Thai health authority explains new shortened quarantine option

[webfact]

Health authority explains new shortened quarantine option

 

   

BANGKOK (NNT) - The Ministry of Public Health has proposed a reduction in the number of quarantine days from 14 to 10 for persons arriving from lower risk countries. The Ministry says more knowledge of COVID-19 has enabled this shortened quarantine, however persons given this shortened quarantine option will continue to be tracked until the 14th day after their arrival.

 

Dr Sopon Iamsirithaworn, Director of the Division of Communicable Diseases of the Department of Disease Control (DDC) has elaborated on the effectiveness of 14-day and 10-day quarantine, saying they are no different, provided that the isolation and quarantine processes is properly managed.

 

He said the new 10-day duration of quarantine was arrived at after consideration of the most common duration of the onset of COVID-19 symptoms at 5-7 days, meaning that most people will start showing symptoms about a week after contracting the virus, while most people who test positive to the virus after 10 days are mostly asymptomatic, and carry a lower chance of spreading the virus to other people.

 

Dr Sopon has reassured the public that the option of a 10-day quarantine will only be available to travelers from lower-risk countries, most of which are in the ASEAN region. These travelers will still be subject to pre-departure screening processes in the country of origin, with only people who test negative being allowed to travel.

 

Travelers will then be tested for the virus at the airport on arrival, and immediately taken into quarantine, during which they will be swab-tested again on the 3rd, 5th, and 9th day, plus two blood tests to detect antibodies against the virus. All of these tests must return negative for a person to complete quarantine after 10 days.

 

Travelers who have cleared the 10-day quarantine must strictly observe personal protective measures for the following 11-14 days after arrival to reduce infection risks. Health authorities may also keep track of their whereabouts using an application or tracking wristband.

 

-- © Copyright NNT 2020-11-09

 

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[Grumpy John]

And what happens if they are wrong?   If common sense ruled there would be a 21 day quarantine period.

[mark131v]

Money, money, money, money....

 

Money

 

Money, money there you go explained...

[drenddy]

If they make mandatory negative Covid test 72 hours before flying(taken, not issued results within this timeframe), then 3 more tests plus antibodies bloodtests on the last day(the overwhelming majority of people with covid will have these antibodies within 1 week after infection), then they can cut it to 1 week.

 

Even so, not many tourists will come.

[bluesofa]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

however persons given this shortened quarantine option will continue to be tracked until the 14th day after their arrival.

I take it that's so they can more easily trace everyone they came into contact with, when they're later found to be positive.

[bushwacker]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

they will be swab-tested again on the 3rd, 5th, and 9th day, plus two blood tests to detect antibodies against the virus. All of these tests must return negative for a person to complete quarantine after 10 days.

Hmm ... this sounds to me that the quarantine is really 9 days as nothing seems to be done on the 10th day except looking at the results of the previous tests.  

[charmonman]

Does anyone know how they decide which countries are high, medium or low risk? I have heard it is according to some categories determined by the WHO, but I can’t find any information on this.

[aussiexpat]

Finally some common sense. Technically it's still 13 days away from Thais as you have to test negative 3 days prior to fight + the 10 in quarantine.

 

When it gets to 7 days I might consider it (happy to isolate at home for next 7 days with tracker)

[hotchilli]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

Health authority explains new shortened quarantine option

We think it should be this long.

[drenddy]

If this applies to STV only, I wonder what thais on semi commercial flight + ASQ have to say about this...

 

It should apply to all...Just because you come from a country with high Covid-19 prevalence, it does not mean you need 4 days extra quarantine.Where is the evidence based practice here?

It seems like they want to attract the chinese and, to avoid any discussions, will add other countries such as Taiwan, New Zealand or South Korea.

 

But why not get rid of the quarantine?

Why not use this whole period of time, from March to November, to build up a system of controlled large number of tourists arrivals and hotel&hospital infrastructure in order to accommodate short quarantine periods(up to 2 days or something)?

Portugal imposed Covid test at arrival and waiting time for result at their expense.

Thailand could have done the same, test prior arrival(in fact, ask 2 within the last 7 days, I quess most tourists will accept that), then test at arrival, quarantine until results, negative, good to go.

 

 

[oompie69]

Decisions made will never be what works or is the right protocol to follow but more about what the citizens of Thailand will buy into regarding the opening of borders to foreign visitors. 

 

 

[richard_smith237]

9 hours ago, webfact said:

He said the new 10-day duration of quarantine was arrived at after consideration of the most common duration of the onset of COVID-19 symptoms at 5-7 days, meaning that most people will start showing symptoms about a week after contracting the virus, while most people who test positive to the virus after 10 days are mostly asymptomatic, and carry a lower chance of spreading the virus to other people.

 

OK... go for a 7 day quarantine then !!!!

 

 

 

 

 

[Rancid]

The Australian newspaper reports: "Mandatory quarantine for travellers from very low-risk ­nations, such as New Zealand and Thailand, based on their corona­virus loads, could be slashed to zero, according to new research by Andrew Forrest’s Minderoo Foundation and the Burnet Institute of medical research."

 

Andrew Forrest is a mining billionaire however interesting to see some push for eliminating quarantine from very low risk countries. Suggesting 8 days from low risk countries.