17 hours ago, smedly said:

since Thaland doesn't do mass random testing they will be flying blind with omicron - the only people they yest are those arriving from outside Thailand and those presenting to hospitals and their contacts 

 

They will rely on data from countries that do mass test, we are currently not far enough into this omicron to assess exactly how this will pan out but one thing we can be sure of - omicron is here and it will spread very quickly 

All you need to do is look at the epidemiology of omicron in South Africa where they are about 10 days ahead. In a country with less than 30% vaccinations it has shown to be significantly milder and the average hospital stay is 2.8 days compared to 7 to 9 days of previous variants.

2 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

Is Fauci an elected official....and is he drafting Thailands policies regarding Covid as well as suspending Thai Pass and Test N GO, I dont think so.

no but phizer and moderna vaccines are in thailand 

16 hours ago, The Hammer2021 said:

It's in line with international norms and nothing to do with Thai hysteria.

International Norm - Australia, on arrival self isolate 72 hrs, PCR test within 24hrs of arrival, second PCR test day 5 or 6. If clear good to go. 

Going to be interesting to see the effect of Omicron in Thailand.

 

Considering they do very few tests here, in theory the virus should spread even faster than in Europe. 
 

With an unstoppable virus, I can’t really see the point of destroying the tourism industry further. But maybe the inbound testing and discovering of cases, can keep the focus off the local spread and keep the official numbers low.

 

No matter what, we are all bound to get infected over the next months and the majority of us, will never become an official case number.

 

 

17 hours ago, Sheryl said:

This is what is unclear...

And what I dearly wish to find out. I booked the Novotel airport for T&G as it is convenient in terms of going home next day. But no way would I choose it for a 7 day stay let alone (worst case scenario) 7 day quarantine. 

 

I suppose I can count myself lucky I thought I booked Novotel airport T&G,  but somehow ended up in Novotel Bangkok Platinum Pratunam, maybe a blessing in disguise 

19 minutes ago, yogi yogi said:

no but phizer and moderna vaccines are in thailand 

So Fauci is responsible for the vaccines coming to ThIland...I think your believing to many foil hat folks.

1 hour ago, Daimler said:

Anutin states The Virus Is No Match For The Thailand health system and he is ready to be the new Prime Minister.

The Boss goes really well cop this i am still in charge.

Khun Anutin has a medical degree from where??  Right, no medical degree yet he's the head of the health department.  Who allows these bumbling buffoons into these positions anyway?

Despite the criticism, Thailand is doing better that the UK and the US. When something occurs like Omicron they don't know what may happen and are taking safety precautions. Just carrying on as normal is immature and irresponsible.

18 hours ago, tomyami said:

Over reactions abound worldwide on omicrom, sure tis the season to be jolly

A milder variant that spreads faster and evade vacs that wain might be a good thing

It could be a good thing for sure providing sufficient people have already been vaccinated, otherwise you have another killer surge on your hands. I suspect it is milder in its effects, but we don't know yet.

Just wait and see the Omicron cases rise after new year celebrations.

4 hours ago, fangless said:

I do not believe that humans, (non extinct Homo species that is), in any form, have been around that long! 

Non extint species lol. How did we get here if not for those that came before? That's what evolution is all about. Homo habilis was 2.8 million years ago using tools... That'll do me as an example.

If they think, Omicron is a severe threat, it is the right step to (temporarilly) cancel the T&G scheme.

But it's more than inconsistant then, to allow already approved T&G-travellers to come and make a second PCR test mandatory, a couple of days after those travellers have roamed over the whole country. How many "contacts" might they have had then? And where?

 

Don't get me wrong. I'm happy for those who are approved and able to come, because it would be a disaster for them skipping all bookings and plans. 

12 hours ago, KhaoYai said:

Thanks for that but some parts of that are at odds with Richard Barrow's report.  You would expect the version that you have posted to be the more accurate one but we are talking about Thailand, that's not always the case and nothing's ever clear.

It would have behoved the person you mentioned to give a link to the text he probably read somewhere on the internet and from which he quoted or which he paraphrased. It was because of his failure to do so that I hunted down what may have been his source and posted the link.

12 hours ago, Marsupienemi said:

What about the Thais who are coming back to Thailand ? 
Any particulary quarantine or they still beliving that only the dirty farangs can bring the covid and all his family ?

It is still the same for all arriving passengers, regardless of their nationality, with the exception that Thai nationals do not need to show proof of health insurance.

