20 hours ago, Eric Loh said:

Cautionary warning with new variants discovered in Africa and WHO warning of another inevitable wave in Europe. Better be safe than sorry. 

So if it turns out to be a bad one then : a/ lockdown and no tourism or b/ TH runs the gountlet chasing the THB and puts TH as risk ..... 

 

so things change again.......

And now we have a new variant originating from Africa don’t be surprised if they back track on this announcement there are a number of European countries who have announced restrictions on aircraft arriving from many parts of Africa-and it is reported that HK  has detected the new variant 

Just got out of quarantine- about 10 hours in total.  Super easy, glad they PCR upon arrival, too many people can fake their results to fly 

The rest of the world realizes now that Covid is now part of the landscape and we have to live with it.

 

Thai culture is so deeply ingrained that will possibly be another 2000 years to wake up while other countries move on.

21 hours ago, webfact said:

Furthermore, people arriving as part of the Test & Go scheme will only need to book transportation to their hotel of choice and take an ATK test. 

 

They will no longer be required to book a hotel room for one night.

How odd.

There are a lot more false negative results with the ATK tests.

17 minutes ago, cheapcanuck said:

There are a lot more false negative results with the ATK tests.

Where's your link to verify that, or is that just your opinion?

22 hours ago, gearbox said:

Test the tourists at the airport and let them go if negative. Some may want to use public transport.

If you want to check thousands of passengers a day and after that let them wait between 10 and 20 minutes for the result, the crowd will reach back to the taxisway ????

20 hours ago, GrandPapillon said:

ATK also gives false negative,

...and many more than PCR.

So i do a test then pay an inflated price for transportation to a hotel io will not stay!!!??? Huh??? Did I miss something??SMH

25 minutes ago, JustAnotherHun said:

If you want to check thousands of passengers a day and after that let them wait between 10 and 20 minutes for the result, the crowd will reach back to the taxisway ????

This may happen if they go back to the pre-covid volumes of 3 mil passengers per month....not a slight chance going near that figure.

 

I did a PCR test at the Phuket Airport, everything was organized very efficiently. The second test (ATK) I did in the hotel took just a couple of minutes.

In the end the travelers are customers, if Thailand needs them it has to keep on removing any inconveniences. It is a fairly confusing move to book only taxi transfer before arriving - world's first  ????

 

 

5 hours ago, Bangkok Basha said:

How would one book a taxi in advance from outside of Thailand? It's not like taxis provide an invoice or copy of a reservation if booked ahead of arrival. Wouldn't an airport pick-up by the Novotel be okay?

Here you have what you need if the hotel don't provide the transport

 

https://web.thailandsha.com/shaplus?type=4&province=83&keyword=airport

2 hours ago, chiman said:

As previously shared, we just arrived and the whole process has been simple and easy… totally reasonable 

If you don't mind getting shafted where the sun don't shine then good for you!, But what if you'd tested false positive? and taken away and given a bill of 350k or more, Plus why pay all this money hotel/taxi/test when your already vaxed and tested before you arrive?

 

I arrived a few days ago in a country and just showed vaccine certificate, 6 counties in 2 yrs so far all easy, 

 

Thailand is a joke.

37 minutes ago, JustAnotherHun said:

If you want to check thousands of passengers a day and after that let them wait between 10 and 20 minutes for the result, the crowd will reach back to the taxisway ????

Have you travelled through Swampy recently?   On a flight from Dubai, after disembarking, they lined all pax up on plastic seats while two girls went down the rows checking various papers, once checked, you were then allowed to join the standing queue to get your same papers checked officially, then you were allowed on your merry way to go to immigration. 

So no different time wise to doing the antigen tests.

 

 

 

14 hours ago, scorecard said:

Already announced in the headline which starts this thread, the new Antigen test system applies from 16 December.

* The CCSA initially announced the new measures would be in place from Dec 1st. However, the CCSA has since released an update to say the new measures are from Dec 16th. This post has been updated to reflect the change. 

 

Better late than never .....eh? Anyone for flippity-floppity !

Bad idea to ease restrictions whilst new Southern African mutation is at large

28 minutes ago, henry213 said:

If you don't mind getting shafted where the sun don't shine then good for you!, But what if you'd tested false positive? and taken away and given a bill of 350k or more, Plus why pay all this money hotel/taxi/test when your already vaxed and tested before you arrive?

 

I arrived a few days ago in a country and just showed vaccine certificate, 6 counties in 2 yrs so far all easy, 

 

Thailand is a joke.

I don't think you'll be shipped to a hospital in case of a positive ATK test - most likely it needs to be confirmed with a PCR test.

