Labourers leaving Sattahip quarantine for more at home
Buses are ready to begin transporting some of the quarantined Thai labourers recently returned from South Korea to their hometowns on Friday morning (March 13).
Officials of the Public Health Ministry and Royal Thai Navy agreed this week that many of the migrant workers who’ve been quarantined at Sattahip Naval Base in Chonburi can be released.
All are suspected of being infected with the Covid-19 virus and new quarantine facilities await them at their destinations.
The dispersal will begin at 8am Friday with those who live furthest away.
Thirteen full-scale buses have been arranged – seven heading for the Northeast, three for the North and three for the South – and three minibuses for those with homes in Chonburi, Rayong and Bangkok and vicinity.
Ministry officials will ride along to monitor their condition and provincial health officers will be waiting at their destinations to arrange further quarantining as needed.
No one is allowed off the buses to eat while on the way, with the Navy paying for lunch on board and the ministry chipping in for dinner.
Government spokeswoman Narumon Pinyosinwat said the Sattahip base still has 200 returned labourers in its quarantine facilities who are suspected of viral infection.
Most of these cannot be returned to their hometowns until they recover, however, because those locales lack the capability to take care of them, she said. Remaining in Chonburi is safer for them and the general populace.
