Covid testing costs for travel are exorbitant!

[webfact]

Covid testing costs for travel are exorbitant!

 

By Hua Hin Today

 

The high cost of PCR tests is and will continue to negatively impact international travel recovery, when tourism is most needed, especially in Thailand. On top of uncertainty over waves linked to the delta variant and now the emergence of the omicron variant, there’s the matter of the coronavirus tests needed to travel.

 

Per person, they can cost hundreds of dollars and exorbitantly increase the cost of an international trip, depending on the place of departure, the destination, the type of test and the company providing them. While many countries offer free or subsidized coronavirus testing, when it comes to tests to meet travel requirements and swift delivery test results, governments often rely on or require private companies to administer them, rather than strained and slow public health systems.

 

The cost of doing business in a volatile industry, coupled with limited government oversight of prices and services, is probably yielding some startling revenues, in USD trillions, as many private companies are taking advantage of a COVID windfall, making huge profits on testing, resulting in the less wealthy forced to forgo vacations abroad as travel seems to become something only the rich can afford.

 

Full story: https://www.huahintoday.com/health/covid-testing-costs-travel-exorbitant/

 

-- © Copyright Hua Hin Today 2022-01-08

 

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[RandiRona]

 Whaaaaaatttttt....Noooooooo

[tomazbodner]

It would mean plane tickets are too cheap. Bring back full IATA rates for flights. There, PCR tests could even be included for free, wouldn't make a dent.

[StayinThailand2much]

15 minutes ago, tomazbodner said:

It would mean plane tickets are too cheap. Bring back full IATA rates for flights. There, PCR tests could even be included for free, wouldn't make a dent.

I'd prefer that. Not keen to pay a lot when travelling to a few countries, having to pay for 1-2 tests every time... Better add it to the ticket price, just like the other extra fees.

Edited January 8, 2022 by StayinThailand2much

[captpkapoor]

My return flight is for the 1st of Feb evening; destination country requires Covid test 72 hours before departure. So I really should get tested by 30th Jan Sunday - any pointers where, please? I live in Bangkok right on the river.

[The Hammer2021]

Not all countries  require  PCR tests such as the UK.

PCR tests are prone to generate  false positive by detecting old dead covid  material  from recovered covid patients.

With the advent of Omicron this phenomenon will increase

This is THE REAL PCR test story.

[The Hammer2021]

11 minutes ago, captpkapoor said:

My return flight is for the 1st of Feb evening; destination country requires Covid test 72 hours before departure. So I really should get tested by 30th Jan Sunday - any pointers where, please? I live in Bangkok right on the river.

What kind of test?

[Joe Farang]

"less wealthy forced to forgo vacations abroad as travel seems to become something only the rich can afford."

 

The plan to have quality wealthy tourists only, who will spend a trillion Baht each is coming along nicely.

No more poor smelly dirty farangs please thank you.

[poohy]

2 hours ago, The Hammer2021 said:

Not all countries  require  PCR tests such as the UK.

PCR tests are prone to generate  false positive by detecting old dead covid  material  from recovered covid patients.

With the advent of Omicron this phenomenon will increase

This is THE REAL PCR test story.

NB

UK only requires 

locator form 

lateral flow on arrival whatever that  is now

[RichardColeman]

Thailand will never reach tourism targets with pcr tests before flight, after flight and another one later in sanbox.

 

Drop all the pcrs, change to just laterals (with pcr on testing positive)  and the tourists will probably come.

[Paul Henry]

Concideration is being give to RAT tests prior to travel. Eventually these RAT test will become the standard. As Omicron takes hold and numbers balloon the labs will not be able to  cope and will be under so much pressure there are bound to be stuff ups caused by human error.

Already there has been close to 2,000 lab results that were wrong in one state of Australia. Resulting in a class action aginst the Labs.

Rat test are 95 - 90% accurate and inexspensive.

[Trip Hop]

5 minutes ago, Paul Henry said:

Concideration is being give to RAT tests prior to travel. Eventually these RAT test will become the standard. As Omicron takes hold and numbers balloon the labs will not be able to  cope and will be under so much pressure there are bound to be stuff ups caused by human error.

Already there has been close to 2,000 lab results that were wrong in one state of Australia. Resulting in a class action aginst the Labs.

Rat test are 95 - 90% accurate and inexspensive.

Depends on the manufacturer but there are some good ones out there? There’s also a lot of bad ones too!

