“After taking a taxi to a hotel, he was checked for the virus at a hospital and the MERS virus was found”, said Thailand Public Health Minister Piyasakol Sakolsatayadorn.
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The WHO has cautioned the Southeast Asian nations against risks of the deadly Middle East Respiratory Syndrome corona virus (MERS CoV), after Thailand confirmed a fresh case on Sunday.
The infectee is now in stable condition, and his children are also being quarantined at the institute, according to the minister.
The patient, a 71-year-old Omani national, arrived in Bangkok on Friday to seek treatment for a persistent fever and cough. The authorities have identified 252 people the patient came into contact with, and are seeking 37 they consider at high risk.
The ministry is now trying to locate all persons still in Thailand who had contact with the patient, including 218 crew members and passengers on the flight from Oman, a taxi driver, a hotel employee and 30 hospital staff.
These people will be kept under close surveillance for 14 days.
A relative who was travelling with him was also placed in quarantine.
He was treated at the infectious diseases institute for several weeks before being declared clear of the virus and allowed to leave Thailand.
The first case was detected in a businessman from Oman in June previous year. The disease did not spread to others. The disease is part of the corona virus family, which includes the common cold and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) that left hundreds of people dead when it emerged in Asia in 2003.
The World Health Organization said in January that it received notification of more than 1,600 MERS cases, including 586 related deaths.
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Last year, an outbreak of MERS in South Korea took 36 lives and caused panic across Asia’s fourth-largest economy.
