Over 500 Thais fly home today and straight into quarantine

A spokesman for the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration announced today that 581 Thais have returned from 5 countries.

A flight from the Maldives brought 125 Thais at 3:15pm yesterday, then 165 arrived from Hong Kong at 3:55, 175 arrived from Singapore at 5:25 and 45 from Spain at 6:55. 70 returnees from Russia arrived at Suvarnabhumi Airport at 10:30am.

The arrivals follow 234 yesterday from Kazakhstan, the Netherlands and the United Arab Emirates. All returnees face a mandatory 14 day quarantine, either in their homes or at state-provided facilities, under strict guidelines.

By this evening a total of some 4165 Thais will have have returned from 24 countries since April 4, not including the thousands who have returned across the land borders. The numbers are significant because, as officials have consistently warned, despite an encouraging downward trend in new Covid-19 cases (which has seen the numbers fall to only 3 today), waves of returnees could spike these numbers, although their cases are considered “imported” and not the result of local transmission.

SOURCE: The Nation Thailand