Thailand may cancel Test & Go due to Omicron: Anutin

[86Tiger]

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.

 

 

Well, they have made it easier to handle for 2 years.  Only (insert number here) to go............

[RichardColeman]

44 minutes ago, Cherrytreeview said:

One poster even thought Thailand could keep omicron out.

yes, but they are now safely back on their medication and returned to their padded cell now

[Enoon]

3 hours ago, Willy Wombat said:

How many have died from Omicron ?

This graph show a huge rise in COVID cases in the UK:

But, for those with the susceptibility (to "overstimulation"), its accompanying graph, for mortality, is not nearly as "exciting:

 

 

Despite the deaths remaining "stable" (according to the text on the mortality graph) the published numbers of deaths have been dropping, in 1's and 2's, over the last few weeks.

 

I don't have to worry about a reputation for balanced or informed journalism/scientific opinion, so I will confidently declare that "OMICRON!" is more contagious .........but has reached the stage where it can now be considered, for the vaccinated and "boostered", as "just flu".........at ******* last.

 

Local News (If you are in Cambridge):

"Dr Ewen Cameron, of Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, said: "About 80% of patients we've seen over the last few months in general wards and critical care have been unvaccinated."

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-59699891

 

Happily I (triple jabbed), after 18 months, got to Thailand on the 8th............

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Bkk Brian]

24 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

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.

I just found another one, maybe this is the one being referred to? 

 

Officially 63 cases of #Omicron found in Thailand. At least one local transmission reported (spouse of a pilot). Thailand to step up control measures. To consider suspending “Test and Go” for foreign arrivals and bring back quarantine. Stay tuned…

https://twitter.com/Thai_Talk/status/1472824965313433602

 

Taken from this Thai article https://thestandard.co/coronavirus-omicron-20122021/

 

[FridgeMagnet1]

44 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

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.

You would think they would give notice and delay this until Jan 3ish to give people time to get back.

but as you say, who knows with this lot 

 

Hopefully Phuket sandbox remains available, but I can’t really be bothered with that lark again. 

[daveAustin]

What about his ‘we are great, omicron is not a thing for us’ rubbish. It was always going to be a thing, but why set yourself up like that? What an utter <please insert suitable adjectives>!

[bananafish]

63 confirmed cases, probably all asymptomatic, but SOME may lead to the sniffles. 

 

Omicron is the end of the pandemic, the sooner it becomes the dominant variant, the better.

 

Open up everything now. It's time to revert ALL measures to 2019 standards. 

[tomacht8]

54 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

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.

Probably not.

I had the pleasure on May 6th. The quarantine was raised from 10 to 14 days again. Unfortunately, I was a day late. I had to book an additional 4 days of quarantine, at that time still with COE. Good luck for you.

Edited December 20, 2021 by tomacht8

[jacko45k]

3 hours ago, JonnyF said:

Which means it's already here (unless they quarantined the whole plane including the crew).

There were rumours of some people being held up previously, as they had been sat near persons who tested positive... so either possibility.

[Bkk Brian]

In a Bangkok Post tweet, 2 British nationals and 1 Belgian visiting Koh Samui have been detected with the Omicron

[yogi yogi]

1 hour ago, Cherrytreeview said:

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.

????

i would think a mad rush to get in if a threat of long term shut down. if i was overseas and wanted to get in i would be pushing right now.  but i suppose the pushy people are already here??

[Caldera]

They probably don't want to remove individual countries from their Test & Go list, because that would look "offensive" to countries such as the UK where Omicron is surging but where many of Thailand's recent arrivals have been coming from. So scrapping the scheme altogether for the time being might look like the best course of action to delay the inevitable. I'm not surprised, I think it was bound to happen.

[mike1967]

Surely test and go is to find cases of Covid? It's doing what it's meant to be doing so where's the problem? Doesn't make sense to me.

[jacko45k]

3 minutes ago, Caldera said:

They probably don't want to remove individual countries from their Test & Go list, because that would look "offensive" to countries such as the UK where Omicron is surging but where many of Thailand's recent arrivals have been coming from. So scrapping the scheme altogether for the time being might look like the best course of action to delay the inevitable. I'm not surprised, I think it was bound to happen.

UK today, many countries will follow. They would be amending that list very regularly and it would be impractical.

[steevjee]

40 minutes ago, James105 said:

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?   

sniff sniff!   I smell an anti vaxxer ????

[Benmart]

More hysteria.

[steevjee]

25 minutes ago, bananafish said:

63 confirmed cases, probably all asymptomatic, but SOME may lead to the sniffles. 

 

Omicron is the end of the pandemic, the sooner it becomes the dominant variant, the better.

