TallGuyJohninBKK

Just curious... Why take TH purchased test kits back to the U.S. for travel? Is the available supply there worse than it is here? Surely, the quality control there is better than it is here.... PS - what are the particulars of the Hip Bio Tech kit that you posted a photo of above. That's a different one from the two I cited....

I see Boots online is advertising this one that's a 5-pack from Roche, presumably legit. https://store.boots.co.th/products/roche-sars-cov-2-ag-pst-nasal-5-ea/61656fb4377743511d77a4d9 And Watson's online is selling this one from China, a brand I've never heard of.... https://www.watsons.co.th/kissh-sars-cov-2-antigen-test-kit-nasal-swab-1-pc/p/BP_296171

Any suggestions on quality/specific reputable brand tests that are actually available here in Thailand?

This is for the day prior, Jan. 4.... not yesterday. But worth noting that the government still has NOT reached its original self-stated goal of getting 70% of the population "fully vaccinated" with two shots. And, just barely have got 70%+ percent of the population vaccinated with at least 1 shot. Meaning, according to their own stats, there remains almost 30% of the Thai population out there that's received NO vaccine thus far. And that's not even factoring in the additional complications that a lot of the original two dose vaccinations, at this point months later, are likely of only little to no effect in preventing those people from becoming infected. Because the original vaccines were non-mMRA and so much time has passed since the original doses. https://fb.watch/amGhfs8zUZ/

Weren't they having problems previously with dodgy ATK test kits imported by the Thai govt. from Chinese suppliers that were supposedly next to worthless? Apart from the price, I'd be wanting to know is the test kit I'm buying actually one that is legitimate and produces reasonably accurate results for better or worse. The wide price range @sqwakvfr posted above leads me to think there's still some dodgy test kits being sold out there.

Thanks...Yes, that's what I vaguely recalled from past inquiries, given that the home where the Thai wife and I live is a rental. I considered pursuing it, the wife and I discussed it, and in the end, decided against asking our landlord (with whom we're on very good terms) to trek down to local khet office in BKK and spend half a day doing the processing for this. I've lived here more than a decade thus far, and the lack of a Yellow Book hasn't been a big impediment to anything that I can think of along the way.

There's an alternate route/method that still works with having the BKKB NY branch serve as a routing agent for funds transfers from the U.S. to BKKB in Thailand. Yes, the old ACH transfer method to BKKB NY no longer works because of the recent IAT requirement. But BKKB NY will still accept incoming domestic wire transfers from U.S. bank accounts and forward them onto the designated BKKB account in Thailand. Some U.S. banks offer free or very low fee domestic wire transfers. So using those in conjunction with BKKB NY's transfer service to Thailand can be a very cost efficient means of moving money from the U.S. to Thailand.

Re the Yellow Book, I know that works if you're the owner of a property... But does it also work, and if so how does it work, if you're only the renter of the home where you reside?

What kind of status / visa / documentation did Kasikorn HQ require from you in order to open a new savings account?

...

And the rules change again..... "He also said that the government extended the deadline for the arrival of the travelers who had earlier applied to the now-suspended Test & Go country entry scheme. The new deadline is on Jan 15 instead of Jan 10." https://tna.mcot.net/english-news-856606

I'm trying to recall if I've ever read / heard of a case where the Thai police actually arrested and prosecuted anyone for this type of offense... And off the top of my head, I can't recall any. That's probably more a comment on the nature of Thai policing, and less a comment on the extent to which this kind of criminal activity is occurring.

That certainly wasn't our experience when we used Agoda to shop for and ultimately book a Christmas-New Year hotel reservation in Thailand. Rather, for any given hotel and/or type of room, they typically had a whole series of different price quotes depending on the payment /cancellation details you wanted. Generally speaking: --lowest rate: pay up front at the time of the booking and no refund for cancellations. --slightly higher rate: pay maybe a week before the actual arrival date, and refund available for cancellation. --slightly higher rate again: only charged like the day before your reservation arrival date, and refund available for cancellation. I saw those kinds of options on Agoda for virtually all the hotels we shopped online for our recent trip.

