Picture: Manager
Manager reported from Phuket saying there was a severe crisis among increasing numbers of foreigners on the holiday island testing positive for Covid-19 at the start of their stay.
Their sources indicated - following similar suggestions on social media - that an increasing number of asymptomatic foreigners were testing positive for Covid on day one.
These are the so called "Green Cases".
Hotels want them off the premises and sent to hospitals but the insurance companies are refusing to honor policies saying they have to pay for hospitals.
The foreigners are pointing out that they are insured and won't pay for hospitalization.
This, said the source, meant that a large number of foreign tourists are refusing to budge at hotels.
This could mean, despite protocols being in place, that staff get infected and hotels are forced to shut down.
He called on immediate government action to address the growing crisis in Phuket.
Meanwhile Dr Kusak Kukiatkul of the Phuket health authority confirmed that the "Green Cases" didn't want to go to hospitals as they came from countries where asymptomatic cases could just quarantine at home.
And he admitted that there were simply not enough places in so called "hospitels" to accommodate them.
He accepted that insurance companies were not covering these eventualities when it came to hospital coverage for green cases and foreigners didn't want to pay insisting they were covered.
So they were just staying in the hotels.
Dr Kusak said there were negotiations underway to help with the situation.