EU restricts travel from Thailand

[webfact]

Reuters file photo for reference only

 

The European Union member states have agreed to restrict travel from Thailand.

 

Thailand, along with Rwanda, were removed from a list of countries which were permitted to enter the European Union during the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Despite EU borders officially being closed since March 2020, it uses a ‘green list’ to determine which countries people can enter from. 

 

The most recent update to the green list on Thursday saw Thailand removed from the list.

 

Removal from the green list is based on a number of factors including the COVID-19 situation in the respective county, the progress of vaccinations, the intensitivity of testing and how reliable the local data is with regards to infections.

 

“Following a review under the recommendation on the gradual lifting of the temporary restrictions on non-essential travel into the EU, the Council updated the list of countries, special administrative regions and other entities and territorial authorities for which travel restrictions should be lifted”, according to a statement from the EU.

 

“In particular, Rwanda and Thailand were removed from the list and Ukraine was added to the list”, it said.

 

Travellers who have been vaccinated are permitted to enter the EU from any country.

 

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[RotBenz8888]

Tables are turned. 

[Rookiescot]

So people in the sandbox will have to isolate upon return to an EU country if they live there?

[Guderian]

And next week Thailand will probably go on the UK's red list, meaning compulsory hotel quarantine on arrival at your own expense (£1,750). That will be enough to kill the idea of returning home to get vaccinated for many people.

[Orinoco]

Oh no that's torn it.  !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

18 minutes ago, webfact said:

Travellers who have been vaccinated are permitted to enter the EU from any country.

Unfortunately, that exception won't mean much for Thailand right now, considering that only about 5% of the population has been fully vaccinated.

 

Meanwhile, Thailand and Rwanda in the same boat??  I'm sure it's just a coincidence....

 

[Mac Mickmanus]

1 minute ago, Guderian said:

And next week Thailand will probably go on the UK's red list, meaning compulsory hotel quarantine on arrival at your own expense (£1,750). That will be enough to kill the idea of returning home to get vaccinated for many people.

Do you have any inside info on that or is that just your uninformed opinion ?

  (Not being rude, just now making plans to go to the UK )

[jojothai]

"Travellers who have been vaccinated are permitted to enter the EU from any country."
One dose or Two ?

Some people may just want to get out of here.
But others may want to go to try and get vaccinated. This starts to close out that option.
Could the UK be next, and make it a red zone?
That may be fast approaching with the situation here getting worse the last week.

[smedly]

2 minutes ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

Do you have any inside info on that or is that just your uninformed opinion ?

  (Not being rude, just now making plans to go to the UK )

I fully expected Thailand to go from amber to red in the UK a few days ago, very strange that is didn't 

 

If you are planning to go to the UK IMO you are running out of time - you better be quick or you could face an expensive quaratine in a hotel - something like 1800 quid 

[smedly]

12 minutes ago, Rookiescot said:

So people in the sandbox will have to isolate upon return to an EU country if they live there?

not sure about that if they are fully vaccinated 

 

maybe someone could answer that

[jojothai]

4 minutes ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

Do you have any inside info on that or is that just your uninformed opinion ?

  (Not being rude, just now making plans to go to the UK )

The UK usually give advance notice, but you will have only a week at most. Keep checking their guidance regularly.
Suggest you get all the planning done and ready to get out quickly.
For flights. From my experience going KLM through Amsterdam to Manchester was very easy and as cheap as you will get.

[ThailandRyan]

The other shoe has dropped, next up who knows, and are we dropping back into a worldwide shutdown again, well a semi shutdown.....ugly.

[The Hammer2021]

15 minutes ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

Do you have any inside info on that or is that just your uninformed opinion ?

  (Not being rude, just now making plans to go to the UK )

You can view the list and you get about 4 days advance  warning when ticket prices rocket,  riots break out at airports, planes are packed. LHR is overwhelmed.

[Mac Mickmanus]

10 minutes ago, smedly said:

I fully expected Thailand to go from amber to red in the UK a few days ago, very strange that is didn't 

 

If you are planning to go to the UK IMO you are running out of time - you better be quick or you could face an expensive quaratine in a hotel - something like 1800 quid 

The property in the UK that I will be moving into isnt available until the end of the month . 

   I will have to do a ten day self quarantine anyway when I arrive back and I would have nowhere to stay if I went now.

[OneMoreFarang]

44 minutes ago, webfact said:

Travellers who have been vaccinated are permitted to enter the EU from any country.

As far as I know this is only for in the EU approved vaccines. And as far as I know (I looked it up not long ago) Sinovac was not on the approved list!

[wordchild]

5 minutes ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

The property in the UK that I will be moving into isnt available until the end of the month . 

   I will have to do a ten day self quarantine anyway when I arrive back and I would have nowhere to stay if I went now.

