The Chinese woman takes a taxi from Thongsuk Thongrat to a hospital in Bangkok. A week later, the driver was hospitalized due to nCoV infection.

Thongsuk's car was stuck in traffic, something that often happens in Bangkok. In order to kill time, the Chinese female passenger pulled out her phone and leaned forward to show him a few places she was planning to travel to Thailand.

She then sneezed, causing many drops of water to splash on the taxi's windshield. "I thought she was beautiful but had no courtesy," complained the 50-year-old driver.

About a week later, Thongsuk was confirmed to be infected with nCoV, the Covid-19 pandemic virus originating from Wuhan, China and has now appeared in 60 countries and territories around the globe, including Thailand. with 41 cases.

Thongsuk's infection with nCoV further illustrates the risk of taxi drivers and people frequently exposed to foreign tourists, even though the global tourism industry is seriously affected by the Covid-19 epidemic.

Two other drivers in Thailand were also infected with nCoV, the latest of which was recorded earlier this week. In Taiwan, a taxi driver who used to carry passengers from Hong Kong and mainland China died from nCoV in early February. A bus driver in Japan, who used to drive tourists from the city of mind. Wuhan, last month was also identified infected. A tour guide on the same bus cannot avoid being positive for nCoV.

The Japanese taxi driver is believed to have been infected with nCoV after interacting with a Diamond Princess passenger and the yacht was quarantined in Yokohama port. The mother-in-law of another driver died from nCoV and this is the first death recorded in Japan.

In Singapore, two traditional taxi drivers and two technology drivers were also positive for nCoV.

Thongsuk, who fully recovered after 14 days of isolation treatment at a hospital in Bangkok, returned to work and realized the current "guestless" condition. About 60% of his guests are Chinese, but now they are no longer in Thailand due to a blockade and a ban on traveling abroad under a group of Beijing authorities.

"Most of the Chinese tourists I used to transport were very friendly. I miss them," he said, adding that on busy days, he usually makes about US $ 30, but now he is lucky to earn US $ 10 a day.

Many of the famous Buddhist tourist destinations in Bangkok used to be crowded with tourists and now became empty. Markets selling tropical fruits and dried seafood to Chinese tourists are now also dull. Hotels in this city also saw a serious drop in visitors.

Thongsuk was born and raised in northeastern Thailand, famous for being the nation's granary. He remained with farming until the drought devastated crops and a friend returned from Bangkok with stories about making money driving a foreign tourist driver. After that, Thongsuk switched to a tanker driver, although paid less but helped him have a stable income.

Five months ago, when tourism was booming, Thongsuk decided to return to his taxi career and share a yellow and green car with a friend. "I must have had a bad karma because I had just returned from driving a taxi to get sick soon," said Thongsuk, a Buddhist.

About 10% of Thailand's GDP comes from tourism and the Chinese are always the country's largest tourist group. Thailand is one of the few countries that waive visas for Chinese tourists. Last month, more than one million Chinese tourists went to Thailand, before the outbreak of Covid-19 broke out.

"I did not think of protecting myself when carrying tourists, because I think the government had a health check before sending them to Thailand," Thongsuk said.

The majority of flights between Thailand and China have been canceled. Thailand is also seeking ways to deal with nCoV-infected citizens after traveling to places where there is an epidemic.

The Ministry of Public Health on Monday announced a Thai man returning from Hokkaido, the northernmost island of Japan, had been infected with nCoV with his wife. Their 8-year-old grandson is also infected with nCoV even though he has never been to Japan.

The man initially hid information that had once been to Japan, leaving 30 medical staff in Bangkok who had been in contact with him now quarantined. According to the Ministry of Public Health, this puts a heavy burden on the health sector that could soon face more cases.

Thongsuk said that as soon as he got sick, he wore a mask despite not knowing he was infected with nCoV. He also decided to eat separately for fear of spreading the disease to family members.

None of his relatives were infected with nCoV. Thailand's Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, who has visited Thongsuk twice in the hospital, appreciated his health protection habits.