Must Read Brits in Thailand wanting to return to UK should go NOW - expats urged to register with Embassy

[FigaroLucowski]

Liquor sales will tank when the Brits leave Thailand.

[Mung]

9 hours ago, clarky cat said:

Thailand is the lesser of two evils, better to stay and jump through the hoops

I disagree, the UK has now taken this virus very seriously in contrast to how it was handled at the start. New infections are decreasing here, and most people wear masks, social distance and are very cautious. When going to a supermarket, you are made to line up 2 metres apart with painted spots on the floor telling you where to stand, and it's '1 in 1 out' as well as limit on how many items of the same product you can buy. 

Also here I feel the facilities are better suited and setup for this pandemic, not to mention not having to pay for medical care without insurance. Furthermore the UK is testing around 10k people a day, and soon there will be 250million tests that will be sent to homes free of charge. We are also running several trials on medications at present to see what is most functional for treating COVID. 

I also would rather be in the UK when and if things turn sour socially speaking, after weeks or months of lockdown. The cooler months later in the year are Thailands flu season, which if the hot climate theory is correct, may have some spikes in infection cases in certain areas. If Thailand had the UKS climate, the nation would be ravaged by now in the way it has handled this virus form January up until now. 

[johng]

12 minutes ago, FigaroLucowski said:

Liquor sales will tank when the Brits leave Thailand.

No I think the Thai's  will keep those 2-3 rich families distilleries  going for a while ????????

[herwin1234]

 

13 minutes ago, Mung said:

I disagree, the UK has now taken this virus very seriously in contrast to how it was handled at the start. New infections are decreasing here, and most people wear masks, social distance and are very cautious. When going to a supermarket, you are made to line up 2 metres apart with painted spots on the floor telling you where to stand, and it's '1 in 1 out' as well as limit on how many items of the same product you can buy. 

Also here I feel the facilities are better suited and setup for this pandemic, not to mention not having to pay for medical care without insurance. Furthermore the UK is testing around 10k people a day, and soon there will be 250million tests that will be sent to homes free of charge. We are also running several trials on medications at present to see what is most functional for treating COVID. 

I also would rather be in the UK when and if things turn sour socially speaking, after weeks or months of lockdown. The cooler months later in the year are Thailands flu season, which if the hot climate theory is correct, may have some spikes in infection cases in certain areas. If Thailand had the UKS climate, the nation would be ravaged by now in the way it has handled this virus form January up until now. 

 so you are saying its bc of "the climate" and not bc of the efforts of Thai officials Thai medical personal and ordinary Thai who massively support wearing a mask washing yr hands and staying at home, that this nation isnt "ravaged" yet.

Thats a bit unfair, to dismiss all these efforts as "useless" and not give credit to these efforts and ppl. 

[NightSky]

I would go back although I have Thai wife to think about, so I have to remain here..

 

I suppose others are in the same situation. Its not all bad here though we have food, shelter etc..

 

Its just the immigration gauntlet we both have to run and my wife has underlying conditions that make that a risk to her life.

Edited April 2, 2020 by NightSky

[Mung]

1 hour ago, herwin1234 said:

 

 so you are saying its bc of "the climate" and not bc of the efforts of Thai officials Thai medical personal and ordinary Thai who massively support wearing a mask washing yr hands and staying at home, that this nation isnt "ravaged" yet.

Thats a bit unfair, to dismiss all these efforts as "useless" and not give credit to these efforts and ppl. 

Letting in 80,000 tourists from Wuhan throughout January and February was wise? Not screening people for weeks and weeks, not testing anywhere near enough people daily, not closing schools or events up until some days ago, yet more wisdom. Thais for the most part only started wearing masks in the last 2 weeks. When I was still there me and my girlfriend were pretty much the only people wearing masks around HH, and that was into early February. Far too little far too late. It's obvious to see that hotter weather does slow down the virus, it doesn't totally stop infection but it slows it down. This can be seen across every hotter country out there. If Thailand was testing 10,000 people a day then the daily infections would be above 800-1,000, but they are nowhere going to be at levels seen in colder countries. Thailand has gotten extremely lucky on it's bold and risky approach by letting in hundreds of thousands of tourists from China across 2 months. 

