Cases on the day fall into two groups, said Suwannachai Wattanayingcharoenchai, Director-General of Department of Disease Control at the Ministry of Health of Thailand, at a press briefing.
The first group consists of 43 cases linked to earlier ones, while the second involves 17 people arriving from Italy, Malaysia, Japan, Iran and Taiwan (China), he noted.
Thailand has recorded one death since the outbreak, with 42 patients having recovered and gone home and 229 still being treated in hospital.
The same day, the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) said it requires air passengers, Thai and foreign, to show COVID-19-free health certificates and COVID-19 insurance before boarding their flights to Thailand.
The CAAT announced the condition and other requirements one day earlier, as part of the Thai government’s efforts to contain the disease.
Passengers who were in mainland China, Hong Kong, Iran, Italy, Macau or the Republic of Korea in the past 14 days before the date of their arrival in Thailand will be quarantined. When passengers check in, airlines must check whether they had visited COVID-19 epidemic areas in the previous 14 days.
Passengers who fail to present the required documents will not be allowed to board their flight to Thailand.
Those who comply and are allowed to board must provide the address of their accommodation in Thailand, either in written forms or on a mobile phone app of the Airports of Thailand company.
Airlines that fail to comply must pay for the subsequent transport, quarantine and treatment of passengers, and the cost of related cases of disease control.
Also on March 19, Malaysia confirmed 110 new COVID-19 infections, raising the country’s number of cases to 900. Most of the additional cases had links with a religious event attracting 16,000 participants on February 27- March 1.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Department of Health announced 15 new cases, recording a total of 217.
On the day, the Embassy of Indonesia in India said that eight Indonesian citizens tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 and are under treatment at a hospital in Hyderabad city.
