Free tests for at-risk groups as PM plans illegal migrant smuggling crackdown
Free tests for at-risk groups as PM plans illegal migrant smuggling crackdown
THAILAND: The Department of Health Service Support yesterday (Dec 23) instructed private hospitals nationwide to provide free COVID-19 tests for at-risk groups.
Thursday 24 December 2020, 08:19AM
Officials stop a car at a checkpoint set up to block illegal immigration, in Sangkhla Buri district of Kanchanaburi yesterday (Dec 23). Photo: Piyarat Chongcharoen.
Director-general of the department Thares Krassanairawiwong said a new wave of COVID-19 infections in Samut Sakhon last week sparked grave concern among local residents as well as those who had visited at-risk areas.
Prayut orders smuggler blitz
published : 24 Dec 2020 at 05:33
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Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has ordered police to form a special committee to investigate state officials involved in the smuggling of illegal migrants, which has been blamed for the latest Covid-19 outbreak.
Officials who facilitate illegal migration will be prosecuted with no exceptions, Defence Ministry spokesman Lt Gen Kongcheep Tantravanich quoted the prime minister as saying.
The instructions were given at a meeting of the Defence Council chaired by Gen Prayut who is also defence minister, the spokesman said.
Gen Prayut has also instructed all military units to step up surveillance and patrols along the border to prevent illegal entry by land and sea to curb the spread of the coronavirus from neighbouring countries. The prime minister had meanwhile ordered the arrest of traffickers of illegal migrants.