Thailand cancels visa on arrival for 19 countries, visa exemptions for 3 to limit virus spread

[sandrabbit]

39 minutes ago, Mike Teavee said:

Was in Jomtien last week & the majority of Farang visitors seemed to be from Russia so I’m guessing the beach vendors, restaurants etc... will miss them 

 

in Koh Samet this week & a largish group we’re at Ao Prao beach earlier so I’m guessing their absence would be felt here also

Still a lot of Russians here in Rayong

[DrTuner]

50 minutes ago, Mike Teavee said:

Was in Jomtien last week & the majority of Farang visitors seemed to be from Russia so I’m guessing the beach vendors, restaurants etc... will miss them 

Might be locals. Jomthien and especially the villages near Rompho are Russian territory.

[CartagenaWarlock]

6 hours ago, cmarshall said:

Japan is known not to be testing in adequate numbers.  

Except Taiwan, no country is testing in adequate numbers unless they develop some symptoms, specially high fever. Europe and America are the worst and that's why it's spreading fast there. They could have contained it as they 10,000 miles away but again they botched it up just like all prior incidents of epidemics. They test only when people have high fever and all others high risk people are left to heal using their immune system. That way it is better financially and lower reported cases.

Edited March 11, 2020 by CartagenaWarlock

[Traubert]

5 hours ago, Fex Bluse said:

Do you believe the heavily censored news out of China?

 

Despite their confirmed lies and attempted cover-ups?

Yes.

 

Far and above the garbage that's coming out in the western press and particularly the Governments. China has social media too and has 62000 recovered patients. I'd say that's where the expertise lies now, wouldn't you?

[ThailandRyan]

WHO has just declared the Coronavirus outbreak a pandemic.  They want real reports and all stops pulled out to fight this issue.  I am in a wait and see approach as to whether this changes Thailands numbers and travel quarantine as well as Visas.

[tlandtday]

10 hours ago, Max69xl said:

The incubation period of 14 days has to be stated in the health certificate.

That's debatable the period can be as much as 27 days.

[tlandtday]

3 hours ago, CartagenaWarlock said:

Except Taiwan, no country is testing in adequate numbers unless they develop some symptoms, specially high fever. Europe and America are the worst and that's why it's spreading fast there. They could have contained it as they 10,000 miles away but again they botched it up just like all prior incidents of epidemics. They test only when people have high fever and all others high risk people are left to heal using their immune system. That way it is better financially and lower reported cases.

America and Europe are not the worst they are merely giving their real numbers.  It' is far worse here and in asia where the governments can hide the facts. Wake up.

[Airbagwill]

How long before UK and USA are added. Bye bye  border runs.

[Virt]

In Thailand atm and not sure how to react after WHO now call it a pandemic and the numbers of infected in Europe are going through the roof. Is there a chance Thailand will stop all flights to Europe so we get stranded here in Thailand? 

I'm from Denmark. 

 

Not sure if to break off the vacation and take first flight home or if they will continue to fly people home, but not bring new tourists to Thailand 

 

Or am I overreacting? 

[miamiman123]

China????? Too little too late Kate 

what abt Iran USA uk? 
they are lost or the money talks the talk
 

[ThailandRyan]

24 minutes ago, Virt said:

In Thailand atm and not sure how to react after WHO now call it a pandemic and the numbers of infected in Europe are going through the roof. Is there a chance Thailand will stop all flights to Europe so we get stranded here in Thailand? 

I'm from Denmark. 

 

Not sure if to break off the vacation and take first flight home or if they will continue to fly people home, but not bring new tourists to Thailand 

 

Or am I overreacting? 

I believe this whole issue is overblown, eventually everyone will have had contact with the virus in one way or another.  There is no stopping the spread, containment is only done to ensure the rate of spread slows, but it does not keep it contained as people believe.  To say it best, as an old pharmacist who lives a few floors below me here in Lumpini said, "Its a very bad flu with a pneumonia component and it is most dangerous for older folks, those with underlying medical conditions, and the very young who do not have a grown immune system".  Her concern, as well as mine, is for the people who have heart issues, those needing medical assistance for major injuries, and the possible lack of help they would receive because the hospitals were over run by people who believed they had the virus, and who probably had colds or such, and because of the Pandemic would be seen before those needing true help.  Okay I will get off of my soapbox now..... 

Edited March 12, 2020 by ThailandRyan

[metisdead]

A Twitter post and the replies have been removed as this is not a Twitter site. 

[The Alien]

“Anupong said he would start the process immediately but it was not immediately clear when they will be effective.

A foreign ministry official said visa applicants will need to present medical certificates and insurance as part of the screening at Thai embassies”

When? When? When?  My friends are about to fly here from Switzerland on Friday. How could they obtain these documents by today? What if they have no clearance from Thai embassy when arrives on Saturday? Very confusing! 

[Pedrogaz]

Well I'm a happy man. I am sick of traveling....this year I get to take a year off....no more crappy airports, crappy planes and crappy service. Yippee.

By the way, Trump has cancelled all US-Europe travels or 30 days.

[justin case]

52 minutes ago, Pedrogaz said:

Well I'm a happy man. I am sick of traveling....this year I get to take a year off....no more crappy airports, crappy planes and crappy service. Yippee.

By the way, Trump has cancelled all US-Europe travels or 30 days.

good you are not FORCEFULLY have to leave the country every 90 days to be able to stay in Thailand and raise your child(ren)

[brianthainess]

First report; No VOA for 19 countries then from ANY country then, second report 18 countries, as usual all as clear as mud, from what I've gleaned  UK is not on the list yet. my daughter is coming soon so some clarity would be useful.

