Many feeling haunted by ‘little ghosts’

More than 5,000 have already returned home from a country far more deeply gripped by the Covid-19 virus than Thailand, and one estimate has the number eventually reaching 100,000 as the job market collapses in South Korea.

What their compatriots fear most is that some among them might be “super spreaders” of the virus, free of symptoms and yet inadvertently infecting dozens of others.

It was an elderly Korean traveller who was identified as the super spreader extending the contagion in the city of Daegu and North Gyeongsang province, which are now battling epidemics.

Thais online are debating whether the returned little ghosts will willingly stay in their homes in self-quarantine for 14 days as required, or should instead be forced into guarded quarantine facilities like the Thais flown home in a group last month from Wuhan, China.
The term phi noi has a disparaging connotation because it refers to the Thai migrant labourers being smuggled into South Korea, living underground and doing any kind of menial jobs under the authorities’ radar.

Even before Covid-19 emerged, the Thai government – prodded by a South Korean counterpart weary of their untraceable presence – held out an olive branch to the little ghosts, welcoming back many since October 1 with the promise that they would not be punished or blacklisted for their illegal work overseas.

But the virus shut down multiple factories and construction sites in South Korea and unemployed has soared for everyone, so the number of Thais wishing to return has spiked.

Because of the virus and the high risk in South Korea, the Thai government is ready with strict controls.

But it’s now being claimed that some of those deemed clear of infection are refusing to take the precaution of voluntary self-quarantine and are roaming freely in public, possibly putting healthy people in grave danger.

The question being asked in online forums is “Do Thais have enough self-discipline to behave responsibly?”