About 500 officers and men on board the Chakrinarubet aircraft carrier are to be tested for COVID-19 after two were found to be infected and ten others, who are close with them, were quarantined.

It was reported that the two infected sailors recently visited a beer garden in Sattahip district.

Vice Admiral Chettha Jaipiam, spokesman for the Royal Thai Navy, said today that he is waiting for a confirmation, from the captain of the Chakrinarubet, about the reported infections, adding that, if the report is verified, all those on board the vessel will be quarantined and tested.

Meanwhile, Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, who has returned to work after completing 14-days of mandatory quarantine, chaired a meeting of the National Communicable Disease Committee this morning.

Before the start of the meeting, he asked the committee to consider his reservations over free medical treatment for illegal gamblers and Thais who return from abroad illegally while infected.

He noted that the average treatment cost for each patient ranges from 150,00-200,000 baht, adding that this amount of taxpayers’ money should be used to treat law abiding patients and those who break the law should be made to pay their own medical bills.