Education Minister Nataphol Teepsuwan said on Sunday (February 23) that the ministry has asked teachers and students who had travelled to six destinations -- China, Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore -- to stay at home for 14 days.

The measure is in line with the Public Health Ministry’s guidelines to prevent the spread of coronavirus, he said. Parents of students who travelled to those six countries should also stay at home in order to make sure that they were not infected by the coronavirus, he said.

The number of virus cases in Thailand remains at 35, while Japan and South Korea recently experienced a spike in infected patients.

Experts earlier believed that the virus could be transmitted to other people even though those infected may not have fallen ill yet, as the coronavirus incubation takes 14 days before making people ill. Recently, however, scientists studying virus cases in China said that the virus incubation period could be longer than 14 days.