Health Minister deactivates Facebook account after quarantine post
BANGKOK — Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul declined on Wednesday why he removed an order requiring people arriving from high-risk areas to be placed in a self-quarantine.
The health minister posted the now-deleted document on his official Facebook page, which subject people coming from nine countries hit by the coronavirus to health measures. He also added his own message that they include a compulsory quarantine.
“Everyone arriving from these nine countries which have been declared as ‘disease areas’ will have to self-quarantine for 14 days without exception. We will fight through this together,” Anutin wrote in the post.
The “high risk” countries mentioned in the document are: Japan, South Korea, Germany, China, Taiwan, France, Singapore, Italy and Iran, and the two territories are Macau and Hong Kong.
However, just hours after the announcement appeared, the post – as well as Anutin’s page itself – became inaccessible without any apparent reason.
When reached for comment today at the Government House, Anutin denied any knowledge about it.
“I’m also wondering how the document ended up there, since I haven’t signed it. It’s still in my room,” Anutin said. “I have to revise it again because the issue of undocumented Thai workers returing from South Korea just came in. I need to look back into the issue before making changes.”
When a reporter pressed him on why he deactivated his Facebook account after publishing the post, Anutin chuckled and attempted to sidetrack the question.
“My son wants me to rest,” Anutin said. “In fact, I have many Facebook accounts to communicate with the public. Some of the posts were written by myself, while others by my team.”
The now-deleted post, which was shared for at least 900 times, showed scanned images of the official announcement completed with Anutin’s signature.
The post was also widely picked up by both Thai and foreign media outlets including CNN, causing much confusion for some travelers.
Source: Khaosod English
Photo: Thairath
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