Visa amnesty extension for foreigners “being considered”
Thailand’s Immigration Bureau is considering extending the current visa amnesty for foreigners stranded in Thailand. The Foreign Ministry’s deputy spokesperson made the announcement at this morning’s daily Covid-19 briefing by the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration.
The Cabinet’s last resolution was to grant an automatic visa extension for foreigners stranded here to stay until July 30. The deputy spokesperson asked for patience and said the bureau’s decision on the subject will announced soon.
In April, the Cabinet granted a second automatic visa extension for foreigners for 3 months. The extended amnesty was a bid to prevent long queues at immigration centres around the country. A spokeswoman for the Thai government said then that they wanted to stem the spread of the virus and avoid foreigners having to wait in lines, threatening their own health and that of immigration officials.
Only 1 new case of the virus was reported in Thailand today, a 24 year old woman who returned from Bahrain on June 28 and tested positive in state quarantine in Chon Buri province after showing symptoms.
As of today the total number of confirmed cases in the country since the outbreak stands at 3,180 (2,444 domestic cases and 243 in state quarantine). 3,066 have recovered and been discharged, making the recovery rate 96%. There have been 58 deaths.
Globally, the total number of confirmed cases reached 11 million, up by 179,000 in Thursday (up an additional million in less than a week). 5.9 million people have recovered while total deaths now stand at 524,580.
