Thailand’s National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) will be providing SIM Cards to travellers from risk countries, allowing them to download the AOT Airports application into their mobile phones, in order to submit compulsory health declarations and enable tracking.
The NBTC Secretary General Takorn Tantasith said on March 18 the commission had reached an agreement with the Department of Disease Control, and five mobile network operators to offer free SIM cards to travellers from the Republic of Korea, China, Italy, Iran, Macau, and Hong Kong, in order to enable an electronic health declaration and location tracking as part of the effort to minimize COVID-19 transmission.
Travellers from these locations are required to submit their health declaration form on the AOT Airports app upon arrival. They can use the free SIM card, each of which contains 49 baht value preloaded, to install and use the app. Arriving passengers in this group who already have a SIM card from Thai operators can receive a 49 baht top-up free, or take a new SIM card.
The AOT Airports app was downloaded some 7,000 times, from March 12 to 16.
The Department of Disease Control’s Deputy Director General Kajohnsak Kaewjarus, said the list of persons in quarantine prior to the introduction of this application will be integrated into the system to allow real-time tracking, a process previously done by local authorities and volunteers.
He also confirmed that none of the 1,300 returnees from the Republic of Korea has been diagnosed with COVID-19./.