Thailand has posted a record jump in COVID-19 cases following a spike in infections at the country’s overcrowded prisons and detention facilities that has affected several young activists held on charges of insulting the monarchy.
Health authorities on Thursday reported a total of 4,887 cases in a new daily record for Thailand since the pandemic began.
Of that figure, 2,835 of the cases involved detainees, many of them held in pre-trial detention at two prisons in the Thai capital, Bangkok.
Human Rights Watch, a United States-based rights group, expressed concern over the COVID-19 outbreaks in prisons on Thursday, saying people in custody were at “grave risk”.
Fight against Covid in jails ramps up
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published : 13 May 2021 at 17:55
48 Ayut Sinthopphan, director-general of the Corrections Department, centre, explains the Covid-19 outbreak at two Bangkok prisons on Thursday. Also present were his deputy Weerakit Hanpariphan, left, and Watchai Mingbanjerdsuk, acting director of the Correctional Hospital. (Photo supplied)
The Corrections Department is ramping up efforts to contain the Covid-19 outbreak at two prisons in Bangkok, where nearly 3,000 inmates have tested positive for the disease.
Director-general Ayut Sinthopphan said on Thursday there were 1,039 Covid-19 cases at the Central Women s Correctional Institution and 1,794 more at Bangkok Remand Prison in Lat Yao sub-district of Chatuchak district.
Thailand’s prisons have a COVID problem it doesn’t want to talk about Coconuts 2 hrs ago Chayanit Itthipongmaetee Activists dressed as prison inmates walk on a Bangkok skywalk to protest the Thai justice system. Photo: United Front of Thammasat and Demonstration / Facebook
The COVID-19 infections of high-profile political activists behind bars is calling attention to what’s feared to be a brewing crisis in Thailand’s sizable prison population.
Panusaya “Rung” Sithijirawattanakul today became the eighth activist known to have contracted the disease while jailed. With access to all prisons shut down in response to an outbreak, the official silence about what’s going on is fueling fears of a major health threat to the incarcerated.
published : 12 May 2021 at 12:13
updated: 12 May 2021 at 13:17
23 Protest leader Panusaya Rung Sithijirawattanakul (centre) reacts as she leaves prison after being granted bail, at the Central Women s Correctional Institute in Bangkok on May 6. She spent eight weeks in detention while awaiting trial on charges incuding lese majeste. (Photo: Reuters)
Another leader from the anti-government protest movement has tested positive for the coronavirus, after spending eight weeks in jail pending trial on charges including lese majeste.
Panusaya Rung Sithijirawattanakul, who was released last week on bail after being held in pre-trial detention, said on her Twitter account that she was being treated in a hospital after testing positive for the virus after being released.