The National Health Security Committee (NHSC) is to seek cabinet approval tomorrow (Tuesday) for 3.5 billion baht from the Central Fund, to be used in coping with COVID-19 situation over the next seven months, Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said today.

The NHSC, which met today under the chairmanship of Mr. Anutin, has approved an additional 1.2 billion baht, from the Health Security Fund, to be used in testing for new COVID-19 infections and the treatment of those already infected.

The public health minister assured that, for the time being, there is sufficient medication to cope with the current situation, but he urged users of cotton face masks to reuse them, after being washed, due to a shortage of masks in the market.

Deputy spokesman of the Royal Thai Police, Pol Col Krisana Pattanacharoen, said today that the Immigration Bureau has already made arrangements at airports to accommodate Thais working illegally in South Korea who have volunteered to return home.

He said the returnees, the number of whom is not yet known, will be screened using thermal scanners upon arrival and kept in quarantine, at Bamrasnaradura Institute of Infectious Diseases, if they are found to have a fever.