A NORWEGIAN ship has been ordered to stay anchored off Ko Nu island in the southern Thai province of Songkhla, after six of its crew members were reported to be infected with Covid-19.
Thai Maritime Enforcement Command Centre (Thai-MECC) spokesman Rear Admiral Pokkrong Monthatphalin said the vessel is a Norwegian-flagged offshore support vessel named "Boa Deep C".
According to the Bangkok Post, the vessel had been anchored off Ko Nu island since May 12 as ordered by the marine office of Songkhla.
A report given by the international disease control office of the Songkhla Deep Sea shows that Boa Deep C departed from India on May 1 with 29 crewmen on board.
After a stopover in Singapore, the vessel arrived at the Port of Songkhla in Singha Nakhon district on May 11 at about 8am.
Upon its arrival, officials from the Songkhla Port examined all the vessel's documents and conducted Covid-19 swab tests on all crew members.
The vessel then departed for Sattahip in Chon Buri province at about 5pm the same day.
However at about 10pm, the tests results came back and it showed six of the crew had Covid-19 -- two each from Ukraine and Poland and one each from India and Russia.
The marine office in Songkhla then immediately ordered the Boa Deep C to return to the southern port.
On arrival the next day, it was ordered to anchor near Ko Nu island off Songkhla until further notice and prohibited from letting any crew members travel to an oil platform or any sea ports in the country.
The vessel was then turned into a field hospital, where the infected -- none yet seriously ill -- were separated from those who had tested negative for Covid-19.
Pokkrong said that if the vessel's captain wanted to return to its country of origin, it could do so after informing the Thai-MECC.
The maritime enforcement centre had also instructed its office in Songkhla to send patrol boats out to the area around Ko Nu island to make sure no people or goods embarked or disembarked from the vessel.
Meanwhile, Thailand today reported 25 new Covid-19 deaths and 9,635 new cases, bringing the total number of fatalities to 614 and 111,082 cases.
The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration said that of the new cases, 6,853 were found in prisons.
Thailand's third wave of Covid-19 broke out in April after a spate of cases was traced back to nightclubs and bars in Bangkok's well-heeled Thong Lor area.
Most of those who have tested positive since then have done so for the B117 strain of the virus first identified in the UK.
This strain is believed to be almost twice as contagious as the variant first associated with earlier cases.