Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha called an urgent meeting with the Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai, Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and chief of Consular Service Department this morning, to discuss yesterday’s decision to suspend visa on arrival facilities for citizens from 18 countries and to scrap visa free access for people from Italy, South Korea and Hong Kong.
An informed government source said that the new restrictions may suffer implementation problems, due to bilateral agreements that Thailand has with those countries.
Meanwhile, government spokeswoman Mrs. Narumon has clarified that the Sattahip naval base, which is being used to quarantine Thai workers who have returned from South Korea, has not been closed, as reported yesterday by Interior Minister Anupong Paochinda.
She said that the state facility is still open and there are about 200 people quarantined there, as public health officials screen them to determine which of them can be sent home for supervised quarantine, adding that the facility may have to accommodate more returnees from South Korea who have been rejected by their communities or by their own families for fear that they may be infected.
Related story: Thailand suspends visa on arrival facility for citizens of 18 countries
