Today, however, a number of school students and more hospital workers further verified the rumours of the death by confirming the victim was a mattyom (senior year) one (12/13 years old) girl.
The students also revealed that their school, Saraburi Witthayakhom, has told its members to stop spreading the news as there has been no death. This despite the fact that many of the girl's classmates know the family and are aware of her death.
Rumours today suggest that the school suspended its lessons last week only because senior classes went on strike, concerned at outbreaks of swine flu in numerous classes. Hardly the picture painted when the press reported the closure.
Saraburi may just be another town in Thailand but the implications of this cover-up are widereaching. If other towns are also holding back information then you can forget the official figures in the daily press as we have no idea what the real picture is.
In the meantime, I've given up waiting for confirmation of last week's fatality in Saraburi - sometimes you just have to accept this is how Thailand works.
1 comment:
Jon, I think the bottom line is that in Thailand just like many other countries the government don't have a clue on infections.
Deaths will continue to occur and I guess like the UK Thailand will soon get the message that the virus cannot be contained.
Closing the door after the horse has bolted comes to mind.
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