Health minister says COVID-19 epidemic controllable in Thailand

Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said on Tuesday that the COVID-19 epidemic in Thailand has not reached its third stage of mass transmission and it is still controllable. "We were faced with shortages of medical masks for medical personnel but that problem has been resolved," Anutin told the media after a Thai cabinet meeting.

The health minister also commended health inspectors and the Commerce Ministry, saying "they did a good job with supervising the distribution of masks to medical personnel while the Commerce Ministry was responsible for regulating the sales of medical masks."

"Therefore, the overall situation appears satisfactory," he said.

"It is also too early to predict the possibility of the epidemic growing to its third stage. I can confirm that the government is still able to control the situation regarding to the numbers of infected people and those who have recovered," Anutin said.

A report released by the Ministry of Public Health indicated that among all 53 cases of COVID-19 in Thailand, 33 patients have recovered and were discharged from hospitals and 19 cases are being treated in hospitals.

Until now, Thailand has recorded one death from COVID-19.