Thailand may cancel Test & Go due to Omicron: Anutin

[Tuvoc]

2 minutes ago, soi3eddie said:

Most hotel WiFi is hopeless everywhere (with a few exceptions). Always make sure that you have a back-up connection

I've seen reports of many ASQ hotels having very fast WIFI. Mine didn't even though advertised as "high speed". If it is important to anyone, they should check real-word reports, and yes have a backup.

[RichardColeman]

2 minutes ago, Tuvoc said:

Agreed. If they announce the withdrawal of Test & Go, they should at least make it effective a week or so into the future - maybe 1 Jan - so that people have time to re-arrange their travel if necessary.

You'd be very reliant on getting a new TP, flights, insurance and hotel rescheduled quickly to do that. And all that over Xmas !

[JackGats]

20 minutes ago, Tuvoc said:

I did mine a month in advance. No reason to wait if you have everything that is needed.

Good to know.

Only reason to wait would be if you can't trust the airline not to change their schedule. Now of course I'll wait a few days given this piece of bad news.

[VBF]

55 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

I actually just got a caution on Facebook for using the word Twit and Anutin in the same sentence.

Well you shouldn't have promoted him!

How very dare you? ????

[Scott]

Numerous off-topic posts and replies reported and removed.  The topic is about Thailand and Test & Go.  

 

[spidermike007]

Anyone have any inside information on how this could affect those who have already been approved for re-entry into Thailand, under the overnight ASQ program? 

[soi3eddie]

2 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

Anyone have any inside information on how this could affect those who have already been approved for re-entry into Thailand, under the overnight ASQ program? 

Plus one this question as I'm booked to arrive on Test and Go 19th January with Thai Pass already issued and hotel booked. How might this be affected?

 

[crouchpeter]

16 hours ago, Cake Monster said:

If I were you Sheryl, I would return ASAP.

OK, the Omicron situation is not so bad yet here ( possibly ), but the Omicron variant has displayed its rampant nature already around the Globe, doubling every 2 Days..

For Sure Thailand will get the Omicron Virus Variant, but its a question of how soon it become a real issue here.

Best wishes

You can't change your plans that easily. I'm due back from Sydney on the 30th. The Thai Pass is not transferable, the SHA hotel is non refundable, and it's 6,000 baht to change your flight booking! (And anyway...to when?).

Perhaps, Thailand is finished as a tourist destination. Could be a good thing.

[crouchpeter]

15 hours ago, worrab said:

He also said people who have already received two vaccine doses for three months should get theirbooster shots regardless of the brand they were administered previously. 

 

Just shows how much he knows as, having communicated via email with THG, they are still following the 6 months ruling. I have had 2 Pfizer jabs in Sept and have to wait until March.

Yet again Anutin is going against the manufacturers recommendations!! 2 shots of Chinese, okay get a booster in 3 months, but forget it if you have AZ, Phizer or Moderna. 

UK and Australia are talking 5 or 4 months for the booster. Soon they'll allow 3 months.

[ukrules]

26 minutes ago, crouchpeter said:

UK and Australia are talking 5 or 4 months for the booster. Soon they'll allow 3 months.

That 'allow' will then become a 'demand' every 3 months...just watch.

Edited December 20, 2021 by ukrules

[SiSePuede419]

37 minutes ago, soi3eddie said:

Anyone have any inside information on how this could affect those who have already been approved for re-entry into Thailand, under the overnight ASQ program? 

No inside info, but expect the quarantine period to be extended to 7 days. 

 

My hotel, Zenith offers reduced room rates in case of extension (which you would have to do if you test + anyway).

 

I'm expecting they will change policy once I'm in the air on Thursday and when I land on Saturday, they'll tell me I have to quarantine 7 days.

 

Plan for it.  Have something to work on at the Quarantine hotel.

 

Make some lemonade. ????

[donx]

If it was up to me, I’d cancel my family’s planned trip to leave for Thailand on December 26, but it’s not. My wife already missed seeing her father before he passed away last month and she wants to see her mom before she goes which will probably be within a few months.

