Borders posts ready to vet returnees

Borders posts ready to vet returnees

Authorities say they are ready to ensure proper Covid-19 screening and quarantining for Thai workers stranded in Malaysia who will begin returning through southern border checkpoints from Saturday.

The Sungai Kolok checkpoint in Narathiwat will reopen on Saturday so that the first 100 Thai workers can return home and go into local quarantine, while the Sadao checkpoint in Songkhla and Betong checkpoint in Yala will allow entry to 50 workers per day.

Tammalang and Wang Prachan checkpoints in Satun will also reopen for 50 workers each day.

Pattani Governor Kraisorn Wisitwong said that although some returnees would likely try to conceal information, he is confident authorities can handle them properly, and as 1,000 returnees are expected to return from Malaysia to the province, 140 local quarantine locations would be able to accommodate up to 3,000.

Muslim-majority Yala ranks 5th with 99 infections and Pattani ranks 6th with 87 in terms of the highest provincial Covid-19 infection tallies. Many of the infected in these provinces returned from religious activities abroad.

Songkhla, which also borders Malaysia, had 56 infections as of Friday.

In Songkhla, the Sadao border post will reopen from 8am to 12am, with a screening checkpoint set up to check the health history of returnees, entry certificates issued by the Thai embassy in Kuala Lumpur, as well as medical certificates issued by Malaysian health authorities.

Deputy Narathiwat governor Boonpat Raknui inspected the crossing point on Friday, and confirmed preparations were in hand.

District chief Rungruang Thimabut said arrangements were in place for the screening of the returnees and their placement in quarantine.

Returnees are required to show letters from the embassy or a consulate and medical certificates declaring them clear of Covid-19.

Officials at three screening points would check the body temperature and travel records of those returning, before they are sent to quarantine centres. Vehicles have been arranged to take them to their home provinces for local quarantining, the district chief said.

Chakkrit Uthensut, head of the Sungai Kolok customs office, said the checkpoint there would be open from 7am to 7pm. One hundred people on a list provided in advance by the embassy and consulates would be allowed to enter the country each day.

Vehicles would pick them at the screening point before they are sent to their home provinces -- mainly Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala -- for quarantining, he said.

Mr Boonpat said a sports stadium had been set aside as a temporary shelter for those who passed screening but who cannot get to their home province before curfew. They would stay overnight and travel the next day. It could accommodate 60-70 people.

If there are fewer than 15 who cannot get home, they would stay at an Otop building near the checkpoint.

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