You can sign up for UK Gov alerts on amber/red list changes. Last updated yesterday Thailand still amber but that may change soon. 

BTW if you travel to the UK you only need to do 5 days self quarantine in your home or residence under the Test and Release scheme, but you have to pay extra for that.

[smedly]

9 minutes ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

The property in the UK that I will be moving into isnt available until the end of the month . 

   I will have to do a ten day self quarantine anyway when I arrive back and I would have nowhere to stay if I went now.

That is rather unfortunate - fingers crossed nothing changes but I really have my doubts - is there nobody you can stay with for a while 

 

anyway good hope it works out ok

[jojothai]

4 minutes ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

The property in the UK that I will be moving into isnt available until the end of the month . 

   I will have to do a ten day self quarantine anyway when I arrive back and I would have nowhere to stay if I went now.

If you need a hotel short term, they are very expensive now IMHO. The cheaper ones are <deleted>.
You can try airbnb, but be careful in consideration of the isolation.
FYI, I found somewhere as a cheap flat share (with private bedroom) and the guy already had both shots of vaccine.

He was ok sharing bathroom and kitchen even with my isolation requirement.
I ordered food online, delivered to the apartment.

If you have the wife with you then you can at least check on airbnb for the cheapest apartment you can find.
Note that letting agents in UK cannot rent out places for less than 6 months.

[Somtamnication]

Wonder how the TAT will turn this one around. Getting my popcorn!

[ThailandRyan]

It is just a misunderstanding, it's not that the EU will restrict travel from Thailand but those Ukrainians are now allowed travel over the Sinovac crowd.  

[NCC1701A]

"Honey I am so glad this flight to Phuket has WiFi. OMG Holy <deleted>."

[club]

Can you blame them?

[James105]

55 minutes ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

The property in the UK that I will be moving into isnt available until the end of the month . 

   I will have to do a ten day self quarantine anyway when I arrive back and I would have nowhere to stay if I went now.

The UK red list is only updated every 3 weeks and it was just updated yesterday with Thailand remaining on Amber.   Next update will probably be on about 5th August so I would be very surprised if they made an exception to this and stuck Thailand on the red list before the next review.   

[samtam]

1 hour ago, jojothai said:

The UK usually give advance notice, but you will have only a week at most. Keep checking their guidance regularly.
Suggest you get all the planning done and ready to get out quickly.
For flights. From my experience going KLM through Amsterdam to Manchester was very easy and as cheap as you will get.

Presumably KLM through Manchester may now not be possible, unless transit passengers are excluded from the restrictions.

 

 

1 hour ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

The property in the UK that I will be moving into isnt available until the end of the month . 

   I will have to do a ten day self quarantine anyway when I arrive back and I would have nowhere to stay if I went now.

Easy enough to rent a place, or stay with friends or family to do self-quarantine. The regulations for self-quarantine in UK are very lax, compared to what we might think of as a requisite for "quarantine", (isolation).

 

 

59 minutes ago, jojothai said:

If you need a hotel short term, they are very expensive now IMHO. The cheaper ones are <deleted>.
You can try airbnb, but be careful in consideration of the isolation.
FYI, I found somewhere as a cheap flat share (with private bedroom) and the guy already had both shots of vaccine.

He was ok sharing bathroom and kitchen even with my isolation requirement.
I ordered food online, delivered to the apartment.

If you have the wife with you then you can at least check on airbnb for the cheapest apartment you can find.
Note that letting agents in UK cannot rent out places for less than 6 months.

You can try a holiday rental, usually 1 week minimum, but some are flexible. 

[gearbox]

1 hour ago, OneMoreFarang said:

As far as I know this is only for in the EU approved vaccines. And as far as I know (I looked it up not long ago) Sinovac was not on the approved list!

Some EU countries e.g.  Greece or Spain have Sinovac on the list.

[RafPinto]

1 hour ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

Unfortunately, that exception won't mean much for Thailand right now, considering that only about 5% of the population has been fully vaccinated.

 

Meanwhile, Thailand and Rwanda in the same boat??  I'm sure it's just a coincidence....

 

A few thinkers at the command centre are now quickly looking up where Rwanda is.

Can't be that they are a competitor now.

[lolalol]

I think Thailand has no choice but to focus on vaccinating its people. 

[jacko45k]

11 minutes ago, samtam said:

You can try a holiday rental, usually 1 week minimum, but some are flexible. 

Hi-dee-Hi

[gearbox]

1 hour ago, Rookiescot said:

So people in the sandbox will have to isolate upon return to an EU country if they live there?

Many countries in EU have their own green,amber,red lists with their own rules. The list of accepted vaccines is also different.

[Bluespunk]

 

1 hour ago, The Hammer2021 said:

You can view the list and you get about 4 days advance  warning when ticket prices rocket,  riots break out at airports, planes are packed. LHR is overwhelmed.

So a bit like England getting into a football final then.