The Foreign Ministry has instructed 7,000 Thais in Italy to comply with the nationwide lockdown enforced to combat the rapid spread of Covid-19.
The Thai embassy is preparing to offer Thais in Italy immediate help in case of emergency, Foreign Ministry spokesman and Information Department chief Cherdkiat Atthakor said on Tuesday.
"We are keeping in close contact with them through the Thai community network and social media," he said.
The 7,000 Thais include tourists, students and those married to Italian residents.
The Foreign Ministry will today meet officials from state agencies to discuss plans to help Thais in Italy and also Iran, the worst-hit Middle East country, according to Mr Cherdkiat.
The Public Health Ministry announced on Tuesday that three new Covid-19 patients had contracted the virus from among returnees from Italy, bringing the number of cases recorded in Thailand to 53. Among the new cases was a 41-year-old woman who had not travelled abroad but had been in close contact with a male Covid-19 patient who had returned from Italy, said Dr Yongyos Thammawut, the ministry's deputy permanent-secretary.
The woman developed a fever on Saturday before being tested and registered as the 51st local case. She was being treated at Rajavithi Hospital in Bangkok.
The 52nd and 53rd cases are a married couple. The wife, 46, returned from Italy on Feb 28 and later developed flu-like symptoms. Her husband, 47, remained at home but developed a high fever on Saturday. Both were being treated at a hospital in Nakhon Pathom province.
Of the 53 cases in Thailand, 33 have recovered and returned home, 19 are being treated in hospital and one has died.
Italian Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte, ordered people to stay home after Covid-19 killed 463 and infected 9,172, threatening a population of more than 60 million. Travel between cities is permitted only in emergencies.
Meanwhile, Chon Buri's Sattahip naval base has quarantined 188 Thais -- 88 men and 100 women -- who returned after working illegally in South Korea. Twenty were receiving special care -- five pregnant women, four children and 11 people with chronic diseases, Dr Yongyos said.
