AFS students trickle home

Most likely to get back this month

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has assured parents of Thai exchange students stranded in the United States that they will return to Thailand this month, as the US notches up the most confirmed cases globally at 189,000-plus.

Speaking at the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration, MFA spokesman Cherdkiat Atthakor said AFS International is facilitating the gradual return of Thai students as commercial flights from the US can still enter the country.

“We are working with our embassies and AFS International to make sure they will be looked after by host families and covered by health insurance until they return. According to the Royal Thai Embassy in Washington DC, all are expected to arrive in Thailand this month,” he said.

Most Thai students abroad under the AFS cultural exchange programme have already flown back as the organisation terminated the programme before the outbreak intensified, said Mr Cherdkiat.

Citing the emergency decree, Mr Cherdkiat said Thai students must obtain fit-to-fly health certificates from doctors and letters from embassies before boarding their flights. They must also undergo screening by authorities on their return.

According to an earlier report, the parents of Thai students under the AFS cultural exchange programme had planned to ask Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to send in an aircraft to bring the students back.

But some Thai students said they would rather stay in the US for now than return home to avoid catching or transmitting the coronavirus en route because the US has more than 189,000 Covid-19 cases as of yesterday.

Praphatson Promkhonsue, a Thai student in the US, said she fears getting infected if she leaves the island town of Hatteras in North Carolina because almost all states in the US have confirmed Covid-19 cases. “My parents have let me stay here for now because it is safer than travelling outside the city,” she added.

Meanwhile, Taweesin Visanuyothin, spokesman for the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration, said returnees should be kept in a mandatory 14-day quarantine in the same way as those returning from Italy.

“Looking after a large group of patients requires considerable effort from public health officials at every step before taking them to the Royal Thai Navy’s reception centre in Chon Buri’s Sattahip or the Royal Thai Air Force facility in Nakhon Pathom’s Kamphaeng Saen,” he said.