The move is to “protect them and keep other students safe”, Vice Governor Piyapong told a provincial meeting on Tuesday (July 6).
More than 4,300 students who are older than 18 years old are affected by the strict measures for people arriving in Phuket by land, Vice Governor Piyapong explained.
“We will give them vaccinations,” he said. “On July 15, Dr Withita Jaeng-iam, Deputy Director of Primary Care at Vachira Phuket Hospital, will work on having them registered to be vaccinated.
“For those who are younger than 18 years old, we will swab test all of them once a month, and the test results will be [deemed] valid for one month,” he added.
“For the students who live in Phuket and study with the students from Phang Nga, we will randomly test about 30% of them every month. The tests will be conducted for three months,” Vice Governor Piyapong explained.
“Medical staff have already started conducting swab tests among students. While waiting for the test results or to receive a vaccination injection, students will receive a card that must be signed by the intuition head [of where they attend classes] to show to officers at the checkpoint,” he added.
“From July 16, officers at the checkpoint will have a list of the names of the students to check when they come in and out,” he said.
“This measure is especially for Phang Nga students, so that they can come to study [in Phuket] like normal. However, they still have to strictly follow the disease control measures,” he noted.