Thailand records first coronavirus case after 100-day streak

A Thai disc jockey sentenced last week to two years in prison has tested positive for the coronavirus, officials said Thursday, ending the kingdom’s 100-day run without a local transmission.

The man, sentenced on August 26 for what local media said was a drugs offence, had been in contact with at least 30 other people before testing positive on Wednesday.

Those tested so far have all been negative, officials said.

“It is a local transmission after we have passed 100 days,” said Suwanchai Wattanayingcharoenchai, director general of Thailand’s Disease Control Department.

The man had worked as a DJ in different bars around Bangkok — including a venue in the tourist backpacker hotspot Khao San Road.

Thailand has largely returned to normal since the virus epidemic forced lockdowns and travel bans across the country, with bars and restaurants being packed diners and public transport running at full steam.

Since May 25 all new cases detected in Thailand were in quarantine centres among repatriated Thais or foreigners returning to the kingdom.

Thailand has largely missed the full brunt of the virus despite being the first country outside China to register an infection.

But its economy has been torpedoed by the government’s swift lockdown, and the kingdom’s tourism sector has suffered the hardest.

Thailand’s growth contracted by 12.2 percent in its second quarter, the sharpest plunge in more than 20 years.

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