‘I feel dazed’, says Singaporean restaurant owner infected with coronavirus in Thailand

The owner of Hawaiian restaurant Ohana Poke in Bangkok tested positive for the coronavirus and was transferred to a government quarantine hospital. PHOTO from OHANA POKE/FACEBOOK via The Straits Times/Asia News Network

SINGAPORE — A 36-year-old restaurant owner in Bangkok has become the first Singaporean to be diagnosed with Covid-19 in Thailand, the health authorities there confirmed on Wednesday (March 11).

The man, who wants to be known only as Jay, owns Hawaiian restaurant Ohana Poke in the Thai capital.

He tested positive for the coronavirus on Tuesday – among six new cases confirmed by the Thai Health Ministry on Wednesday – and was transferred to a government quarantine facility.

On Tuesday, Jay put up a post on his restaurant’s Facebook page, which has since garnered more than 6,500 reactions and 5,200 shares, describing his experience and to allay concerns of staff, patrons and loved ones.

He said in the post that he had “immediately” informed the manager of the restaurant to close the shop upon testing positive for the coronavirus and that all restaurant staff have since been sent home for 14 days of self-isolation by a doctor.

He had yet to receive official confirmation of his status at the time of writing, and said he wrote the post “because it’s the right thing to do” and the most “effective” way of answering the many messages he had been bombarded with throughout the day.

Being not very proficient in Thai, and having been through “an extremely long day of uncertainty” from “lack of sleep and feeling dazed from the medication and fever”, he also admitted in the post that it had been “a taxing day”.

“I’m also very sorry we couldn’t get a more coordinated message out because it has been an extremely long day trying to understand and coordinate everything. If it is required, I will post further updates in an honest and open fashion,” he said.

In the post, Jay said he first began suffering chills and a body ache on Sunday morning before developing a fever on Monday. He said he mostly stayed home from Sunday and did not use public transport, only leaving his home to buy a thermometer and food.

He last went to his restaurant last Friday and stayed there for two hours, he noted.

Jay also found it necessary to upload a photo of his passport and boarding pass for his flight to Bangkok on Facebook, after “rumors” that he had been to South Korea or that he was Korean began circulating.

Addressing these, he said he had been in Bangkok since Feb 2, and so most likely caught the infection in the country.

The Straits Times has contacted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Jay for more information.