Five Thai students, returning from Saudi Arabia via Malaysia, have tested positive for COVID-19.

They are among a group of 39 returning from Saudi Arabia, who arrived in Thailand via the Padang Besar immigration checkpoint at the Thai-Malaysian border and are currently in Thai state quarantine.

Health officials said that the infected students are now being admitted to hospitals, in Yala, Pattani and Songkhla provinces, for observation while awaiting results of a second round of tests.

Among the 39 returning Thais are a mother and her 14-month old baby. The rest are students on scholarships provided by the Saudi government.

Altogether 45 of them expressed a wish to return to Thailand, but six failed the screening tests and are still stranded in Saudi Arabia.

In the northeastern province of Chaiyaphum, Governor Narong Woonsiew told a news conference Tuesday that a German expatriate, who was among three people who tested positive for coronavirus on May 21^st, has been cleared of the disease after a second test.