Coronavirus Hits Thailand Hard

The latest strain of coronavirus, the cause of an outbreak devastating China and many of its neighbors since late last year, has joined Thailand’s growing list of difficulties. Thailand has become ground zero for coronavirus’ international spread since reporting the first case outside China on January 13. The problem has only worsened. Thailand had confirmed 19 cases of coronavirus — the most in Southeast Asia at the time — by February 2. The count of Thai cases reached 32 on February 10 and stood at 33 as of this writing, although it has been surpassed in the region by Singapore’s 50 cases. The country will risk becoming not only a victim of coronavirus but also an incubator for it in the coming weeks. The Thai Tourism and Sports Ministry expects that the number of Chinese tourists in Thailand will decline to 9 million in 2020. Even before the outbreak of coronavirus, Thai officials were voicing concerns about a lack of Chinese visitors. In the first six months of 2019, the number of Chinese tourists sank by 5 percent after an accident in the Thai resort town of Phuket resulted in 47 Chinese deaths. Though coronavirus has revealed the dangers to which Thailand has exposed itself by becoming dependent on China for economic growth and tourism, Thai officials have shown no indication that they are rethinking a relationship that has drawn their country into dual financial and health crises. Prayut and his inner circle might have concluded that, whatever the costs of reliance on China, the price of pulling away from the world power could prove far greater.