proactive screening” campaign, Phuket Public Health Office (PPHO) Chief Dr Kusak Kukiattikoon on Wednesday last week (Sept 1) in comparison noted that of the 248 sea gypsies tested in Baan Sapam, Rassada, 100 of those tested positive.