Over 500 Thais returning this weekend

More than 230 Thai nationals have returned or will return to Thailand today. Yesterday’s 234 returnees include include 55 from Kazakhstan, 50 from the Netherlands, and 129 from United Arab Emirates. Dr Taweesilp Visanuyothin, spokesperson for the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration says 290 more Thai nationals, 45 from Spain, 175 from Singapore, and about 70 from Russia, will return today. All face a mandatory 14 day quarantine, either in their homes or at state-provide facilities.

A total of 3,584 Thais have returned from 24 countries since April 4.

Taweesilp added that 6,229 Thai nationals have returned by road or overland from neighbouring countries. On Friday alone, 11 people returned from Myanmar, 39 from Laos, 454 from Malaysia and 42 from Cambodia.

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 6 Friday and yesterday), waves of returnees could spike these numbers, although their cases are considered “imported” and not the result of local transmission.

SOURCE: The Nation Thailand