Thai glad month-long wait in room ends
After more than a month being stuck in his Auckland room because of the coronavirus lockdown, Thai student Nitipong Phuttim, 25, is thrilled to be finally going home.
Phuttim is one of 168 Thai nationals who will fly out of Auckland today on a mercy flight organised by the Thai Government.
When he left Thailand to study English in Queenstown last October, he never imagined there would be a global pandemic and that restrictions from his home country would prevent him from returning. “Coming to New Zealand is like a dream, I never thought something like this can happen,” Phuttim said.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand banned inbound flights until April 18 because many previous returnees were infected with Covid-19 and posed the risk of spreading it to locals.
Returnees, including Thai nationals, need a “fit-to-fly” health certificate and may also require rapid tests before boarding planes. A “fit-to-fly” certificate is a letter issued by the Thai embassy, a health insurance policy that covers Covid-19 and a doctor’s note, signed no later than 72 hours before the passenger boards.
Phuttim said when he got news of borders tightening up, he tried to figure out how to go home but could not because of the difficulty in getting the health certificate and flights being cancelled.
So he decided to wait it out in Auckland where he had been staying in his “bubble” with two other Thais. Phuttim said he paid about $2800 to get a ticket on the mercy flight.
Despite the Covid-19 outbreak, he said he had “the best time” in New Zealand.
“I am very excited that I am finally going home, but my dream is to come back again to this beautiful country after the pandemic is over.”
NZ Thai Society president Songvut Manoonpong, who is helping the Thai Embassy here to co-ordinate the flight, said a few hundred Thai nationals had been stranded here. “Many of them are Thai students, tourists and temporary workers, but this flight will also give people who need to urgently return to Thailand a chance to do so.”
He said the Auckland-based general manager of Thai Airways would also be on the flight which was due to leave Auckland at 1.30pm today.