PM can't wait any longer: 27 countries could be granted no quarantine access to Thailand

[Moncul]

2 hours ago, steven100 said:

If Vietnam, Cambodia and Malaysia open up and sell alcohol in restaurants,  I'll bet london to a brick on Thailand will announce ' Breaking News "   and allow the selling of alcohol.   Just wait and see ......

Cambodia is still closed to tourists, so even if they did it would not steal any from Thailand.

[Moncul]

1 hour ago, Eaglekott said:

Not really. When you get exposed to a virus or bacteria, there is an incubation time. Before you test positive or get sick, you carry the Virus, but in so small amounts they are undetectable. Then after a period of time they have multiplied to an amount that is detectable and you test positive. If that time happens during your flight your are very very unlucky. Also different tests has different levels of sensitivity for the threshold when it says you are positive or not. And there is these false positives and negatives. 

The chances of you being infected during two RT-PCR tests several days apart and them both being negative is extremely low. But we know it is possible for a vaccinated person to produce a negative test and a positive one three days later, because that's exactly what happened in the first week of the Phuket Sandbox.

[bangon04]

8 hours ago, RafPinto said:

What's about Vatican city?

Thailand does not have a major reputation for the availability of young boys, does it?

[CG1 Blue]

10 hours ago, aussiexpat said:

Speak for yourself as I'll be there asap if all I need is PCR test on departure and arrival 

And if your arrival PCR test is positive you'll be banged up for 2 weeks. Hope you've allowed for that 

[Moncul]

2 hours ago, 3NUMBAS said:

hub ,of variants

Actually Thailand has greatly improved its genome sequencing. That's how it got off the UK's red list.

[alyx]

Posted by mistake sorry 

[cheapcanuck]

What, no Canada?

The list is only about how many tourists that country can generate for Thailand.  Plane and simple.

[sezze]

4 hours ago, flyfrog said:

Whats wrong with Belgium?? They dont even have to wear masks and vaccination rate is 90%??? Politics again????

I'm from Belgium too .

What do you see from the countries on the list , Countries not with most vaccinated ( Top vaccinated countries in the world aren't on it ) . Countries not with the lowest infection rates ( same are but most are not ) .

Which are on the list :

Big countries , the ones with high number of people travel to Thailand , like UK , France Germany .

Small countries with no travellers to Thailand , only there for show ... like Dominica , Luxembourg , San Marino

Medium countries but also with almost no visitors , and in fact low vaccination rate and actually high infection numbers . Croatia , Slovenia , ...

That leaves smaller countries , like Portugal , Belgium ... , but high vaccination numbers completely forgotten .

The opening is for money , not for getting tourism . Both look the same but actually are not . They want to get people back : so they give the free entrance to highest visiting countries , and to a few of the supposed to be wealthy population countries . And to top it up , they just named a few totally unknown (for them) countries , just to advertise that they are open for 27 countries . They might as well also say that moon habitants are welcome without quarantine and also the other visitors from 38 billion solar systems , but that would be a bit too obvious .

No worries , i'm pretty sure , Belgium and many others will make it on the list for the month after or at latest the January list .

 

[bbabythai]

10 hours ago, aussiexpat said:

Speak for yourself as I'll be there asap if all I need is PCR test on departure and arrival 

If you really are an aussie sexpat as indicated by your username then you will need more than a PCR test on departure back to the nanny state of australia

[gejohesch]

10 hours ago, Rampant Rabbit said:

They  still wont come with that <deleted>

That, plus changing the rules mid October effective on 1st November : how many people are up to booking at such short notice? Delusion is the word.

 

And no doubt they can expect large crowds of people coming from countries such as Andorra, Dominica, San Marino, Barbados. ???? (maybe they forgot to mention the Vatican?)

 

On a more serious note : is it "Nationals" or "Residents" we are talking about here? That is so confusing. Just imagine a Croatian national (Croatia being mentioned as one of the 27 countries) resident in let's say India (not on the list) : would he / she be allowed in with the new rules?

Conversely, why would an India national resident in Croatia not be allowed in?

It's not only confusing, it sort of implies sthg fundamentally right or wrong with having a certain nationality. Ridiculous.

Edited October 14, 2021 by gejohesch
forgot sthg

[boogiewoogie]

6 minutes ago, sezze said:

I'm from Belgium too .

What do you see from the countries on the list , Countries not with most vaccinated ( Top vaccinated countries in the world aren't on it ) . Countries not with the lowest infection rates ( same are but most are not ) .

Which are on the list :

Big countries , the ones with high number of people travel to Thailand , like UK , France Germany .

