Prisons out of bounds for visitors for 14 days
The Department of Corrections will bar visitors to prisons nationwide for 14 days as part of efforts to prevent the spread of Covid-19, director-general Pol Colonel Narat Sawetnant said on Tuesday (March 17).
“After the Cabinet approved the closure of public venues such as universities, schools, sports stadiums and movie theatres to promote social distance in an attempt to reduce the risk of the virus spreading, we will comply with this policy by closing all prisons to all visitors from March 18-31,” he said. “Currently the department has around 380,000 prisoners nationwide and they live in a limited space. If the outbreak spreads to prisons, it will be hard to control.”
Narat added that all prisons had been strictly following the measures announced by the Ministry of Public Health since the early stages of the Covid-19 outbreak in Thailand. “As of now there is no report of any prisoner being infected,” he added.
As of March 17, Thailand has confirmed 177 Covid-19 cases. Of these, 41 have been discharged after recovery, 135 are under medical care, and one person has died.