 

Open up everything now. It's time to revert ALL measures to 2019 standards. 

I hope your assessment is correct but still too early to be sure, Governments want to open but cant afford to get it wrong

[hotchilli]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

Anutin said that there had been 63 confirmed cases of Omicron among arrivals to Thailand with another 20 cases awaiting confirmation.

Begs the question why the mandatory PCR test less than 72 hours prior to departure is not picking this up.. That's a very small window in which to be infected after testing.

[fulhamster]

1 hour ago, charmonman said:

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.

But aren't they the ones who make the "official" decision ??

 

[alphonse]

12 hours ago, Captain Monday said:

Smart Move. Trying to make some coin this month have work until Dec 27。Well lets see what the AQ proposal will be for triple vaXxed.

 

I already changed everything from a week or so ago when I learned of the Scoot nonstop SIN-CNX reboot, but I'm pretty much done.

 

 If the Govt don't cancel all holiday activities and lock down the entire country again now it will be surely be everywhere .（Probably is already anyway).

 

A "god-damned head cold" wouldn't have put a neighbour of mine, who suffers from asthma, into an intensive care unit. He is very ill, and his family are up the wall with worry (he is 46.) He has been assessed as an Omicron victim.

 

Trying to minimise this pandemic is blatant selfishness. 

 

Others have to be considered as well. Our own well-constructed views, based upon our own self-centred needs should not obscure the real facts. 

[Triganstar]

4 hours ago, Captain Monday said:

 

Knew this was going to happen.  I'm just not gonna come to Thailand then - 

You knew it was going to happen? Visionary!

Still booked and wanted to travel? Not so smart?

[Kal I Sin its fun]

3 hours ago, Willy Wombat said:

Boris got busted getting on the <deleted> when everyone else was in hard lockdown.

So let’s make Omicron worse than any other disease even though only a handful of people have died in two months from OMICRON

With, not from the Moronic variant. Please don’t spread misinformation ????

[GrandPapillon]

the issue with testing, apart from PCR, is that there are extremely unreliable

 

and for fully vaccinated, it's actually harder to be tested positive, even if you are a carrier, several tests in several days must be taken to confirm and be 100% sure

[ukrules]

2 hours ago, Oracle2022 said:

Omicron infects everyone, vaccinated, boosted, unvaccinated

Indeed, I mentioned this before but right now there seems to be some attitude of a false sense of achievement prevailing.

 

We're in the eye of the storm and things are about to get very real very fast.

 

Prepare accordingly. It's already too late to keep it out.

 

As for disease severity I'm not that concerned about Omicron, I'd rather have Omicron going around than Delta, not that there's a choice, come January it's going to be everywhere regardless of what they do and that's not necessarily a bad thing as it does appear to burn itself out relatively quickly.

 

The main annoyance here is not the disease itself but the way they handle it with the forced isolation, this entire forced isolation system will collapse in on itself within weeks of Omicron going wild, count on that.

 

 

Edited December 20, 2021 by ukrules

[tomacht8]

25 minutes ago, bananafish said:

63 confirmed cases, probably all asymptomatic, but SOME may lead to the sniffles. 

 

Omicron is the end of the pandemic, the sooner it becomes the dominant variant, the better.

 

Open up everything now. It's time to revert ALL measures to 2019 standards. 

As crazy as it sounds we can't get rid of the virus. If you then have the choice of the inevitable infection, it is better to infect humanity with a mild C19 variant than with a more aggressive C19 variant.

 

It is time that politicians and scientists finally admit that we as humanity are largely powerless.

 

Well after 3 months the third injection, new lockdowns and contact bans, then again a new variant and again the 4th injection, quarantine, home office, school closure.

 

How long should it go on like this?

[jacko45k]

8 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

Begs the question why the mandatory PCR test less than 72 hours prior to departure is not picking this up.. That's a very small window in which to be infected after testing.

Three days. Not really, quite an opportunity......A pal of mine was due to travel back to the UK, he and wife had their negative PCR test..... then off she went to the market for 2 days stocking up with foodstuffs and gifts to fill the cases with!

[tandor]

...heads or tails..you cry..ok best out of five.

[hotchilli]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

Measures must also be in place to screen travelers entering each province.

If the PCR measures don't work at airport arrivals, then what does he suggest provinces use?

[UKPaul67]

The biggest percentage of Omicron cases are actually returning Thai, or Mecca (Thai) tourists returning. The one case they refer too, after 2 x PCR, is surely a one off. If this happens they need to give a forward date, or at least make sure people are refunded.

[ourmanflint]

No doubt we will get the news on Xmas day. A nice present from Anutin to all would be travellers. 

 

I shall prepare myself for the worst now. Maybe in another 7 weeks the panic will be over