Small countries with no travellers to Thailand , only there for show ... like Dominica , Luxembourg , San Marino

Medium countries but also with almost no visitors , and in fact low vaccination rate and actually high infection numbers . Croatia , Slovenia , ...

That leaves smaller countries , like Portugal , Belgium ... , but high vaccination numbers completely forgotten .

The opening is for money , not for getting tourism . Both look the same but actually are not . They want to get people back : so they give the free entrance to highest visiting countries , and to a few of the supposed to be wealthy population countries . And to top it up , they just named a few totally unknown (for them) countries , just to advertise that they are open for 27 countries . They might as well also say that moon habitants are welcome without quarantine and also the other visitors from 38 billion solar systems , but that would be a bit too obvious .

No worries , i'm pretty sure , Belgium and many others will make it on the list for the month after or at latest the January list .

 

Yup.

Russia is nowhere on a list. Red on all covid maps. 

However they just announced charter flights in big numbers from multiple russian cities startin november 9.

 

Yeah, thats the day. Uve been warned. Dont thank me.

 

[Chad3000]

I'm sure all the CoE rubbish is in place.

 

40k of insurance for O visa.

 

Test positive go to covid jail 800k. Lol. Pass on that.

 

Even when they utterly capitulate they still don't get it.

[Gottfrid]

5 hours ago, kiwikeith said:

because you can catch and spread covid while being fully vaccinated, and you can end up in ICU, just look at Singapore, then I think you better have a good covid insurance policy, then will the hospitals cope,  if it goes belly up/ wait and see, watchful waiting I think its called.

Sure it´s wishful thinking. However, there will not be more spreading just because they let in fully vaccinated tourist.

[Chad3000]

What about poor Belgium, Switzerland, Austria?!

Edited October 14, 2021 by Chad3000

[Kalasin Jo]

And France? Excellent vaccination record 85% fully vaxxed and very low infection, r number 0.89 and 5,500 new cases, hospitalisations and death rates in single figures. In a population of over 65 million. The UK is still recording around 40,000 daily infections, over 7,000 in hospital and over 130 daily deaths For some time.

[Salerno]

51 minutes ago, Moncul said:

 

And it ended up being five.

Looks like "Daily News" and this site need some new sources.

[sezze]

18 minutes ago, Salerno said:

And who stays on the list ... UK , USA, Germany ... like i said , the big countries . The countries with many visitors to Thailand . The others were actually just for show anyway .

Not mention however that many things will still be closed , and not a word on how it is gonna be in place . COE with limit to insurance/vaccination/tracking/testing?

[AndresSP]

7 hours ago, Metapod said:

 

Yep, this is a deal breaker. 

 

1. If you test before, what happens if u test positive? Suddenly you just lost all your flights, hotel bookings, wasted time off work, etc. Plans ruined and money down teh drain. Massive stress even if you test negative. 

 

2m test positive on arrival? Goodbye holiday. You are now locked up against your will in hospital and stuck with a large bill. You also wasted all your time off work to sit in hospital in a foreign country. 

 

Thailand will continue to wither economically until they come to their senses in this

True that, imagine the stress level. No bona fide tourists are gonna be rolling the dice on an event totally beyond their control unless they are willing to fly for 8 hours + in a hazmat suit

[candide]

15 minutes ago, Moncul said:

So like I said about sources....

"There will be no quarantine for fully vaccinated air travellers from five countries from Nov 1, and destinations in more provinces will also be opened to foreign tourists.

Taweesilp Visanuyothin, spokesman for the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration, said the CCSA resolved on Thursday to allow in fully vaccinated visitors from Britain, the United States, Germany, Singapore and China if they pass an RT-PCR test before arrival - for an initial period from Nov 1 to Dec 31.

Travellers from these five countries were considered as having low-risk of Covid-19 infection. They would not have to quarantine."

Yep! It seems It's the latest news. Let's hope it will change tomorrow

[tomacht8]

In addition to the illogical nature of the selected countries, there is also the question of capacities and organizational processes.
1. Checking the vaccination certificates at the airport of entry by IOs?
Almost all countries have their own national certificates.
The chaos and waiting times at the airport would be inevitable.
So far, all of this has been controlled via the COE approval process.
2. The PCR test when entering Thailand. How should this be organized within two weeks until November 1st?
How should the first address in Thailand and the contact details be recorded? Are the existing Thai PCR test capacities sufficient at all?
So far, the hotel reservation and the payment and booking of the two PCR tests have to be proven for the sandboxes before entry.
3. The Corvit insurance. Even before Corvit, Thailand tried to introduce compulsory travel health insurance for all tourists. Thailand will certainly not abandon this requirement.

