Mosque causes panic by falsely accusing a Burmese immigrant of potentially carrying virus

 | Wed 9 Sep 2020 19:09 ICT

Rumours of an illegal immigrant who had Covid and was seen at a local mosque are untrue, says the Chiang Mai committee for communicable diseases in a joint statement with the municipality.

The announcement was made yesterday to correct this misinformation by explaining that a Thai national, 29, who regularly travels between Chiang Mai and Bangkok and who had indeed visited a mosque on Chang Klan Road merely had a slightly high temperature and was not infected with the virus.

The man had visited the mosque on the 4th September and his temperature was measured at 38.9 degrees. However, after he left the mosque he had visited a mall where his temperature was taken twice, both times found to be normal. During an interview, he told authorities that he had not travelled outside the country and had no symptoms of the virus.

The staff at the mosque, which hung a sign explaining that a Burmese Muslim was found to have unusually high temperature leading to its closure, explained that they had never seen this man before and assumed that he was a foreigner, leading to the closure of the mosque in order to clean it and check its safety measures. This lead to misunderstanding with the public and the spreading of rumours.

For the assurance of the public, the man in question has had a test and is currently awaiting results.

The public is asked not to believe in rumours and to check their news sources or to simply call the hotline at 053-211048-50 or 053-112678.