Thailand may cancel Test & Go due to Omicron: Anutin

[RichardColeman]

10 minutes ago, Oracle2022 said:

Need to put in place mandatory 7 days quarantine for all Thailand Pass holders from as soon as possible - only needs them to extend their one night to 7 nights quarantine booking

Yes, and then these numpties will be saying that hotel bookings have just risen 6 fold and they are doing a great job and should get another pay rise !

 

As for your comment of 'only needs' remember that would be probably adding another 25,000 baht for a holiday for one and potentially 50-100,000 for a famiiy - yes, that will help tourism

[yogi yogi]

does this mean they will approve my emergency covid extension

[2long]

It has been removed from several major social media pages, and is not confirmed (or even confirmed he plans to recommend it) yet. Let's hope that this is the case, because it would be a shotgun in face for more than just tourism.

Could he really be THAT stupid? Sadly I think I know the answer.

[yogi yogi]

i wonder if its risky to fly domestic now.  if one person gets it the whole plane will be laid up

[yogi yogi]

is a mad rush to get in happening at airports now?

[darrenr]

I knew this would happen…. That’s why I won’t be back until 2023 at the earliest ! 

[HashBrownHarry]

8 minutes ago, 2long said:

It has been removed from several major social media pages, and is not confirmed (or even confirmed he plans to recommend it) yet. Let's hope that this is the case, because it would be a shotgun in face for more than just tourism.

Could he really be THAT stupid? Sadly I think I know the answer.

It's inevitable, sandbox also likely to get stopped IMO.

 

20 Omicron in HKT yesterday.

 

 

[Cherrytreeview]

7 minutes ago, yogi yogi said:

is a mad rush to get in happening at airports now?

Nope.

0.89% of 2019 figures and about to dwindle even more after even the possible mention of this quarantine.

One poster even thought Thailand could keep omicron out.

????

[alex8912]

There is no way Thailand can be this stupid! 
See you end of January. This C Virus is done!

[Oracle2022]

19 minutes ago, James105 said:

That's an excellent idea.   Even though these policies (and similar) have failed in every single country every single time they have been tried, that is no reason to expect that they will fail again and this could well be the time that they miraculously work and demonstrate that humans can indeed overcome nature.   

Its not trying to stop the spread..........

 

Its about slowing it down and making it manageable.

 

If 30 million people in Thailand get Omicron at a rate of 50,000 per day thats manageable.

 

If 30 million people in Thailand get Omicron at 250,000 people per day, that will create a massive massive problem and many people will die who might not otherwise.

 

Lockdowns, quarantines, curfews..........its all about managing the situation.  They will never stop the spread, but they can delay it and slow it down and make it easier to handle.

[Pravda]

Apparently South Africa gets a lot of money every time they discover a new "variant of concern".

 

I do wonder why Thailand hasn't set up a state of the art facility, so they can claim to be a hub of variants of concerns.

Edited December 20, 2021 by Pravda

[Sheryl]

25 minutes ago, FridgeMagnet1 said:

Supposed to arrive on 31st using test and go. Thai pass all accepted etc. 

 

will they honor existing applications?

 

One of many pressing questions.

 

Impossible to say, we have to await announcement.

 

They will certainly have a credibility problem going forward if they do not honor existing approved TPs -- and create chaos for hotels etc -- but with this bunch it is possible.

[Bkk Brian]

23 minutes ago, Kadilo said:

How ironic, those that have been spreading doom and fear over Omicron before it arrived are now shocked that the country may be going back into ASQ

Really, examples of this claim? 

[than]

6 minutes ago, HashBrownHarry said:

It's inevitable, sandbox also likely to get stopped IMO.

 

20 Omicron in HKT yesterday.

 

 

All of them enter under Test an Go scheme..... ????

Some of people returning from Saudi Arabia already had symptoms before embarking for Thailand via Qatar

This puzzles me about the quality of the tests carried out in Saudi Arabia

[JonnyF]

20 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

As for your comment of 'only needs' remember that would be probably adding another 25,000 baht for a holiday for one and potentially 50-100,000 for a famiiy - yes, that will help tourism

Exactly.