 

The whole thing appears to be just a PR balloon to create a good mood in the country and to support the loud-mouthed announcements of those responsible.
What comes out afterwards will only be small changes to the existing system, aka more sandboxes and one less PCR test.

[Salerno]

25 minutes ago, Moncul said:

So like I said about sources....

What makes you so sure the newspaper that can't be named is any more reliable?

 

The list you quoted is from the PMs announcement 2 days ago, the same announcement that said others will be added after the CCSA meeting.

 

Edited October 14, 2021 by Salerno

[stigar]

18 minutes ago, sezze said:

And who stays on the list ... UK , USA, Germany ... like i said , the big countries . The countries with many visitors to Thailand . The others were actually just for show anyway .

Not mention however that many things will still be closed , and not a word on how it is gonna be in place . COE with limit to insurance/vaccination/tracking/testing?

True.I ask myself how many of this 5 countries have thailand on their redlist?

[garyk]

Thailand is so done for US travelers I lived in Thailand and made Bangkok my hub for over 10 years. I saw the changes.

Anyone wanting the lawless times of Thailand 15-20 years ago will be moving on. 

I'm in Colombia now.

S.E. Asia is more of a holiday destination now. 2 weeks spend all your  money and go back home.. haha

And that is fine, but for seasoned travelers Thailand has been declining fast for years.

Edited October 14, 2021 by garyk

[Chad3000]

I'm thinking that the list is comprised of the countries not like Thailand in that their populations *do the right thing* - not just a bunch of chancers.

 

No idea why Switzerland, Scandanavia not on the list though.

[Moncul]

2 minutes ago, tomacht8 said:

In addition to the illogical nature of the selected countries, there is also the question of capacities and organizational processes.
1. Checking the vaccination certificates at the airport of entry by IOs?
Almost all countries have their own national certificates.
The chaos and waiting times at the airport would be inevitable.
So far, all of this has been controlled via the COE approval process.
2. The PCR test when entering Thailand. How should this be organized within two weeks until November 1st?
How should the first address in Thailand and the contact details be recorded? Are the existing Thai PCR test capacities sufficient at all?
So far, the hotel reservation and the payment and booking of the two PCR tests have to be proven for the sandboxes before entry.
3. The Corvit insurance. Even before Corvit, Thailand tried to introduce compulsory travel health insurance for all tourists. Thailand will certainly not abandon this requirement.

 

The whole thing appears to be just a PR balloon to create a good mood in the country and to support the loud-mouthed announcements of those responsible.
What comes out afterwards will only be small changes to the existing system, aka more sandboxes and one less PCR test.

They announced this new app this morning to replace COE.

Essentially you will still upload vaccine certs, insurance, etc. to a site, then when they've verified it they will send you an email with a QR code.

It looks as if scanning that code ties your documents to the app which you can then flash on arrival.

I *think* that's how it's going to work, but you decide. It could equally well be a new version of "Red Light, Green Light".  
 

 

[Bkk Brian]

According to this article there are 38 countries possibly on the list:

 

"According to Daily News, there are 38 countries being considered for the reopening plan: (1) 24 EU countries (2) 5 Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden) (3) Israel, Switzerland, UAE, UK, US, India, Japan, South Korea and Qatar"

https://twitter.com/ThaiNewsReports/status/1448637393242705924

https://www.dailynews.co.th/news/374859/

[metisdead]

A post with unattributed content has been removed.

 

A troll post has been reported and removed. 

 

A post with content that was copy and pasted from the Bangkok Post has been removed:

 

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Edited October 14, 2021 by metisdead

[Chad3000]

Before anyone rushes out to buy tickets here Bangkok post cites Surat Thani bureaucrat laying down all sorts of stupid criteria to visit murder island and K Phanghan. Just never learn...

[PoorSucker]

6 minutes ago, Chad3000 said:

No idea why Switzerland, Scandanavia not on the list though.

Norway is on the list.

[bennn]

36 minutes ago, garyk said:

Thailand is so done for US travelers I lived in Thailand and made Bangkok my hub for over 10 years. I saw the changes.

Anyone wanting the lawless times of Thailand 15-20 years ago will be moving on. 

I'm in Colombia now.

S.E. Asia is more of a holiday destination now. 2 weeks spend all your  money and go back home.. haha

And that is fine, but for seasoned travelers Thailand has been declining fast for years.

How do you like Colombia? I am planning on heading there in January. Not really dangerous as long as you're not stupid? Much of a lockdown on now? Are the schools open?

Any info much appreciated ????