Govt increases travel restrictions

An official looks at a computer monitor to check passengers' body temperatures with a thermal scanner upon their arrival at Suvarnabhumi airport. (Photos by Wichan Charoenkiatpakul)
An official looks at a computer monitor to check passengers' body temperatures with a thermal scanner upon their arrival at Suvarnabhumi airport. (Photos by Wichan Charoenkiatpakul)

The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) is requiring travellers from Covid-19 infected countries and territories to produce medical certificates prior to boarding their flights to Thailand to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Transport Minister Saksayam Chidchob said on Monday the CAAT has issued an official announcement, saying travellers from South Korea, China, Italy, Iran, Macau and Hong Kong who fail to show their health certificates to authorities before boarding their flights to Thailand will not be allowed to continue their journey.

The restrictions are in line with Thailand's Communicable Diseases Act (2015), the minister said.

Upon arriving at Thai airports, they must present their health certificate to disease control officials for verification, said Mr Saksayam.

According to the minister, anyone found producing fake certificates to Thai health authorities will face legal action and quarantine.

Mr Saksayam also assured that Suvarnabhumi airport has put strict screening measures in place to help curb the spread of the disease from air travellers.

He also insisted that to date, airport officials assigned to screen passengers have not shown any fever and/or other symptoms.

Withaya Yamuang, director-general of the Marine Department, on Monday also applied similar rules to boat passengers and crews from Covid-19 affected countries and territories.

The necessary documents include the maritime declaration of health, a list of 10 ports they had just visited, crew and passenger manifest and the results of their body temperature checks over the past week. Violators are liable to fines of between 1,000 and 10,000 baht.

Learn from listening

Click play to listen to audio for this story, or download to save the file
: :

Vocabulary

  • announcement: a spoken or written statement that informs people about something - การประกาศ
  • certificate: an official document or record stating that particular facts are true - ประกาศนียบัตร เกียรติบัตร
  • curb: to control or limit something - จำกัดขอบเขต, ควบคุม
  • declaration: an official announcement that something is true or is happening - การประกาศ
  • fake: made to look like something real in order to trick people - ที่ทำปลอม
  • fever: an abnormally high body temperature - ไข้
  • manifest: a list of goods or passengers on a ship or an aircraft - รายการผู้โดยสาร/สินค้า
  • necessary (adj.): essential, needful, something that you must do or have - จำเป็น, ซึ่งเลี่ยงไม่ได้, ซึ่งเป็นที่ต้องการ, สำคัญ
  • quarantine (noun): a situation in which a person or animal that might have a disease is kept separate from other people or animals so that they do not catch the disease - การกักบริเวณ, การจำกัดบริเวณ
  • restriction: a rule, action or situation that limits or controls someone or something - การจำกัด, การควบคุม
  • screening: the testing or examining of a large number of people or things for disease, faults, illegal objects, etc - การตรวจ
  • strict: very careful and exact - เข้มงวด
  • verification: the process of checking that something is true or accurate - การพิสูจน์ความจริง, การตรวจสอบความเป็นจริง
  • violators (noun): people who go against or refuse to obey a law, an agreement, etc. - ผู้ฝ่าฝืน, ผู้ละเมิดกฎ

Do you like the content of this article?
COMMENT
MORE IN SECTION