CCSA panel approves 10-day quarantine

[webfact]

CCSA panel approves 10-day quarantine

By The Nation

 

File photo: Photo credit: freepik

 

A subcommittee of the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) on Thursday approved reducing quarantine to 10 days for foreign tourists from countries with the same or slightly higher contagion risk as Thailand.

 

Travellers from high-risk countries will still be subject to quarantine for 14 days, said Public Health Permanent Secretary Dr Kiattiphum Wongrajit, after chairing the health subcommittee. The panel believes cutting the quarantine period will attract more tourists to Thailand.

 

The move came after a medical trial found that 10-day and 14-day quarantines had the same result.

 

“Reducing quarantine to 10 days only slightly increases risk of infections, from 0.3 people per 1 million in 14-day quarantine to 1.5 per million in 10-day quarantine,” said Kiattiphum.

 

He added that if the usual 30 million people entered Thailand each year, around 300 asymptomatic Covid-19 cases might slip through the 10-day quarantine but wristband trackers and health system readiness would help trace them for treatment.

 

“After 10 days, it should be possible for tourists to travel to at least 10 provinces where disease prevention measures [are in place], including Chonburi, Phuket, Rayong, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Buriram and Surat Thani,” he added.

 

Health panel will now send its report and recommendation to the CCSA committee chaired by the prime minister for approval.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30397415

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2020-11-06

 

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[greenhornfarang]

Still 10 days too many, even with 0 days they will not see regular tourism numbers for the next decade.

[Kadilo]

If you’re not wanting 14 days quarantine, you’re not wanting 10 days. Makes sod all difference to anyone contemplating a holiday which would be typically 2-3 weeks. 
Think again. 

[ukrules]

42 minutes ago, webfact said:

Health panel will now send its report and recommendation to the CCSA committee chaired by the prime minister for approval.

 

Don't hold your breath waiting for that approval!

[Thaiwrath]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

The move came after a medical trial found that 10-day and 14-day quarantines had the same result.

 

“Reducing quarantine to 10 days only slightly increases risk of infections,

 

If there is any increase whatsoever, even a slight increase, as mentioned above, it isn't the same <deleted> result !

The word I was taught at school was "similar".

 

[pokerface1]

I doubt it will be approved the WHO recommends 14 days minimum so stick with that till a vaccine is available. Safely first it’s only the desperate people wanting it reduced to 10 days or less.

[nobodysfriend]

It is perfectly understandable that some people who want to come would like to avoid quarantine at all .

It is a difficult decision for Thailand .

By opening the country ( even with 14 day quarantine ) to tourists from countries that can be considered as ' not safe ' ( Europe , America , India etc ) , they make a gamble ... because if that opening will , in the long term , cause a resurgence of the virus in Thailand , and the number of infected Thais rises , ( the european and american strain of the Corona virus is much more contagious ) , Thailand's reputation as a ' safe ' destination for travelers would be definitely ruined . No more tourists at all in this case .

Everybody would be a loser .

Will the amount of tourists coming to Thailand with even a reduced quarantine time in place , be enough to save the tourist industry from collapsing ?

I doubt that . Many hotels , resorts etc will stay closed anyway .

Sorry , but considering the potential risk Thailand will take  by opening the borders , it would be better to wait for a working vaccine ...

But , here , same nearly everywhere else , money talks .

And the others just shut up .

 

[Geoffggi]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

A subcommittee of the Centre Chinese Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) on Thursday approved reducing quarantine to 10 days for foreign tourists from countries with the same or slightly higher contagion risk as Thailand.

I wonder who other than the Chinese will qualify and will they be wearing tracking devices ...............LOL

[Thaiophil]

This change is clearly aimed at STV long stayers who can renew up to 9 months or so.

 

It’s probably also leading to travel bubbles. According to the Bkk Post, they are trying to get a bubble with China before Chinese NY

[Guderian]

Stupidity, it won't make any difference to tourist numbers but shows that the Thai doctors and scientists on this committee can be bought-off or pressured into making silly recommendations and then, just like with the doctors and scientists on SAGE in the UK, ordinary people will start regarding them with the same contempt they feel for politicians.

 

 

[khunjeff]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

“Reducing quarantine to 10 days only slightly increases risk of infections, from 0.3 people per 1 million in 14-day quarantine to 1.5 per million in 10-day quarantine,” said Kiattiphum.

That looks like a 400% increase to me.

 

6 hours ago, webfact said:

He added that if the usual 30 million people entered Thailand each year, around 300 asymptomatic Covid-19 cases might slip through the 10-day quarantine but wristband trackers and health system readiness would help trace them for treatment.

How would wristbands help find asymptomatic cases? By definition, neither they nor those around them would know they're infected without a positive test. (And if they're asymptomatic, they don't need treatment, only isolation.)

 

6 hours ago, webfact said:

“After 10 days, it should be possible for tourists to travel to at least 10 provinces where disease prevention measures [are in place], including Chonburi, Phuket, Rayong, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Buriram and Surat Thani,” he added.