[Nigel Garvie]

1 hour ago, Mung said:

Letting in 80,000 tourists from Wuhan throughout January and February was wise? Not screening people for weeks and weeks, not testing anywhere near enough people daily, not closing schools or events up until some days ago, yet more wisdom. Thais for the most part only started wearing masks in the last 2 weeks. When I was still there me and my girlfriend were pretty much the only people wearing masks around HH, and that was into early February. Far too little far too late. It's obvious to see that hotter weather does slow down the virus, it doesn't totally stop infection but it slows it down. This can be seen across every hotter country out there. If Thailand was testing 10,000 people a day then the daily infections would be above 800-1,000, but they are nowhere going to be at levels seen in colder countries. Thailand has gotten extremely lucky on it's bold and risky approach by letting in hundreds of thousands of tourists from China across 2 months. 

I agree that Thailand has not handled this wisely, and certain people appear to have been purchased outright with ren min B, as is the case in Myanmar and Cambodia, however the UK where I get regular reports from, are no shining lights. Firstly we reject being part of the EU protective gear initiative because we put our twisted Brexit ideology before human lives, then we haven't got enough equipment to provide our front line NHS staff with tests. A sickening inditement of a useless government. One should not wish it, but if Dominic Cummings were taken out by this virus it would be poetic justice supreme.

 

Thailand has gotten extremely lucky on it's bold and risky approach by letting in hundreds of thousands of tourists from China across 2 months. ...This luck won't last IMO, the lull before the storm is my guess.

[Nigel Garvie]

4 hours ago, Grundy1927 said:

Try booking those fares they dont exist 

For many from England, you can fly direct from Heathrow, and other European airlines are therefore not a sensible option. However if you have to make a connecting flight first, KLM are hard to beat, cheap as well. Right away they offered me the choice of a full refund, a changed flight soonish, or a replacement flight anytime up till the end of September, with no change fee.

[bestie]

5 hours ago, Grundy1927 said:

 

 If i was German id go home due to the way there tackling Corona  

 

 

Often time I read that Germans are handling this situation better then other countries. Well, yes we have a very good health care system BUT we have also up to 6000 new infections every day. The reason why you see a low mortality rate In Germany is because many young people were first infected other then in Italy so our hospitals hasn't been overrun because it was more mild cases. But now the older ones become infected and many young people don't really care until they get forced to.  There is nothing special on how Germany is handling this situation better in any way then other countries ,yes we are testing more. But we are far away to get this situation under control right now.

[Mung]

2 hours ago, bestie said:

Often time I read that Germans are handling this situation better then other countries. Well, yes we have a very good health care system BUT we have also up to 6000 new infections every day. The reason why you see a low mortality rate In Germany is because many young people were first infected other then in Italy so our hospitals hasn't been overrun because it was more mild cases. But now the older ones become infected and many young people don't really care until they get forced to.  There is nothing special on how Germany is handling this situation better in any way then other countries ,yes we are testing more. But we are far away to get this situation under control right now.

you guys have 81,000 cases confirmed, yet only 990 or so deaths, with 19,000 recoveries. In the UK for some reason, we only have 170 recoveries! I am still baffled as to why this is so low. It might be due to the criteria needed to be seen as 'recovered'.. It's stupidly low though. The image relates to the UK and states 135, but I think it's 170 something 
 

Edited April 2, 2020 by Mung

[Ketyo]

So...

 

Stay in Thailand run by an uneducated moron who is scared of foreigners and hates them or...

 

Return to the UK where they were late, underprepared and overconfident

 

And run by a fruitcake who doesn't listen to experts (Cummings) and a student of Ancient Greek literature (Boris)... and now have over 500 deaths every day....

 

Hmmm... where is the leadership?

 

My guess is that after this crisis the people will get rid of populist idiots in charge 

[bahtty]

10 hours ago, Steve Vincent said:

What’s the point “ followed instructions blah blah blah 

received email from embassy as follows !
 

British Nationals in Phuket: spaces available on Swiss charter flight to Zurich

WK 2051. Departure: 23:35 on April 2^nd (Thai time). Estimated time of arrival in Zurich: April 3^rdat 07:40 (Swiss time).

You will need to meet the cost of this flight yourself. You do not need to pay before you travel. You will have to sign a commitment to pay before you board. The cost of the flight will be based on a normal price for a ticket and charged at a later stage after the flight.

You must also organise your own flight from Zurich to UK. You do not need to do this before you travel but you must remain in transit in Zurich until you organise one. There are several options for onward travel to London and Manchester. 

To register for this flight, please send this information to [email protected]  

1. Family name, first name(s)

2. Date of birth 

3. Passport number 

4. Validity date of the passport 

5. A phone number and email address where you can be reached at any time

Once registered the Embassy of Switzerland will send you confirmation and detailed information, plus a pass so you can get to the airport. Given the curfew in Phuket, you will need to be there before 20:00 on 2 April.

