Christian foundation says six members with covid were volunteers from third party, deny involvement

 | Fri 23 Jul 2021 14:33 ICT

Chiang Mai Police say that they have issued arrest warrants for 11 people who entered Chiang Mai without checking in on the CM-Chana application.

The 11 arrived from Rayong and Phrae provinces and were staying together at Urban house 195 in Suthep area. Six later tested positive.

The entire group belonged to the New Vision for Life Foundation, a Christian non-profit based out of Chiang Rai. The foundation’s web site says that it aids hill tribe children in a Christian school. The group arrived to set up charity appeal booths across Chiang Mai city but none registered with the application, none were tested and none self-quarantined. When news of the six people who tested positive was published, there was immediate public outcry.

The group set up four booths in Chiang Mai; third floor of Maya, Big C Don Chan, Big C Hang Dong and the ATM next to the Chiang Mai Land Department.

An admin of the Facebook page belonging to the foundation has come out to clarify matters by saying that the foundation had outsourced the fundraising to a third party – an events organising company called Fulfill Passion, based in Bangkok. They went on to say that volunteers solicited by the events company manned the booth and arrived from Rayong and Phrae, without stopping in Bangkok. Neither province was considered deep red at the time of travel. They went on to say that while no one checked in on the CM-Chana application, it was simply because they hadn’t heard of it and didn’t know that they had to. They said that to date, six people have been confirmed positive, and three more are awaiting results. The admin went on to speculate that it was possible that the six caught the virus while here in Chiang Mai, and didn’t bring it with them.

Members of the group who violated the law will be prosecuted in accordance to the law, says Chiang Mai police.