 

I’m concerned that my family will test positive before they leave. Cases in our high school went from a few each week to over 40 this weekend. None of my family are staying away from groups of other people. I see everything crashing down around us right before they’re scheduled to leave. Nothing I can do about any of this except to watch it all unfold. Like watching a slow-motion car crash. And now the pulling of the proverbial Thailand Pass rug from underneath them just adds to the insanity.

[Sheryl]

6 hours ago, SiSePuede419 said:

.....

Do Thai mobile phone companies care if you have a Hotspot on your phone? 

 

Because I doubt even private hospitals have Wi-Fi and I'll need to create my own Wifi connection.

Private hospitals here -- in Bangkok at least -- have wifi.

 

And you can use hotspot with any mobile carrier if you have data package.

[elgenon]

18 hours ago, Cake Monster said:

If I were you Sheryl, I would return ASAP.

OK, the Omicron situation is not so bad yet here ( possibly ), but the Omicron variant has displayed its rampant nature already around the Globe, doubling every 2 Days..

For Sure Thailand will get the Omicron Virus Variant, but its a question of how soon it become a real issue here.

Best wishes

A real issue when they do more testing.

[peter zwart]

19 hours ago, tomacht8 said:

Since March 2020, all the lockdown measures and restrictions have shown that the virus cannot be stopped with the new waves that keep appearing, worldwide. The only thing that has been achieved at best is a time lag. Perhaps a rethink now makes sense and mankind should now - to all appearances - 'sweat out' the milder virus variant. Better to end with horror than horror without end.

Good to read that more people now finally realize that all the measures wont stop this virus. all we can hope for is that the virus mutate itself into a kind of flu. In the mean time, deal with it. If you scared....stay away from public places. If youre not.......enjoy the relative freedom and be careful.

[KhaoYai]

10 hours ago, Bangkok Barry said:

So you are saying that those who, understandably, travel now are not running a risk of closed borders and/or quarantine?

No, I am saying that many of us have been waiting for a long time and booked as soon as the great leader announced his Grand Re-opening on 1 November for a trial period until 1 January. Even On Saturday Anutin was proclaiming that Omicron was no match for Thai doctors, should we have had absolutely no confidence in those statements and expected them to consider ending the programme with just 11 days to go until the trial period finishes?

Edited December 20, 2021 by KhaoYai

[Bangkok Barry]

16 minutes ago, KhaoYai said:

No, I am saying that many of us have been waiting for a long time and booked as soon as the great leader announced his Grand Re-opening on 1 November for a trial period until 1 January. Even On Saturday Anutin was proclaiming that Omicron was no match for Thai doctors, should we have had absolutely no confidence in those statements and expected them to consider ending the programme with just 11 days to go until the trial period finishes?

Anyone who believes a word this government says, especially him, deserves all that comes to them. Doesn't only apply to Thailand, of course. The only thing the UK government has got right during the entire pandemic is the vaccine rollout. Anyone who claims that Omicron is no match for the brilliance of the Thai medical profession is deluded, a fantasist and a liar. Any other government claimed that? No, because it has no base in reality.

So to answer your question, no. You nor anyone else should have faith in any government proclamation regarding Covid, as it is the virus that is in charge, so cleverly that as soon as we make progress against us it comes back in a different and more deadly or more transmissible form. How Anutin can say it is no match for Thailand when no-one yet knows its full effect says it all. Just more hot air which unfortunately some accept at face value.

 

There is a pandemic on. It is not going away anytime soon. It means that many are separated from family, but that is the way it is. No amount of wishing and hoping and grinding of teeth against setbacks will change that. 

[aussiexpat]

4 hours ago, JackGats said:

Good to know.

Only reason to wait would be if you can't trust the airline not to change their schedule. Now of course I'll wait a few days given this piece of bad news.

How about reason to wait is to avoid pre-paying everything only to have Thailand change the rules just before your planned trip.

 

I've pre-paid 32,000 baht to travel one-way to Thailand in January only for it to now be wasted... Thailand can go and get <deleted>!

[Waynou]

I have paid for my Test and go accommodation which is non-refundable for arrival in mid-January 

I suppose this is one way of boosting the economy..

[spidermike007]

2 hours ago, soi3eddie said:

Plus one this question as I'm booked to arrive on Test and Go 19th January with Thai Pass already issued and hotel booked. How might this be affected?

