(adds details, quotes, PIX)
BANGKOK, April 8 (Reuters) - Thailand approved a plan on
Wednesday to allow all foreigners who entered legally to receive
automatic visa extensions, to prevent long queues at immigration
centres and stem the spread of the coronavirus, a senior
immigration official told Reuters.
Thailand has closed its borders and banned entry to
foreigners, except diplomats and work-permit holders to combat
the COVID-19 outbreak.
Those foreigners who entered the country before the ban was
imposed - who had visas, received visas on arrival or under visa
waiver programmes - will not need to line up at often crowded
immigration centres around the country to extend their stay.
The automatic visa extension has been granted until April
30, according to an interior ministry document. Police
Lieutenant General Sompong Chingduang told Reuters the
government could extend this deadline each month.
Last week the government allowed migrant workers with
expiring work permits to stay in the country, without the need
to apply for extensions, until Thailand reopen its borders.
The country reported 111 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday.
They included 42 Thais repatriated from Indonesia who had
travelled South Sulawesi province for a religious gathering last
month before the event was postponed.
In total, Thailand has reported 2,369 cases of the novel
coronavirus, and 30 deaths. It has declared a state of emergency
until the end of the month and imposed a nationwide 10 p.m. to 4
a.m. curfew.
(Reporting by Panu Wongcha-um and Panarat Thepgumpanat; Editing
by Kim Coghill and Pravin Char)