Thailand targets reopening within 120 days as economy flounders

[snoop1130]

FILE PHOTO: People wait to receive the first dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) as Thailand start a mass inoculation at a gymnasium inside the Siam paragon Shopping center, Bangkok, Thailand June 7, 2021. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun

 

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand will reopen to visitors within 120 days after more than a year of coronavirus travel curbs, a calculated risk needed to revive its troubled economy, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said on Wednesday.

 

The country was ahead of target in securing 105.5 million doses of coronavirus vaccine for this year, and would seek more supplies next year, Prayuth said in a nationally televised speech.

 

Prayuth added that the country plans to administer an average of 10 million shots of coronavirus vaccine each month from July onwards and aims to reopen the tourism-reliant country to fully vaccinated travelers, local and foreign, without a quarantine requirement.

 

"Re-opening the country is one of the important ways to start reducing the enormous suffering of people who have lost their ability to earn an income," he said.

 

"When we take into consideration the economic needs of people, the time has now come for us to take that calculated risk.

 

He said he aimed to declare Thailand fully open within 120 days and for tourism centres that are ready, "to do so even faster".

 

He said the risk was necessary and the country could not afford to wait to complete all of its vaccinations and for the spread of the virus to halt.

 

Strict entry requirements and quarantine measures helped keep Thailand's coronavirus outbreaks under control until recent months, but the curbs saw arrival numbers plummet to a fraction of its nearly 40 million visitors in 2019.

 

It will start with a pilot reopening from July 1 on its most popular island, Phuket, which has been vaccinating most of its local population.

 

Thailand lost about $50 billion in tourism revenue last year - an 82% plunge.

 

Prayuth urged the public to get vaccinated as fast as possible and said the reopening target could only be met if the vaccines are delivered according to the committed schedules.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-06-16

 

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[internationalism]

that's why this country is called also Kalaland or Dreamland.

Problem with vax for locals - only with the first dose some 50% of population is expected to be done in October. They need to do almost 500k per day.

So far they are doing 100-200k per day

 

Edited June 16, 2021 by internationalism

[RotBenz8888]

8 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

within 120 days 

There's going to be a u turn. 

[Excel]

3 minutes ago, RotBenz8888 said:

There's going to be a u turn. 

more like a hand brake turn

[sammieuk1]

Prayuth urged the public to get vaccinated as fast as possible and said the reopening target could only be met if the vaccines are delivered according to the committed schedules

 

And what a schedule its been so far apart from yours of course????

[Emdog]

"The country was ahead of target in securing 105.5 million doses of coronavirus vaccine for this year, and would seek more supplies next year, Prayuth said in a nationally televised speech." "is" or "was" ? Really? I mean really? Well shut my mouth!

[faraday]

45 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

Prayuth urged the public to get vaccinated as fast as possible

Yet again shifting the responsibility to the people.

49 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

more supplies next year, Prayuth said in a

 A moveable feast.

[Caldera]

10 minutes ago, Emdog said:

"The country was ahead of target in securing 105.5 million doses of coronavirus vaccine for this year, and would seek more supplies next year, Prayuth said in a nationally televised speech." "is" or "was" ? Really? I mean really? Well shut my mouth!

 

You beat me to it. What a riot.

[Phuketshrew]

Strange how they are moving to secure many of these vaccines from abroad when they have a vaccine production facility right here in Thailand ....

[Fex Bluse]

No chance of any significant tourism numbers this year, probably not many next either. 

 

Chokdee

[Justgrazing]

1 hour ago, snoop1130 said:

 

Thailand lost about $50 billion in tourism revenue last year - an 82% plunge.

 

No worries .. the diamond encrusted yacht sailing , condo seeking Digi' nomads with zillions of disposable income sought after in Tat's wet dreams will soon rectify that .. 

 

Then TaT woke up .. 

Edited June 16, 2021 by Justgrazing
Sp

[grandpa]

1 hour ago, snoop1130 said:

Prayuth urged the public to get vaccinated as fast as possible and said the reopening target could only be met if the vaccines are delivered according to the committed schedules.

I would, if only I could register somewhere and actually get a date!

[phills2k1]

"Prayuth urged the public to get vaccinated as fast as possible"

 

There are just no words. As much a slap in the face as republicans in the US saying that "there was no insurrection, it was just a tour of the capital building"

[Ron jeremy]

He has no choice but to open, the gravity of the situation has sunk in.

the country is bankrupt-devastated.

sad for the Thai people.

[clivebaxter]

HMS Thaitanic, maybe karma is real after all ????

[Excel]

2 minutes ago, Ron jeremy said:

He has no choice but to open, the gravity of the situation has sunk in.

the country is bankrupt-devastated.

sad for the Thai people.

But the THB is still holding up unfortunately

[Thomas J]

1 hour ago, snoop1130 said:

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand will reopen to visitors within 120 days after more than a year of coronavirus travel curbs, a calculated risk needed to revive its troubled economy, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said on Wednesday.