 

In a world of fairness, common sense and reason, we would be grandfathered in, regardless of what they decide. But, it appears the supercowards may not see it that way. Let us hope reason prevails. This is NOT the Bubonic plague. 

[KhaoYai]

13 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

In a world of fairness, common sense and reason, we would be grandfathered in, regardless of what they decide. But, it appears the supercowards may not see it that way. Let us hope reason prevails. This is NOT the Bubonic plague. 

I agree with that. If they do plan to cancel Test & Go it would do far less harm to them and us, if they simply suspended new Test & Go Thailand Pass applications.

 

One thing I wonder, for those of us who really have to travel.  All I've seen at the moment is the possible cancellation of Test & Go - nothing about Sandbox entrants.  The African countries that were placed under new restrictions recently had to accept 14 day quarantine so we might also face the same.  I believe under the Sandbox programme, you only have to stay put for 7 days - that would be a lot more palatable for me. Have to wait and see if Test & Go is actually cancelled.

Edited December 21, 2021 by KhaoYai

[Scott]

Off-topic posts and replies removed.  The topic is about Test&Go.  General commentary on Covid and variants does not belong here.  There is an entire section devoted to Covid.  Post there. 

 

Continued off-topic posts could result in a suspension.  

 

[spidermike007]

2 hours ago, crouchpeter said:

You can't change your plans that easily. I'm due back from Sydney on the 30th. The Thai Pass is not transferable, the SHA hotel is non refundable, and it's 6,000 baht to change your flight booking! (And anyway...to when?).

Perhaps, Thailand is finished as a tourist destination. Could be a good thing.

Thailand has been finished as a tourist destination for at least the past 6 months, as 70 other nations opened to tourism, without restrictions. 

 

Expect no more than 5 million annual tourists, even 5 or 6 years from now. 

[cfrsh91]

Considering the possibility of me (and many others no doubt) having to switch from Test & Go to Sandbox at the last minute, can anyone shed light on whether you're allowed to transit domestically to other 'blue sandbox' zones from BKK?

I seem to recall a long list of Blue Sandbox locations, many of which don't have international airports so slightly perplexed as to how you could manage without a transfer?

[sirineou]

Regardless of if they continue the Test and Go or not, Omicron is going to come here, so why do it?

Perhaps it could delay it's arrival  a bit? I am not sure if the delay would be worth the disruption, but who knows. 

[Dinand]

I am in a nice queue to get the international covid cert (been in the queue for more than a month) in January, guess I won't need it anymore...

[Archie501]

8 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

Yesterday there were 90,000 new infections. Three times last years numbers. 

The only counter to that is that last year testing was far less at about 300,000, compared to around 1.3-1.5 mil in recent days.

 

And with those 30,000 cases last year there were 534 deaths. And yet yesterday with three times as many cases there were 45.

[jacko45k]

1 minute ago, Archie501 said:

And with those 30,000 cases last year there were 534 deaths. And yet yesterday with three times as many cases there were 45.

Yes, we have a fully vaccinated population, and what appears to be a less pathological strain now. But there are many worried that may not be a foregone conclusion yet. 

[Danderman123]

With a shorter Omicron incubation period, quarantine could be shortened to 3 days.

[ThailandRyan]

24 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

A couple of expansions. 

If 250,000 test positive, the real number of new infections is possibly 10x that. Certainly a lot more.

Those that test positive need to go into quarantine to limit infections. They will have to stop working and may well work for essential or medical services.

Of the number of infections, it is certain some will be symptomatic, and some seriously. A smaller portion of a far bigger number is still potentially overwhelming. 

Last year, in the UK at Christmas, new infections were about 30,000/day, hospitals were overwhelmed by 3000/ day admissions, which got worse to 4000/day early January 2021. (A Tsunami of patients on Christmas day was one quote).

Yesterday there were 90,000 new infections. Three times last years numbers. 

The only counter to that is that last year testing was far less at about 300,000, compared to around 1.3-1.5 mil in recent days.

 

Would be fantastic if they would allow those of us who return and live here, who use the Test N Go, actually have our own place, to isolate at home if positive via the PCR test, and who show no symptoms.  I know the Insurance I have covers Covid, but I would rather isolate and rest in the confines of my own home, until I actually needed treatment, if I needed treatment.