Coronavirus: Thai returnees from South Korea to be quarantined as kingdom mulls measures on ‘high-risk’ places
- Thousands of workers are expected to return home from Daegu, the epicentre of South Korea’s outbreak, and Gyeongsang
- The move comes as conflicting statements released by Thai authorities on the country’s self-quarantine policy have sparked mass confusion this week
Thailand is bracing for the possible return of thousands of its nationals from South Korea, including those working there illegally, and will quarantine them for 14 days at a government site, Prime Minister Prayuth said on Wednesday.
The exact number of those returning could not be confirmed, although the Thai labour ministry this week said a few hundred people a day had returned home since the outbreak in Daegu started in the middle of February.
Thai immigration authorities on Wednesday said 180 Thai nationals had returned this week, arriving at Suvarnabhumi, Don Muang and Phuket airports. Nineteen of them had fever but tested negative for the Covid-19 disease.
Another 161 returnees had been advised to self-isolate upon returning to their home cities, it said.