Lets see the first thing was to close the airports, next shutter restaurants, gyms, hair salons, bars, malls, allow only essential goods to be purchased.  Curfews set, business hours curtailed, no alcohol rules at restaurants, no massage parlors, use of the pool, beaches closed and after relaxing the curbs incoming visitors would have to purchase covid insurance, be tested prior to boarding the flights, and upon arrival be sequestered for 15 days before being allowed to travel. 

Now just who could have possibly had to foresight to accurately predict that these measures would have led to a "troubled economy"  

[ThailandRyan]

So now I know that that how long is a piece of string analogy I uses only has 120 more days until we find its end.  Who wants in on the bet that the 120 days is overshot.....anyone.....yeah I think so too......

[wensiensheng]

38 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

So now I know that that how long is a piece of string analogy I uses only has 120 more days until we find its end.  Who wants in on the bet that the 120 days is overshot.....anyone.....yeah I think so too......

My worry is the opposite. Just like the Phuket scheme (only open if 70% of population is vaccinated) the numbers will be fudged and it will be open in 120 days…..come what may. Although, he seems to indicate open in 120 days no matter what the situation may be at the time so fudging may not be necessary.

 

if so we will find out if those who say the virus should be ignored because the death rate is low and the economic cost is immense, are right or wrong.

 

ten million vaccinations a month is 333,000 per day, or five million people a month allowing for 2 doses each. I don’t know how many people he is aiming to get vaccinated, 70%, but 70% of what? Kids included, excluded? Foreigners included, excluded. Anyway,  at five million people per month, that’s likely to be 10 or 11 months to a finish.

 

I think that’s more than 120 days. So it seems vaccinations is not a metric he is using to determine whether to open.

 

I’m not too sure what he is talking about really, but it seems the balance is shifting heavily toward the “open and be damned” side of the equation.

Edited June 16, 2021 by wensiensheng

[Scott]

Troll post reported and removed.  

 

[mommysboy]

Not without extreme consequences.

[connda]

Thailand targets reopening within 120 days as economy flounders

Of course it does.  The trouble is with all these Machiavellian restrictions, rules, regulations, morality laws, privacy-destroying monitoring and testing, and mounting expensive add-on costs, not to mention the constantly shifting local laws and procedural changes...and to top it off be forced to wear a mask your entire stay - nobody in their right minds are going to come here for a vacation.
And what will Thailand do when nobody shows up for the big party?  Lift regulations in one place and then double-down on regulations in another place.

[Enzian]

The deaths and new cases per day are not much by Western experiences (or India, or road fatalities) but, as this goes on, when is it going to hit people that every one of these dead people is a Thai ghost directly attributable to this administration? Every one of them. Will any of these ministers be haunted? Should they?

[Petey11]

3 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Prayuth urged the public to get vaccinated as fast as possible and said the reopening target could only be met if the vaccines are delivered according to the committed schedules.

First accurate thing he has said I think, it's all down to supply and then the logistics of distribution to where it's needed at the right time.

[Petey11]

1 hour ago, wensiensheng said:

I’m not too sure what he is talking about really, but it seems the balance is shifting heavily toward the “open and be damned” side of the equation.

Maybe the open and be damned is going through his mind as"stuff the suitcases with cash and do a runner if it all goes wrong"

[RichardColeman]

4 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Thailand lost about $50 billion in tourism revenue last year - an 82% plunge.

Pretty sure that number will be about 99% of tourism of 2019 this year, unless they abandon all quarantine and testing.

 

Desperation for money and public unrest in the coming months when nobody shows may open a more pragmatic approach.

 

 

 

[webfact]

PM aims to fully reopen Thailand in 4 months

 

 

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha declared today (Wednesday) that Thailand will fully reopen its borders within four months, as the country is to begin welcoming fully vaccinated foreign tourists, starting with the southern resort island of Phuket on July 1st.

 

“The time has now come for us to look ahead and set the date on which we can fully open our country and start welcoming visitors, because it is one of the important ways by which we can start to reduce the enormous suffering of people who have lost their incomes,” said Mr. Prayut in a televised address.

 

“I know this decision comes with some risks because, when we open the country, there will be an increase in infections, no matter how good our precautions may be, but I think, when we consider the economic needs of people, the time has now come for us to take a calculated risk. The priorities for our country must now advance to the next level,” he added.

 

Full story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/pm-aims-to-fully-reopen-thailand-in-4-months/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2021-06-17

 

- Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you

- Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

[KhunMorris]

This is the most concrete thing that's been said regarding allowing visitors in since the start the pandemic and straight from the mouth of the PM.

 

Will it happen? Nope.

 

I wish they'd stop printing this utter nonsense.

 

Sincerely 

 

MORRIS

Cryptocurrency early investor

[AnnieSeek]

To double jab 40,000,000 - 50,000,000 people TWICE (about 70%)- they need to be doing 850,000 vaccinations a day from now till opening. 

 

 

How many they on?

 

 

Edited June 17, 2021 by metisdead
Trolling image removed.

[Ron jeremy]

6 hours ago, Petey11 said:

Maybe the open and be damned is going through his mind as"stuff the suitcases with cash and do a runner if it all goes wrong"

I’m sure that’s already been done.

the helicopter is idling in the backyard