 

And it's not only the expense. Who wants to spend 50% of a 2 week holiday locked in their hotel room?

[Bohemianfish]

1 hour ago, RichardColeman said:

Cancelling the test and go program will not only destroy my plan to get back to the family after 2 years away due to covid, but totally destroy thai tourism for  2022 and beyond. It's an absolutely nuts idea. If Thailand is willing to cancel the test and go after a month, it means thailand will never be open as it will be closing every 3-4 months when variants raise their heads.

 

He would be better addressing and publishing who and where these cases are coming from. Is it all migrant workers ? Is is all arrivals from say India with bogus certificates ? Is it us Brits catching it between testing and flying ? Is is a country known for bogus travel info ? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Precisely. Travelers are going to be totally gunshy about going to Thailand. Make all those plans and risk having them dashed away. It's going to be awhile before confidence is restored. 

 

The wife had written off 2022 a couple of months ago to go back and visit friends and family. We'll wait until. Hopefully.

[Sheryl]

1 hour ago, RichardColeman said:

He would be better addressing and publishing who and where these cases are coming from. Is it all migrant workers ? Is is all arrivals from say India with bogus certificates ? Is it us Brits catching it between testing and flying ? Is is a country known for bogus travel info ? 

 

From what I have read all cases were detected in travellers (Thai and foreign) entering by air (from various countries).  If there have been any confirmed cases in migrant workers, or any instances of community transmission, I haven't seen it reported.

[stigar]

4 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

From what I have read all cases were detected in travellers (Thai and foreign) entering by air (from various countries).  If there have been any confirmed cases in migrant workers, or any instances of community transmission, I haven't seen it reported.

In norway 41% of pasients in hospital is foreigners because they refuse to vaccine.Mostly polish people.We dont have alot of omiron yet but im sure it will hit us hard soon.Denmark cases raise fast everyday.

[RichardColeman]

15 minutes ago, Oracle2022 said:

If 30 million people in Thailand get Omicron at a rate of 50,000 per day thats manageable.

 

If 30 million people in Thailand get Omicron at 250,000 people per day, that will create a massive massive problem and many people will die who might not otherwise.

And would you not agree that say finding 10 cases in 10,000 vaccinated and pcr tested arrivals a day would be manageable too then ? If so, then there is never a need to close the Thai airports or world travel

[Cherrytreeview]

8 minutes ago, Bkk Brian said:

Really, examples of this claim? 

Some people prefer to live in a fantasy world deviod of reality.

They can't accept they are constantly proven wrong and try to blame others for their misguided. claims.

Best to ignore, they've been humilated enough.

[Bkk Brian]

8 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

From what I have read all cases were detected in travellers (Thai and foreign) entering by air (from various countries).  If there have been any confirmed cases in migrant workers, or any instances of community transmission, I haven't seen it reported.

There has only been one report of a possible but currently thats not in the English media that I can see just from this tweet

 

Thailand confirms 63 cases of Omicron including possibly its first local infection case found in a Thai woman. The rest were all imported, according to Minister of Public Health Anutin Charnvirakul on Monday.

 

https://twitter.com/ThaiEnquirer/status/1472773552332222469

[toolpush]

43 minutes ago, James105 said:

That's an excellent idea.   Even though these policies (and similar) have failed in every single country every single time they have been tried, that is no reason to expect that they will fail again and this could well be the time that they miraculously work and demonstrate that humans can indeed overcome nature.   

Definition of insanity?

[Sheryl]

1 minute ago, Bkk Brian said:

There has only been one report of a possible but currently thats not in the English media that I can see just from this tweet

 

Thailand confirms 63 cases of Omicron including possibly its first local infection case found in a Thai woman. The rest were all imported, according to Minister of Public Health Anutin Charnvirakul on Monday.