Prevention measures aren't in place in other provinces? Isn't that what the emergency decree was supposed to accomplish? But at least Buriram is on the list, so at least one Minister will be happy. 

[Billy Bloggs]

As it said it would only be low contagion countrys, there arent many but there are a few, but hey why not just talk about the UK and US, why because you have even less sense than the thais you belittle.

[Sydebolle]

30 million visitors - what weed is smoked in that office? 

[NorthernRyland]

They started to entertain ideas that minimize the impact of COVID and reduce restrictions. They must be getting desperate.

 

The new visa they expect tourists to have has other heavy burdens however, which the average holiday goer will probably not accept. The insurance and charter flights cost how much now?

[rupert the bear]

firstly which are these countries?what is the cut off level fig?is it deaths or cases per mill of pop?that changes.ifeel it makes little difference as a covid test is needed to get in,so if you have a pcr pass you can come in no matter where u r from.

[Stevemercer]

Some international tourist destinations now have 5 days quarantine. 

[Caldera]

Those "bla bla per million" figures are all very theoretical. The very first tourist who will come in and somehow infect Thais surely will cause quite a storm, either way.

[Scouse123]

3 hours ago, nobodysfriend said:

It is perfectly understandable that some people who want to come would like to avoid quarantine at all .

It is a difficult decision for Thailand .

By opening the country ( even with 14 day quarantine ) to tourists from countries that can be considered as ' not safe ' ( Europe , America , India etc ) , they make a gamble ... because if that opening will , in the long term , cause a resurgence of the virus in Thailand , and the number of infected Thais rises , ( the european and american strain of the Corona virus is much more contagious ) , Thailand's reputation as a ' safe ' destination for travelers would be definitely ruined . No more tourists at all in this case .

Everybody would be a loser .

Will the amount of tourists coming to Thailand with even a reduced quarantine time in place , be enough to save the tourist industry from collapsing ?

I doubt that . Many hotels , resorts etc will stay closed anyway .

Sorry , but considering the potential risk Thailand will take  by opening the borders , it would be better to wait for a working vaccine ...

But , here , same nearly everywhere else , money talks .

And the others just shut up .

 

 

 

And a vaccine could be years away.

 

Meanwhile, you are saying millions and millions back in poverty and the tourism industry collapse is preferable? You should be on the panel with the other dreamers at the CCSA.

 

Nero fiddled, whilst Rome burned.

[nobodysfriend]

1 minute ago, Scouse123 said:

 

 

And a vaccine could be years away.

 

Meanwhile, you are saying millions and millions back in poverty and the tourism industry collapse is preferable? You should be on the panel with the other dreamers at the CCSA.

 

Nero fiddled, whilst Rome burned.

And you think that letting just a few tourists in will save the whole industry ?

[Scouse123]

2 hours ago, Thaiophil said:

This change is clearly aimed at STV long stayers who can renew up to 9 months or so.

 

It’s probably also leading to travel bubbles. According to the Bkk Post, they are trying to get a bubble with China before Chinese NY

 

 

Problem with that is the Chinese are actively offering promotions and encouraging their citizens to holiday at home and not go abroad.

 

China always looks after Chin's interests first and to hell with everybody else. Makes no difference that the virus started there with their filthy eating habits.

[nobodysfriend]

5 minutes ago, Scouse123 said:

 

 

And a vaccine could be years away.

 

Meanwhile, you are saying millions and millions back in poverty and the tourism industry collapse is preferable? You should be on the panel with the other dreamers at the CCSA.

 

Nero fiddled, whilst Rome burned.

 You do not seem to understand that opening the country to potentially infected tourists from Europe or the US or India , is a risk that is not worth taking .

Do you think that tourism will be back to the 40 million from 2019 ?

The unrealistic dreamer is YOU .

[Scouse123]

1 minute ago, nobodysfriend said:

And you think that letting just a few tourists in will save the whole industry ?

 

I think it definitely will not. My vote is to learn to live with the virus.

 

A Covid19 test before leaving your country, a 15 minute test at arrival airport.( recently rolled out at many international airports) Insurance to cover your trip, warnings and practice social distancing and open the airports.

 

They are crowing about 40 tourists here, and 1,000 tourists there in ASQ hotels and STV holders. etc.

 

Why the hell they haven't already organized a travel bubble with Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam instead of prattling on constantly about China is beyond me. Plenty of wealthy people in the aforementioned countries and low risk covid 19 countries to boot. What the hell is wrong with them.

 

Last year at this time arrivals were 110,000 a day.

[roxnadz]

6 minutes ago, nobodysfriend said:

And you think that letting just a few tourists in will save the whole industry ?

They need to let all the tourists who can show they don't have COVID in.

[NorthernRyland]

23 minutes ago, Stevemercer said:

Some international tourist destinations now have 5 days quarantine. 

