Last week in the Consular team #18

Let's begin this update with news about vaccine registration for foreigners in Thailand. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs launched  online registration from 1st August for foreign residents over the age of 18 to register for a first dose of COVID-19 vaccination. We have been informed by the Ministry of Public Health that more than 5,600 British residents in Thailand have received their vaccines since the roll-out of national vaccination programme began. We know there is a long way to go and that registration is still difficult for many people, and we are continuing our work with Thai authorities on that.  

You may have also seen our announcement about the UK donations of 415,000 Astra Zeneca doses to Thailand. These arrived on 3rd August 2021. They will go into Thailand’s national vaccination programme where it will help ensure vulnerable people of all nationalities in the country are vaccinated.   

We are still getting a lot of enquiries about vaccines, which is understandable. In the past two weeks, we have answered 152 enquiries. We read every enquiry and we try to give an individual response to each one, even if we use similar language. We also now have more than 500 subscribers to our vaccine bulletin where we provide regular updates about the vaccination in Thailand. You can sign up by sending an email to [email protected] . And our travel advice will be updated as further information becomes available about the national vaccination programme and other measures here, so do please sign up to get email notifications. 

Casework wise, in the last two weeks the team have provided 49 notarial services and dealt with 39 urgent cases. This included providing support to the families of 12 British people who passed away, dealing with 4 arrests and helping coordinate with hospitals for 5 British people who were hospitalised.  

It’s important to note too that due to Covid-19 restrictions in Bangkok, we have suspended in-person notarial services until further notice. If you have an emergency, please call 02 305 8333. 

Finally, we have just published a new list of mental health facilities in Thailand. We are working on other guides too so watch this space.