18 hours ago, tomyami said:

Over reactions abound worldwide on omicrom, sure tis the season to be jolly

A milder variant that spreads faster and evade vacs that wain might be a good thing

Closing the door after the horse has bolted. Its on its way spreading around Thailand, could be in Koh Samui after a visitor transited there, so may then fly south to meet the surge coming up from Indonesia and Singapore, then there will be infiltration from the Burmese coming, being smuggled in, but as it is looking very mild, has displaced Delta in SA, looking like it will displace delta in the USA very soon, UK, looks a bit slower .

Aussie its bolting along, NZ has over 30 in MIQ and do not know if it escaped the other night when someone escaped from MIQ, actually the Greenlane hospital, so I think NZ will soon be infected, but overall this variant seems to be causing milder symptoms and hospital numbers are not going into overdrive, far from it.

1 hour ago, ThailandRyan said:

Is Fauci an elected official....and is he drafting Thailands policies regarding Covid as well as suspending Thai Pass and Test N GO, I dont think so.

Israel is administering a 4th shot.

It's not hysteria it's a reasonable reaction to the current situation not much different to what many European countries are enforcing. In countries with highly developed health care systems the hospitals are running out of ICU beds and cannot treat cancer patients properly anymore, now look at Thailand where many remote locations do not even have access to proper health care. Frustrated? Yes most people are, also and specially Thai people. Scared? Almost everyone, except maybe the brave posters in this forum. 

6 minutes ago, Bohemianfish said:

Israel is administering a 4th shot.

Yes for the over 60's. To be taken 4 months after their last shot. When a public health emergency occurs, precautions also occur

4 hours ago, Sheryl said:

...Fortunately it is sounding like approved  T&G passes will be honored...

Even better, applications correctly and completely submitted before the announced deadline will be honoured, according to the official announcement.

3 hours ago, KhaoYai said:

Well if Richard Barrow is correct, some of us won't have to do the second PCR

As the gentleman you mentioned did not give a link to his source we are unable to verify the accuracy of his social media post.

Time to wake up. This aint about controlling a virus,. There is an Agenda. If you aint joined the dots yet you,ve been asleep. Ignorance is bliss, I envy you. 

That should drop tourist arrivals in 2022 down to 10 million at best.
Why?  Every time a new variant is hyped they'll close down the tourism infrastructure.

In the meantime open up all the roads for domestic travel for New Years just like during Songkran at the beginning of the Delta outbreak.  Then lock the country down a month later.  They could of controlled the Delta outbreak, and they could control the Omicron outbreak.  It's almost as though they don't want to.  They are again taking step to facilitate the spread.  Now figure that out.

Wash, rinse, repeat ad-infinitum. 

2 hours ago, sandyf said:

That would be open to interpretation.

On my policy it was listed as an "Overseas Quarantine Allowance" without any conditions on reason for quarantine.

Which policy is this?

7 minutes ago, Puccini said:

As the gentleman you mentioned did not give a link to his source we are unable to verify the accuracy of his social media post.

I believe he also said that there wasn’t a time limit to enter by January 10th as reported in Thai media, which has again been mentioned in the thread update, so be interesting to see if he got that right or not also. 

So they are admitting that the vaccine doesn’t work????????????

2 hours ago, JonnyF said:

it doesn't really make sense in terms of stopping Omicron

Bingo!

4 hours ago, elgenon said:

Just the other day Anutin said he wants to be Prime Minister. That means he wants to follow Prayut's conservative thinking.

He's worse than Prayut. Don't forget, Anutin who coined the phrase "dirty farangs".

O-M-I-C-R-O-N

O-M-C-R-O-I-N

O-M-C-R-N-I-O

O-M-R-N-I-O-C

O-M-R-O-N-I-C

M-O-R-O-N-I-C

 

Omicron mutation sequence ....????..duh!

31 minutes ago, rocky123 said:

Time to wake up. This aint about controlling a virus,. There is an Agenda. If you aint joined the dots yet you,ve been asleep. Ignorance is bliss, I envy you. 

Really, and are you like 99.9% of the anti vaxxers etc., you have nothing to support your theory?

2 hours ago, MarkyM3 said:

Meanwhile hundreds/thousands come across porous land borders and have done throughout the pandemic......If the Thai authorities truly want to seal their borders then it ain't gonna happen.

So if the back door leaks you open the front door too?

No, you do what you can to close the back door and keep the front door firmly shut.