More information on the Embassy of Switzerland website:www.eda.admin.ch/bangkok

 

impossible get from ubon to Phuket by 20.00 hrs - will play it by ear until can get a flight from ubon to Bangkok. GL if your trying get back to the u.k  

 

Im in Bangkok, no real plan to return to the UK, I believe seeing this out here is better. Its an opinion, Ive read plenty on this thread disagreeing, and thats perfectly fine, everyone is in a different situation, its not a one size fits all scenario here.

 

However, I decided to email the UK Government on the 30th March, I didnt even get a reply. No great surprise.

[bestie]

8 hours ago, Mung said:

you guys have 81,000 cases confirmed, yet only 990 or so deaths, with 19,000 recoveries. In the UK for some reason, we only have 170 recoveries! I am still baffled as to why this is so low. It might be due to the criteria needed to be seen as 'recovered'.. It's stupidly low though. The image relates to the UK and states 135, but I think it's 170 something 
 

 

I don't want to capture this thread and start a discussion about it. To make it short we believe that the virus came into Germany when many young , healthy and fit Germans were making ski holidays in "Ischgl" Austria.  It's a party area for young people like Mallorca. It's "right under" Munich. They spread it between them and infect many other young people. And possible they don't even know that they had it or had very mild cases. As we realized it we closed all foster and retirement homes to protect the older generation. It makes a huge difference in death if from 100k people are more of them young or old people. As an example the virus came into a few foster homes in Germany and from 56 people who became infected 22 of them died in a few days. Yes we can maybe help more people longer because of our health care system but the most important part is to protect the older generation. And believe me the younger generation , most of them like in any other country, don't take it very serious, they think it will be over in a few weeks. Yes maybe it is when we force them to stay home. So wherever you are stay save and wish you all the best. 

Edited April 3, 2020 by bestie

[Sonyboy]

Will the part about expats registering be the same as it was quite some time ago now,when they said all ex pats should register,I tried for a few months and the online form they put up wouldn't work,or had an excuse for not taking information at that time.

[Mung]

14 hours ago, bahtty said:

Im in Bangkok, no real plan to return to the UK, I believe seeing this out here is better. Its an opinion, Ive read plenty on this thread disagreeing, and thats perfectly fine, everyone is in a different situation, its not a one size fits all scenario here.

 

However, I decided to email the UK Government on the 30th March, I didnt even get a reply. No great surprise.

I emailed them back in January, twice, and didn't receive a single reply. I would give them a call if I were you, that is if you still need to contact them 

[Elreeco]

On 4/2/2020 at 5:23 AM, Liverpoolfan said:

oh great, so I will be stuck in Frankfurt for god knows how long whilst the whole of Europe is on lockdown.

Use your noggin mate.

They bombed our chippie don't forget.....

[rickudon]

Stay or go? A bit like choosing between the devil and the deep blue sea. Obviously if here for just a holiday you should go if you can; but i would say why were you here knowing about the Coronavirus situation before you left. Getting back is no longer easy.

 

I live here, but usually go back to the UK once or twice a year. I was about to book a ticket in late January but was getting concerned about the virus then - and once the Chinese lockdown happened decided not to go in May. Quick bit of research told me the world would be deep into a pandemic by April, no ifs, no buts. Obviously hasn't quite developed as i expected but on a similar trajectory. Started stocking up in Early February and advised family members in UK to do so as well - so no last minute panic buying at Sainsbury's necessary for them 2 weeks ago.

 

Should i have returned to UK? Only plus really is the NHS and free treatment. I didn't want to return in winter, last time i did that caught a bad cold which lasted 3 weeks, wrecked my stay.

I usually stay with my brother, who is 70 - I am sure he would love me quarantining myself in his house for 2 weeks ....... And i have a wife and child here in Thailand, if i left who knows how long before you can return.

 

The UK has, of course, like the USA totally screwed this up. They should have gone into top gear 2 months ago, not 2 weeks. To late now for those new ventilators, masks and protective equipment. The NHS has already or will run out of everything within a week. The film 'A bridge too far' comes to mind. Predictions i saw in January did reckon that health systems around the world would be overwhelmed in April - that still looks likely, but might take until May. And i doubt that any of these European lockdowns will achieve control before July - what state the world by then?

 

Fortunately do not need any more interaction with Immigration before July and have enough cash to last until then as well. Did try to get Coronavirus insurance - 3 times. Each time they said, Yes, but we need to get back to you, Of course they never did.

 

Oh well, suffocate in the heat or rely on a good triage decision in the UK. Neither looks wonderful.