Early transmission patterns of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in travellers from Wuhan to Thailand, January 2020
Pilailuk Akkapaiboon Okada, Rome Buathong, Siripaporn Phuygun, Thanutsapa Thanadachakul, Sittiporn Parnmen, Warawan Wongboot, Sunthareeya Waicharoen, Supaporn Wacharapluesadee, Sumonmal Uttayamakul, Apichart Vachiraphan, Malinee Chittaganpitch, Nanthawan Mekha, Noppavan Janejai, Sopon Iamsirithaworn, Raphael TC Lee, Sebastian Maurer‐Stroh
Abstract
We report two cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in travellers from Wuhan, China to Thailand. Both were independent introductions on separate flights, discovered with thermoscanners and confirmed with RT-PCR and genome sequencing. Both cases do not seem directly linked to the Huanan Seafood Market in Hubei but the viral genomes are identical to four other sequences from Wuhan, suggesting early spread within the city already in the first week of January.