While the rate of COVID-19 infection among the over 100,000 people entering the nation recently was recorded at only 0.7 percent, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has assured the community it will maintain strict health measures well into next year.
The Director of the Department of Information and Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Thani Saengrat, has reported that since entry into the Kingdom was restricted on April 4 of this year, the ministry and relevant agencies have repatriated 140,429 Thais from 145 countries with 5,630 returning home in the past week alone. Of the total, 29,693 came over land, 108,649 traveled by air and 2,087 traveled by sea. A total of 993 individuals were found to be infected with COVID-19 after traveling from 67 different countries, a rate of 0.7 percent. For January 2021, a further 33,269 have expressed a desire to return.
The ministry has provided entry documentation to 51,424 foreigners, with 16,231 added in the past week. A total of 52,359 registrations for documentation have been put into the ministry’s central online system, with 33,273 being Thai nationals and 19,086 being foreigners.
The spokesperson confirmed the readiness of quarantine sites for both Thais and foreigners, detailing that 27 sites have been prepared for Thais, 121 alternative state quarantines are available and 46 local quarantine sites and 128 medical quarantine sites have been readied.
He explained that an increase in entry requests was due to many countries relaxing their travel restrictions but assured Thais that strict health measures are being maintained for entry into the Kingdom. (NNT)