And yet the OP article doesn't even broach the question of WHY all these Thai police have run up such huge collective debts? Could it be at least in part that the whole promotion and advancement system in their organization is not primarily based on performance and merit, but instead, on payments to superiors in order to essentially buy promotions?

"Those who have applied and been granted the Thailand Pass can still enter the country under the Test and Go programme until January 10, 2022, as per the previous announcement." https://www.thaipbsworld.com/thai-government-needs-one-month-to-decide-on-anti-covid-19-measures-update/

I did my most recent 90-day report at the beginning of Dec. in BKK via EMS mail, because I was locked out of the website and app -- because they wrongly list me as being on overstay from my retirement extension that was renewed in September. I got the mailed 90 day reporting receipt back from Immigration today in the postal mail -- just over a month from the time they received my original report.

One jab of anything isn't really doing the job these days with Omicron when it comes to preventing infection. The current medical advice seems to be people need to be fully vaccinated (two shots) plus a booster with the mRNA vaccines. And even then, that's not 100% protection against infection, but it's apparently as good as things can get for the present. And unfortunately both here in TH and in the west as well, there remain vast numbers of people who haven't gotten the necessary three shot vaccine doses.

You'll note, my prior post and comments were limited to the efficacy of mRNA vaccines -- not the others -- in helping prevent infection. The Times article reinforces what I said above -- the mRNA vaccines have shown the best performance at preventing infections, with the results varying by time passed and which virus variant is involved, according to the various research results reported thus far. From The Times report: "But only the Pfizer and Moderna shots, when reinforced by a booster, appear to have initial success at stopping [Omicron] infections..." "The other shots — including those from AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson and vaccines manufactured in China and Russia — do little to nothing to stop the spread of Omicron, early research shows." AND "The Pfizer and Moderna shots use the new mRNA technology, which has consistently offered the best protection against infection with every variant. All of the other vaccines are based on older methods of triggering an immune response. "The Chinese vaccines Sinopharm and Sinovac — which make up almost half of all shots delivered globally — offer almost zero protection from Omicron infection." Though again, it bears repeating that the other vaccines still do appear to continue to offer protection against serious illness and death from COVID. That's good for the individual recipients. But that's not going to stop or slow the spread of the pandemic.

The mRNA COVID vaccines do prevent infections to a certain extent, that starts out relatively strong, and then wanes/reduces with time. So, the science clearly shows, depending on the vaccine and the time since you last received it, they can prevent a certain proportion of the vaccinated from contracting the virus. In short, the mRNA vaccines prevent infections in some of the vaccinated, but not all. They're better, of course, at preventing serious illness and death.

fyi:

So your friend actually is serving out his quarantine in a hotel room, not a hospital room?

I don't have any direct personal knowledge on this to share. But, apart from the UK woman's episode and whatever's gone on with that, there are quite a few member posts in another running thread on this issue that seem to be suggesting the following for someone who tests positive right now: --if the person has medical insurance, they're referred to/sent to a hospital for quarantine. --if the person doesn't have medical insurance, they're referred to/sent to a hotel or "hospitel" to serve out quarantine at their own expense. It's really pretty hard to understand how the government's policies and practices on this kind of a fundamental issue can be so vague and opaque.

I had a dental cleaning appointment recently at a private hospital in BKK. What they wanted prior to the appointment was either: a. show them proof of full/two dose COVID vaccination, or b. do an ATK test the day of the appointment just prior, and have a negative result. I'm fully vaccinated and will receive my booster this week. But when I thought about it, the hospital's option regarding requiring proof of prior vaccination really doesn't make much sense as a means of preventing the spread of COVID. Because months prior vaccination (especially with the Chinese or AZ vaccines so common here) apparently aren't doing much these days in preventing infections that can be spread to others -- even though they do help in preventing serious illness and death.

In the case of your friends, do you know, once they were hospitalized, did they end up in private rooms or shared rooms/wards with other positive COVID cases?

In that case above, the woman who tested positive but asymptomatic upon arrival was required to do hotel quarantine -- but was not sent to a hospital. When it comes to asymptomatic positive tests here, the issue of simply being required to undergo extended hotel quarantine vs being sent to a hospital to serve out the same quarantine seems to be VERY unclear.