A medical worker checks body temperature of passengers at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok on March 9 (Photo: AFP/VNA)Bangkok (VNA) – About 80 Thai returnees from theRepublic of Korea who slipped through screening at Suvarnabhumi Airport on March7 are being told to report to health authorities in three days or face legalaction under the Communicable Disease Control Act.
Deputy Public Health Minister Sathit Pitutecha said healthauthorities have the identities and contact details of this group ofpassengers, which can be used to track them down.
If they don't cooperate, they will be arrested and face aone-year jail term and a fine of 200,000 THB (6,330 USD), he said.
Thailand has introduced new screening process in which allThai and foreign passengers from the RoK must come to initial health checkpoints to bequestioned and divided into groups of monitoring.
Illegal workers with travel history to Daegu and NorthGyeongsang will be quarantined at a navy facility in Chon Buri's Sattahipdistrict.
Those with less risk will be sent to regionalscreening venues to determine if they should be placed in state-designatedquarantine venues, or sent home for self-quarantine.
Other passengers will be advised to go into a 14-dayself-quarantine and required to report their condition to health officialsevery day.
The added screening and health reporting requirements arealso applied to those coming from other high-risk zones announced by the ThaiMinistry of Health, namely China, Hong Kong (China), Macau (China), Italy andIran.
According to the Thai Foreign Ministry, the RoK ImmigrationOffice informed the Thai embassy in Seoul that more than 5,000 Thais reported themselves to the officefrom December last year to March 1.
Media reported that the number of illegal Thai workers inthe RoK may reach at least 140,000 while only 20,000 work legally.
Thailand has so far confirmed 50 COVID-19 infections,including one confirmed death./.
VNA