 

https://twitter.com/ThaiEnquirer/status/1472773552332222469

I don't know if it is the same case  but there is also a report on the BP website of 1 person who came in under T&G, tested negative and then a few days later tested positive. Apparently this one case was what prompted MoPH to propose stopping T&G.

[Eric Loh]

23 minutes ago, Pravda said:

Apparently South Africa gets a lot of money every time they discover a new "variant of concern".

 

I do wonder why Thailand hasn't set up a state of the art facility, so they can claim to be a hub of variants of concerns.

Thailand is building the genomic sequencing facilities in the eastern economic corridor as we speak. 
 

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) can pick up covid variants if no matches are identify for current existing variants like Delta, Alpha, Omicron. When variants can’t be identified, genomic analysis will be needed for further identification. I am sure unidentifiable variants will enlist global genomic facilities to help for the time being. 

Edited December 20, 2021 by Eric Loh
Wrong word

[charmonman]

You would think Anutin and innumerable others in government would have learned by now to keep their mouths shut until an official decision has been made.

[Sheryl]

2 hours ago, meechai said:

I kinda of had a hunch seeing their new platform makes no mention of it & seems to have gone back to 7 days even for vaccinated?

http://entrythailand.go.th/en/learnmore.php#

 

T&G still shows on that website. You just click on it (there are 3 options: T&G, Sandbox and AQ).

[Guderian]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Test & Go, which was officially launched on Nov 1,

So Thailand managed to reopen for all of 7 weeks. :rolleyes:

Better start focusing on domestic tourism again.

[Sheryl]

1 hour ago, SteveWilts said:

A return via Sand Box is still on the cards, and not a bad option

Well I verified I can't change my ticket routing but I also discovered (no doubt old news to many, but new to me) that there is now a "Bangkok Sandbox" option and as far as I can tell, the only difference between it and T&G is that:

 

- have to book & prepay an SHA++ accommodation for 7 nights (but confined to room only until 1st PCR result)

-have to stay in Bkk 7 days

 

And of course would probably have to redo the whole TP process.

 

Not ideal but better than AQ.

 

Provided Sandbox  too does not get scrapped....

[James105]

26 minutes ago, Oracle2022 said:

Its not trying to stop the spread..........

 

Its about slowing it down and making it manageable.

 

If 30 million people in Thailand get Omicron at a rate of 50,000 per day thats manageable.

 

If 30 million people in Thailand get Omicron at 250,000 people per day, that will create a massive massive problem and many people will die who might not otherwise.

 

Lockdowns, quarantines, curfews..........its all about managing the situation.  They will never stop the spread, but they can delay it and slow it down and make it easier to handle.

Unless I am mistaken people were dying before covid and will continue to do so after covid and unless some well meaning idiot invents the cure to death this is inevitable for everyone. 

 

"If 30 million people in Thailand get Omicron at 250,000 people per day"

 

Where did this bonkers number come from?   

[tomacht8]

38 minutes ago, Oracle2022 said:

Its not trying to stop the spread..........

 

Its about slowing it down and making it manageable.

 

If 30 million people in Thailand get Omicron at a rate of 50,000 per day thats manageable.

 

If 30 million people in Thailand get Omicron at 250,000 people per day, that will create a massive massive problem and many people will die who might not otherwise.

 

Lockdowns, quarantines, curfews..........its all about managing the situation.  They will never stop the spread, but they can delay it and slow it down and make it easier to handle.

I understand the approach. Has been practiced since March 2020. The number of infections is not so decisive. In addition to all the measurement errors (undetected infections, delayed case reports and number of tests), the excess mortality rates for each C 19 variant are much more decisive.

 

If you then believe science, Omikron is more contagious, but with much milder disease processes and lower death rates. But at all, science is still in the dark. It can therefore be doubted whether additional isolation and restriction measures make sense at all, in the case of a highly contagious C 19 variant that anyway eats past barriers built up by people.

 

The recent past has clearly refuted the belief that mankind can have a decisive influence on the path of the spread of infection.