Quarantine could be reduced to SEVEN days if STV plans successful: Tourism Minister

[webfact]

Quarantine could be reduced to SEVEN days if STV plans successful: Tourism Minister

 

Picture: Bangkok Biz News

 

Thailand's embattled tourism minister Pipat Ratchakitprakarn has come out all guns blazing with plans to open the country once again to foreign tourism. 

 

He now expects tourists to flood into the kingdom in their thousands PER DAY and spark an economic revival. 

 

And crucially he has said that if the first tentative steps to open the country prove successful next month then come November he is proposing to the government that 14 day quarantine comes down to just SEVEN days. 

 

Pipat expects the Special Tourist Visa details to be ironed out next Tuesday. He expects the first batch of 300 tourists to arrive on Thursday October 1st and go into 14 day state quarantine, reported Bangkok Biz News.

 

This upbeat claim came as TAT governor Yutthasak Suphasorn told other media that October 1st as a start for STV was unlikely to happen, notes Thaivisa. 

 

Pipat said during a roadshow organised by the Tourism Council that if the first two batches of 300 foreign tourists per week don't have Covid-19 after testing then he will be pressing ahead with his "step by step" plan to get more and more tourists in. 

 

"Three hundred a week is clearly not enough to make a big difference nationwide", Pipat condeded. He said this needed to be expanded to as many as the health authorities can handle.

 

The media reported that tourism ministry work with the relevant authorities in Phuket indicated the number could soon be 1,000 tourists a day.

 

And if that works seamlessly it could then be expanded to 3,000 a day. 

 

The media made absolutely no attempt to explain where all these people would come from, notes Thaivisa, as online ridicule continued to flood forums bearing in mind the huge expense and onerous paperwork needed to visit Thailand under the STV plan. 

 

Pipat continued that work was being done with private hospitals to ramp up testing capacity for foreigners at alternative state quarantine and alternative local state quarantine facilities. 

 

He thought that should all go to plan he would be in a position to approach the cabinet by the middle or end of November with proposals to test foreigners twice in seven days and limit quarantine to just 7 days from 14. 

 

Then tourists would be given the freedom to visit wherever they wanted in the country.

 

He continued his upbeat message by saying that he wanted to "turn the crisis into an opportunity" and help lead Thailand's economic recovery from the pandemic.

 

Source: Bangkok Biz News

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2020-09-25

 

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[KhunKenAP]

Dream On. Another name added to Prayut's brain dead gang. 

[Shuya]

They still think lowering one odd hurdle out of many will have the tourists come running back for the privilege to spend their money here. 

[Eibot]

Why don't you let tourist already here be able to buy an extension inside the country?

 

Furthermore what's the point of quarantine if you do it for 7 days. We already know due the the incubation time you need at least 14 days. You might aswell not quarantine since it will spread guaranteed within a 7 day window. 

[pkrv]

One again critical thinking, consistency, and realism seems to have passed by those in power here ????

[Justgrazing]

36 minutes ago, webfact said:

He expects the first batch of 300 tourists to arrive on Thursday October 1st and go into 14 day state quarantine

Eh .! Did I not read somewhere the skies are still closed next mth and Oct 1st is next week .. hows that gonna work .. and are these like confirmed to arrive .. 

[madmitch]

And another bright idea from the billionaire tourism minister, that same man who said it'd all be over by Songkran this year.

[Flying Saucage]

The government and the elite are not unified in their approach to handle the current crisis. Some of them lose a lot of money by keeping the borders closed and would like the country to reopen, others insist to keep it closed for political reasons and their own agenda, and for the later benefit of their generously bribe-paying Chinese friends.

 

It seems that Pipat and the TAT are at least trying to easy the situation. But their power to do so is very limited. It is Prayut and Prawit and likely some other more powerful people who block any attempt to reopen the borders. Soon their mouthpieces Yong and Thira of Chula University will announce again how dangerous and contagious we foreigners are, and this idea of Pipat will be buried. 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

44 minutes ago, webfact said:

And crucially he has said that if the first tentative steps to open the country prove successful next month then come November he is proposing to the government that 14 day quarantine comes down to just SEVEN days. 

 

Never mind that lately, it seems like most or many of the Thai returnees who've been testing positive for CV in state quarantine facilities have been doing so anywhere from 10 to 14 days or so after their arrival in country.

 

[Genmai]

47 minutes ago, webfact said:

Thailand's embattled tourism minister Pipat Ratchakitprakarn has come out all guns blazing with plans to open the country once again to foreign tourism. 

 

47 minutes ago, webfact said:

TAT governor Yutthasak Suphasorn told other media that October 1st as a start for STV was unlikely to happen

 

When different departments have trouble communicating that's one thing..... 

 

But how in the hell is it that two individuals at the top of one single department can't be on the same page about an issue? Do these people not speak to each other or what?

[Phuketshrew]

Meanwhile 1.000's of foreigners are preparing to leave next week as they cannot get permission to stay ...

[JusticeGB]

I once asked a lawyer why he brought so many files to a meeting on quite a simple case. He said he could charge more if it appeared that he had done a lot of work on it. The Minister of Tourism seems to think that a new plan a day shows that he is effective at his job.

