The letter, marked “Urgent”, is dated as issued today (May 27) and marked as issued by the Directing Division of the Phuket Governor’s office at Phuket Provincial Hall.
The letter (verbatim) in full reads:
Subject: Requesting for cooperation to prevent spreading of COVID-19 disease
Reference to the meeting between the Governor of Phuket and General Consuls and Honorary Consuls in Phuket dated on April 27, 2021 at Phuket Provincial Hall. Phuket province has received the reports that many foreigners who recently live in Phuket infected by the COVID-19 disease. This situation is considered a serious case which leads to sorrowfulness of the province.
Many cases of COVID-19 infections have derived from any party organizing, thus, Phuket province seeks cooperation from General Consuls and Honorary consuls in Phuket to monitor and inform or advice your own citizens avoiding to gather in large group to hold or involve in any types of parties which violate the Order of Phuket Province. Any persons who violate or fail to comply with Phuket regulations will be fined or receive a jail sentence, or both.
I hope that COVID-19 will be halted if our cooperation grows together. For more details, please feel free to contact my officials at the provincial phone number.
Sincerely Yours,
Narong Woonciew
The Governor of Phuket Province
The Phuket News notes that at the time this story was posted, the Phuket office of the Public Relations Department (PR Phuket) and the Official COVID-19 Information Center Phuket (now called the ’Phuket Info Centre’), which is operated by the Phuket office of the Ministry of Interior, which is headed by Governor Narong, had yet to post the letter or repeat their call for foreigners to cooperate with COVID prevention measures. [Updated**]
Also of note, at the meeting with consuls and honorary consuls in Phuket on Apr 27, the message was plain that foreigners caught flagrantly ignoring COVID measures may face deportation.
According to the official timlines released by the Phuket Provincial Public Health Office (PPHO) showing details of movements of people confirmed as infected with COVID-19 in Phuket since Apr 3, 36 of the first 200 infections on the island were foreigners.
The timelines released reported as follows:
9 Italian woman, 36 - Apr 6
10 American man, 32 - Apr 8
13 Foreign man, 36 - Apr 8
21 Myanmar woman, 35 - Apr 9
22 Italian man, 52 - Apr 9
23 Myanmar man, 38 - Apr 9
29 English woman, 30 - Apr 9
33 Italian man, 36 - Apr 10
46 Foreign man, 33 - Apr 10
50 French man, 39 - Apr 10
53 Philippines man, 37 - Apr 10
58 English man, 29 - Apr 11
60 Brazilian man, 30, - Apr 11
65 american man, 24 - Apr 10
66 South African woman, 23 - Apr 11
73 Philippines man, 41 - Apr 13
83 Russian woman, 24 - Apr 9
88 Canadian man, 30 - Apr 12
96 Russian man, 31 - Apr 13
99 English man, 32 - Apr 13
103 Taiwanese woman, 44 - Apr 14
111 Italian man, 40 - Apr 14
113 Lithuanian man, 31 - Apr 14
114 Estonian woman, 31, - Apr 14
121 Italian woman, 37 - Apr 15
136 Philippines man, 34 - Apr 15
139 French man, 43 - Apr 15
141 Israeli man, 35 Apr 14
143 Myanmar woman, 38 - Apr 16
153 Russian man, 59 - Apr 16
159 Foreign man, 20 - Apr 16
186 Philippines man, 35 - Apr 17
187 Myanmar man, 40 - Apr 17
188 Myanmar woman, 42 - Apr 17
192 French man, 39 - Apr 19
198 Taiwanese man, 43 - Apr 17
(Timeline number, nationality and gender, age, date confirmed infected)
**UPDATE: The Official COVID-19 Information Center Phuket (now called the ’Phuket Info Centre’) posted copies of the signed letters addressed to the Honorary Consuls in Phuket for the UK, Denmark, France, Germany, Nepal and Switzerland on its official Facebook page at 8:07pm Thursday night (May 27).