But with 0.1-0.2 percent arriving positive they should foot the bill for the asymptomatic cases and remove one of the major uncertainties. If the positive case is symptomatic it needs to go to hospital  anyway - this is a medical necessity and would be covered by the insurance.

Can we all just agree that the new South African varient is a concern, so no need to post every 5 posts saying so. This is supposed to be a happy thread ????

On 11/26/2021 at 2:09 PM, richard_smith237 said:

I suspect they are looking forward to a time when they can ‘normalise’ the arrival process.

 

Pre-Covid there was already a huge bottle neck at immigration. 

With increasing flight numbers testing at the airport will create an additional bottle neck. 

 

 

Self testing at home / hotel (i.e. accommodation) is the viable solution if they can get it organised. 

 

The issue of course is the organisation: We were given Antigen Test Kits by our test and go hotel, there was no information where to submit the data - this is the part which needs to be ironed out. 

If the test is positive do you think the traveler will inform the Thai authorities? ...

Unfortunately because of this new omicron varient which is apparently 40 times more contagious than other varients, Thailand should think very carefully about reopening, if this strain enters the country then you really can say good bye for another few years.

You gotta feel for the people who rely on tourism, its time for the government to actually do something positive and financially assist it's citizens. 

13 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

Why should it ? You need to sow vaccines to get your pass, you need a pcr test before flight and you are tested again on arrival. Many of us already have 3 jabs, 99.92% of arrivals do not carry the virus (8 in 10,000 or so). The incoming are checked more than the Thai population and isolated on finding infection on arrival. Any SA variant would be caught very quickly.

 

The worry would be the illegal migrant workers bringing in the SA variant - not the tourists. So, if Thailand;s tourism and opening is affected it wont be from tourists -at that point thailand would need to make a decision on either migrant workers or tourists

 

Why should it?  I agree...the question is more "Why would it?"

Well EU and USA are already reacting to the new variant  Covid: US joins EU in restricting flights from southern Africa over new coronavirus variant and I'm sure we all realise that Thai authorities will look at that and make some sort of decision. Sadly, that decision may be.....err...flawed

14 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

Why should it ? You need to sow vaccines to get your pass, you need a pcr test before flight and you are tested again on arrival. Many of us already have 3 jabs, 99.92% of arrivals do not carry the virus (8 in 10,000 or so). The incoming are checked more than the Thai population and isolated on finding infection on arrival. Any SA variant would be caught very quickly.

 

The worry would be the illegal migrant workers bringing in the SA variant - not the tourists. So, if Thailand;s tourism and opening is affected it wont be from tourists -at that point thailand would need to make a decision on either migrant workers or tourists

 

 

 

That's what most countries said when the Delta variant appeared in India. Just ban visitors from India, look what happened now, it spread all over the world.

 

 

 

Given the news about the new Omicron variant, I can't see this going through.

On 11/26/2021 at 2:30 PM, Cabradelmar said:

Probably makes sense only IF people are getting PCR tested 72 hours prior to departure (this would be dictated by the airlines and the airports you would be transiting -- irrespective of what THA does to you on arrival). My friend recently returned to Finland from BKK and tested positive on arrival. Don't think for a minute people can't get covid after getting a PCR test on departure.

They can but it's a very small chance. So far less than 1 out of every 1000 arrivals at BKK is testing positive. That's low enough to make it an acceptable risk. It's not as if the receiving end needs to keep a pandemic out. It's everywhere already.

Just solved all my Thailand Pass problems, tests, hotel and taxis, insurance scam, uploads for Thai Pass, increased flight fares and many more. So simple I ain’t bothering job done.

8 hours ago, Gottfrid said:

That´s what they usually call conflicting information. Hey Dude! Now you do not have to book 1 night anymore, we have raised it to 5 for your benefit! Hallelujah!

Good business for short-time hotels.

7 hours ago, chiman said:

...They ask for boarding pass, QR code, and test results...

QR code of what?

7 hours ago, alex8912 said:

Why do you say Dec 1? 

I got that wrong, speedreading 1 for 16.

6 hours ago, alex8912 said:

I hear there will be updates on Thailand Pass Dec 10 to 12. So maybe that's why they switched the new plan that makes little sense ( don't some of us get picked up at the. Airport?) Now I bet trying to apply for Thailand Pass on Dec 13 will prove to be a disaster then the new bugs can maybe sorted for Dec 16? Hmm. Big lol. 

Presently, I believe it would be wiser to wait and give 'em a month [or perhaps more] to iron out all of the issues and policy changes that seem to be occurring every other week. 

On 11/26/2021 at 7:06 AM, tomacht8 said:

I think you do the ATK test yourself, just like the ATK test currently on the 6th or 7th day. Why a hotel? Or should the maid then swab the nose or throat?

hmmmm.... what else maybe?