[AndrewMciver]

What about all those that are being caught positive at day 13 

[Mavideol]

52 minutes ago, Eibot said:

Why don't you let tourist already here be able to buy an extension inside the country?

that just shows how "smart" and good business people they are. When all of that virus close the country started, there were around 500 K foreigners in Thailand, these people could have spend lots of money while they were stuck here, but not good enough for Thailand, they kept forcing them out by complicating their stay options, making people felt bad and not wanted here, the majority left but it appears there are still around 150 K here, these 150 K could stay and spend money, I know some of them who have been spending money at some local restaurants thus helping locals business, unfortunately, again, not good enough by Thailand business standards, they came up with a way of sending them away because visa amnesty will be cancelled, these 150 K, currently in Thailand, would keep spending money and no trouble for Thai virus worry as they are/have been in the country thus virus free,  instead TAT prefers to bring in 300 people a week (1,200 month)  to help business, does it make sense ?  it shows how smart they are

[AbeNormal]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

And crucially he has said that if the first tentative steps to open the country prove successful next month then come November he is proposing to the government that 14 day quarantine comes down to just SEVEN days. 

and he concluded this using his extensive medical credentials 

 

where exactly are these claimed thousands of tourists coming from ?

 

delusional nonsense

[AbeNormal]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

Pipat said during a roadshow organised by the Tourism Council that if the first two batches of 300 foreign tourists

these will not be "foreign tourists" they will be people with family, homes and business connections who have been stranded outside Thailand for months and want to come back, they are a one off

[CHdiver]

1 hour ago, Eibot said:

Why don't you let tourist already here be able to buy an extension inside the country?

AFAIK, with Agents you could buy a Voluntier Visa, also Education Visa could be had. Not cheap, but not expensive either imho. If somebody could not afford one of these, he probably would not contribute much to the economy anyway. 

[AbeNormal]

44 minutes ago, Flying Saucage said:

and this idea of Pipat will be buried. 

it's a load of pippat pabber jibber jabber

[rupert the bear]

i got it i got it,we cut it to 7 days and double the price of the quarantine hotels,ahhh yu thought youd cheat us didnt you .well we are far too smart for dat.get your money out your dirty foreign swine and you gotta pay.like you know you should and stop whining and bleating as we know and so do you theres millions out der just banging the doors down and also theres loads with businesses and familys that have gotta come back so we got you right there by the short and curlies,you pay money now

[stouricks]

Would it then be called SEPTINE?

[Chivas]

32 minutes ago, Phuketshrew said:

Meanwhile 1.000's of foreigners are preparing to leave next week as they cannot get permission to stay ...

Different arguement in entirety. In addition I hope they aren't leaving next week as the overstay will have already kicked in

TV readers with a decent memory will recall the articles here at outset of the amnesty that warned that when it was eventually terminated (tomorrow) those not leaving prior to that date would find the overstay was backdated to day 1

I'm amazed more haven't recalled it albeit many did here on couple threads last week

[smylee52]

You can sell the 14 day quarantine as smart and following the science . The prepaid 90 day is just taking the <deleted> and should be forgotten as the embarassment that it is . 

Nothing worse than a government dealing with a crisis because it clearly exposes the fact that not many competent people actually run for office . 

 

[YetAnother]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

he is proposing to the government that 14 day quarantine comes down to just SEVEN days. 

Single digit IQ

[JTXR]

Reduce the quarantine from 14 to 7 days?  So, the basic biology of the virus has changed, then? 

 

Does the Ministry of Tourism not communicate with the Ministry of Health?

[CapeTown]

1 hour ago, Flying Saucage said:

The government and the elite are not unified in their approach to handle the current crisis. Some of them lose a lot of money by keeping the borders closed and would like the country to reopen, others insist to keep it closed for political reasons and their own agenda, and for the later benefit of their generously bribe-paying Chinese friends.

 

It seems that Pipat and the TAT are at least trying to easy the situation. But their power to do so is very limited. It is Prayut and Prawit and likely some other more powerful people who block any attempt to reopen the borders. Soon their mouthpieces Yong and Thira of Chula University will announce again how dangerous and contagious we foreigners are, and this idea of Pipat will be buried. 

 

Do you know what, the borders are closed to save the health of the nation. The leadership do not want covid ripping through the people like in Indonesia next door.

They've made it this far and maybe this stance will change if the cavalry aren't in sight by year-end.

Otherwise, I'm expecting ultra-prudent evolution simply to keep the hoteliers in the cabinet quiet.

[LoS itaint]

1 hour ago, Justgrazing said:

Eh .! Did I not read somewhere the skies are still closed next mth and Oct 1st is next week .. hows that gonna work .. and are these like confirmed to arrive .. 

Its actually 15 days quarantine for the STVisa..I have a friend due to arrive Oct 02, chose to pay 88,000thb for his 2 weeks quarantine! but not on the STVisa, he is married to a Thai & has a work permit

[Guderian]

Does this guy have some sort of cognitive disability? What he seems to be saying is that if our tried-and-tested quarantine procedures are effective, then we'll bin them and start taking short cuts instead. Either it's a poor translation or else he's feeble-minded.

[androokery]

1 hour ago, AndrewMciver said:

What about all those that are being caught positive at day 13 

That’s when they do the second test. There are no daily tests in quarantine. They find cases at the beginning or end of quarantine. 

[RichardColeman]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

he is proposing to the government that 14 day quarantine comes down to just SEVEN days. 

Pretty sure there was some Thai 'super virologist' on here the other day claiming that someone had a 19 day issue and 14 was not enough. Now along comes the TAT with absolutely no knowledge on virology and declared 7 days ! Seems like the tail is wagging the dog ! again

[Naturesway]

2 hours ago, Eibot said:

Why don't you let tourist already here be able to buy an extension inside the country?

 

Furthermore what's the point of quarantine if you do it for 7 days. We already know due the the incubation time you need at least 14 days. You might aswell not quarantine since it will spread guaranteed within a 7 day window. 

The reason is only the money they want badly putting aside common sense, brain and logic and people’s life.