[ecoscape]

Thailand needs to tell italy and America its secret Covid prevention strategy. 800 + dead in Italy and yet Thailand has only 59 reported cases despite the vast numbers of Chinese visitors to Thailand in December and January. Or is this the most fatal con trick of all time? Unforgivable

[CH1961]

16 hours ago, cmarshall said:

Japan is known not to be testing in adequate numbers. 

Any source for this, or just a fairy tale? 

[CH1961]

1 minute ago, ecoscape said:

Thailand needs to tell italy and America its secret Covid prevention strategy. 

The virus do not like high temperatures????

[brianthainess]

18 hours ago, webfact said:

“People from any country who want to come will need to apply for a visa with our embassies,” Minister of Interior Anupong Paochinda told reporters.

does that mean on the list or as quoted ANY country nothing is clear as usual. if people are leaving to come to Thailand in a few days how will they have time to apply for a visa complete chaos as usual.

[brianthainess]

1 hour ago, The Alien said:

“Anupong said he would start the process immediately but it was not immediately clear when they will be effective.

A foreign ministry official said visa applicants will need to present medical certificates and insurance as part of the screening at Thai embassies”

When? When? When?  My friends are about to fly here from Switzerland on Friday. How could they obtain these documents by today? What if they have no clearance from Thai embassy when arrives on Saturday? Very confusing! 

Absolutely agree nothing is ever clear with this mob in charge!

[SupermarineS6B]

Krackers !  "A foreign ministry official said visa applicants will need to present medical certificates and insurance as part of the screening at Thai embassies".   Also bring their own NBC suit ......... Don't panic, don't panic........ Can you imagine all the little Hitlers at the borders now ?  "So you can't produce both grandparents then" ?     Giving even more licence to loons.......

[DrJack54]

6 minutes ago, brianthainess said:

Absolutely agree nothing is ever clear with this mob in charge!

I second that. And this is not Thai bashing. You can't make this stuff up. Talk about shooting from the hip. 

As an aside I wonder how airlines are reading this. They like to have very clear guidelines about anything that can cause passengers to be denied entry. 

These mug Thai officials are wanting a headline? Their photo in the Media?

There is a famous Aussie rules football coach who in a grand final said to his players. "DO something. Don't THINK..DO something"

Sadly that's how Thai officials act.

However one was a football game.

They should THINK rather than DO.

[johnarth]

the biggest back flip ever, first they letting people spread the virus now they trying to stop it from coming back

[dogfish180]

But I thought the hot wind blew it away! ????

[AlienHermit66]

18 hours ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

So much for wealthy Indians to save the tourist industry.

 

Why on earth is Iran not on the list?

 

Interesting that Japan is also not included.

Japan gets a bad rap because of the death ship that was anchored offshore. When the death ship numbers are excluded, which they should be, Japan's infection rate is about 5 people per million people. This is in contrast to Italy's rate of 206 people per million, and South Korea's rate of 151 people per million. Deaths are also extremely low in comparison to those of the "dangerous countries." Sadly, some media outlets like to combine the death ship cases and death ship deaths with Japan's numbers, which is not reasonable. If someone ships a crate of diseased monkeys to your country, and then the monkeys die, does that mean that your country has a dangerous environment for monkeys? 

[Hugh Jarse]

17 hours ago, gerogero7 said:

 

Look at the numbers, total cases per 1 million population as of March 11, 2020 (https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/) :

 

Italy: 167

S.Korea: 151

Switzerland: 58.7

Denmark: 58.7

China: 56.1

Spain: 36.3

Sweden: 35.2

Singapore: 28.4

France: 27.3

Germany: 18.7

HongKong: 16.1

 

UK: 5.6

Australia: 5.0

Japan: 4.6

 

It's already getting a lot safer to stay in Japan than other countries.

Where is Burma/Myanmar on the list of positive cases?

[AlienHermit66]

29 minutes ago, CH1961 said:

Any source for this, or just a fairy tale? 

I can't give you an official source, but I can tell you that I know and talk to two Japanese doctors personally, and they say that they are indeed doing very limited testing. They basically only test people that appear to be quite ill and/or ancient people. They have been told to not go crazy with testing, as testing people with mild symptoms of something will clog up the system. Also, it is not hard to find news stories that state that Japan is only testing a few hundred people per day, whereas other countries are testing thousands per day. I doubt that the journalists are just pulling these numbers out of the air. 

 

Japan is focusing on getting people to be careful and getting people to modify their behavior/habits, as a way to reduce spread, then if someone clearly comes down with something, they go to the hospital. Millions of people are staying at home and/or close to home in Japan without being forced to do so. It is obvious because of how empty the streets and trains are compared to normal. All kinds of places are closed: gyms, yoga studios, entertainment centers, regular schools, evening prep schools. 

[Eindhoven]

16 hours ago, Operator2002 said:

This is a confusing announcement: Russians did not have "Visa On Arrival" for the last ten years - they had visa exempt entrance for 30 days. 

Anybody can clear it up ?

 

That blunder is going to cost them and others dearly. Many Russians cancelled their trips because of the announcement.

[ianezy0]

36 minutes ago, brianthainess said:

does that mean on the list or as quoted ANY country nothing is clear as usual. if people are leaving to come to Thailand in a few days how will they have time to apply for a visa complete chaos as usual.

Wake up. Today it has been declared a pandemic. All countries are taking immediate action. Read the news not the forums.