Surat Thani governor confirms that residents coming back from Phuket will be quarantined

With the exodus of people from Phuket heading back to their home provinces, officials from Surat Thani have confirmed that they will be quarantined at home for 14 days when they arrive. Surat Thani is about a 3-4 hour drive northeast from Phuket.

The Surat Thani governor Witchawut Jinto has ordered all district chiefs in the province to quarantine visitors heading north off Phuket after 1,143 people registered to return to their homes in Surat Thani.

“We will consider these people as travellers from a high-risk territory and therefore they will be subjected to mandatory 14 day home quarantine.”

“The quarantine will be closely supervised by public health officials as well as district chiefs, village headmen and district administration offices, whereas the travellers must report their health status via telephone every day.”

Thousands of residents and inter-provincial workers from Phuket, trapped for the last month due to Covid-19 and the complete shutdown of the island’s tourist industry, began leaving yesterday. The lockdown was soon reimposed after the road from Phuket to the Tha Chatchai checkpoint became jammed with with cars from as early as 5am, stretching back several kilometres. Some 40,000 people have registered to cross the bridge back to the Thai mainland. Their departures are now being spaced out over the next week.

Surat Thani has reported 18 cases so far and all the patients have recovered, making the province Covid-19 free at the moment.

SOURCE: The Nation Thailand