Costa Rica has no quarantine. I was thinking of going there although I've never been.

[Scouse123]

1 minute ago, nobodysfriend said:

 You do not seem to understand that opening the country to potentially infected tourists from Europe or the US or India , is a risk that is not worth taking .

Do you think that tourism will be back to the 40 million from 2019 ?

The unrealistic dreamer is YOU .

I think no chance whatsoever of achieving those figures but you advocating extreme poverty and 25% loss of GDP according to latest international figures is better?

 

This is going to lead to robberies, riots and civil unrest and it's going to get worse.

 

Ridiculous to say a risk not worth taking.

[Scouse123]

The DREAM here is leaders of a country that think the world will follow their rules. They won't!

 

Thailand is not the be all and end all by any stretch of the imagination. Open the doors tomorrow and you still will not have anywhere near previous tourist figures.

 

The country is being led by clowns whose authority as soldiers couldn't be questioned and now they are trying to do this with the public and it will not wash, and because they are not politicians. They sIt in a room nodding and agreeing with Prayut, ( obsequious unqualified apes) because nobody has any balls to tell him straight.

 

Until the country is on the verge of collapse, nothing will change.

 

You CANNOT have a tourist industry and a risk free covid19 environment, it's impractical and impossible.

[nobodysfriend]

2 minutes ago, Scouse123 said:

Ridiculous to say a risk not worth taking.

It depends on your point of view .

If there is a risk to take , ( and even you will admit that opening the country is not risk free ? ) , then it depends on the relation between the risk ( what might happen in the worst case ) and the benefit of taking it .

I think we can agree that tourists in 2021 will not outnumber the ones of 2019 , right ?

So , much less tourists to be expected , that means much less income , and , as I said before , many tourist related businesses will just stay closed anyway .

No way to get back to the pre-Covid levels in the foreseeable future .

So , the potential gain from opening the borders is much less anyway , but the risk of it is growing exponentially just as the virus cases in Europe .

Imagine what happens if there is a serious outbreak of the virus in Thailand ?

All tourism related businesses would definitely suffer even more than now .

[Scouse123]

5 minutes ago, nobodysfriend said:

It depends on your point of view .

If there is a risk to take , ( and even you will admit that opening the country is not risk free ? ) , then it depends on the relation between the risk ( what might happen in the worst case ) and the benefit of taking it .

I think we can agree that tourists in 2021 will not outnumber the ones of 2019 , right ?

So , much less tourists to be expected , that means much less income , and , as I said before , many tourist related businesses will just stay closed anyway .

No way to get back to the pre-Covid levels in the foreseeable future .

So , the potential gain from opening the borders is much less anyway , but the risk of it is growing exponentially just as the virus cases in Europe .

Imagine what happens if there is a serious outbreak of the virus in Thailand ?

All tourism related businesses would definitely suffer even more than now .

 

 

Agree with a lot of your points except the very last one.

 

I think it will take some doing to make it even more difficult on local bushiness in the hospitality trade, but we will just have to wait and see what silly ideas the CCSA come up with next.

 

Normal tourists are not going to stand for 14 day quarantine or 10 day quarantine to matter how much the CCSA flower the package up.

[ukrules]

7 minutes ago, nobodysfriend said:

All tourism related businesses would definitely suffer even more than now

 

I doubt that, it's already at zero tourism now.

 

There's a new 'mink variant' of COVID which may well turn out to be the trigger for all recent lockdown activity by European governments in the last couple of weeks....it is thought that any vaccines won't work for this variant due to multiple changes on the spike which the target of the vaccine.

 

The only way it could get much worse would be if all the foreigners who live here did a mass exodus - I'm including the Cambodian, Burmese and Laos migrant workers in this.

 

[roxnadz]

10 minutes ago, nobodysfriend said:

It depends on your point of view .

If there is a risk to take , ( and even you will admit that opening the country is not risk free ? ) , then it depends on the relation between the risk ( what might happen in the worst case ) and the benefit of taking it .

I think we can agree that tourists in 2021 will not outnumber the ones of 2019 , right ?

So , much less tourists to be expected , that means much less income , and , as I said before , many tourist related businesses will just stay closed anyway .

No way to get back to the pre-Covid levels in the foreseeable future .

So , the potential gain from opening the borders is much less anyway , but the risk of it is growing exponentially just as the virus cases in Europe .

Imagine what happens if there is a serious outbreak of the virus in Thailand ?

All tourism related businesses would definitely suffer even more than now .

 

There was already a serious outbreak, which caused them to lock the country down. Many infected Chinese sailed into the country in the early days of the pandemic, and nobody cared. Nobody wore masks, nobody socially distanced. What makes you think it's going to be the same now? Of course it won't get back to pre-COVID levels, but it'll be significantly north of the near-nothing they're getting now. I know Thailand is trying to reinvent itself as a country that doesn't need tourist revenue, but any such reinvention is years off, even with Mother China's help.