[stigar]

2 hours ago, The Hammer2021 said:

Not all countries  require  PCR tests such as the UK.

PCR tests are prone to generate  false positive by detecting old dead covid  material  from recovered covid patients.

With the advent of Omicron this phenomenon will increase

This is THE REAL PCR test story.

I used medconcult in BKK..adress..sukumvit 49/9..Cheap and fast..www.medconcultbangkok.com

[Trip Hop]

15 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

Thailand will never reach tourism targets with pcr tests before flight, after flight and another one later in sanbox.

 

Drop all the pcrs, change to just laterals (with pcr on testing positive)  and the tourists will probably come.

And do something with the forced hospital isolation if found positive?

[stigar]

2 hours ago, captpkapoor said:

My return flight is for the 1st of Feb evening; destination country requires Covid test 72 hours before departure. So I really should get tested by 30th Jan Sunday - any pointers where, please? I live in Bangkok right on the river.

medconcult ..sukumvit 49/9..fast and cheap.

[hotchilli]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

resulting in the less wealthy forced to forgo vacations abroad as travel seems to become something only the rich can afford.

Just what TAT are looking for... weed-out the cheap Charlies and only filter in the rich.

[Enzian]

To get on my United carrier coming to BKK from SFO I needed a PCR test. A 24 hour turn around was $100, 12 hour turn around at the highest rated outfit was $200 in Oakland. I took the expensive one because there was a lot at stake, and I would have time for another test if it went wrong. It was a drive through, and I drove by a couple of times before and could see the line of cars was never ending all day long. What a business!

[whatsupdoc]

5 hours ago, The Hammer2021 said:

Not all countries  require  PCR tests such as the UK.

PCR tests are prone to generate  false positive by detecting old dead covid  material  from recovered covid patients.

With the advent of Omicron this phenomenon will increase

This is THE REAL PCR test story.

Do you have any source to back that claim? RNA is very unstable and rapidly degraded (unlike DNA), so I highly doubt your statement in the case of RT-PCR tests for Covid-19.

Edited January 8, 2022 by whatsupdoc

[Bluespunk]

2 hours ago, poohy said:

NB

UK only requires 

locator form 

lateral flow on arrival whatever that  is now

That is a very recent development. I travelled to the U.K. late December and required a test both before travelling and within 48 hours of arriving. 

[daveAustin]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

resulting in the less wealthy forced to forgo vacations abroad as travel seems to become something only the rich can afford.

This is good news for Thailand as they don’t want us paupers visiting anyway! ????

Expect further test price hikes!

Edited January 8, 2022 by daveAustin

[Virt]

1 hour ago, whatsupdoc said:

Do you have any source to back that claim? RNA is very unstable and rapidly degraded (unlike DNA), so I highly doubt your statement in the case of RT-PCR tests for Covid-19.

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanmic/article/PIIS2666-5247(20)30172-5/fulltext

 

It's old news so no idea why the other poster implies there is a hidden story somewhere.

 

Authorities are aware that PCR tests can test positive after infection.

Which is why some countries don't demand a negative test before you can go back to work after infection,

since it would take quite a while for some people to test negative.

[Partenavia]

Thai's travelling and doing the right thing by testing with ART and being forced to pay 100 baht per test to buy from chemists. Here in the UK they are free.

[StayinThailand2much]

4 hours ago, hotchilli said:

Just what TAT are looking for... weed-out the cheap Charlies and only filter in the rich.

It's their country; they can pick and choose. But like this, don't expect to break the 2019 arrivals record any time soon. And better not expect as many tourism-related jobs as back then either.

Edited January 8, 2022 by StayinThailand2much

[whatsupdoc]

1 hour ago, Virt said:

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanmic/article/PIIS2666-5247(20)30172-5/fulltext

 

It's old news so no idea why the other poster implies there is a hidden story somewhere.

 

Authorities are aware that PCR tests can test positive after infection.

Which is why some countries don't demand a negative test before you can go back to work after infection,

since it would take quite a while for some people to test negative.

Thank you for the article. It does not however tell that PCR test are prone to false positives due to "dead" virus material as claimed by the other poster.

 

It does say that the virus genetic material can still be found for quite a while after infection. Whether or not these virus particles are infectious is difficult to tell, maybe the laboratory test for that is not accurate enough (it might not detect below a certain threshold of virus particles, unlike the PCR test).

 

[Virt]

51 minutes ago, whatsupdoc said:

Thank you for the article. It does not however tell that PCR test are prone to false positives due to "dead" virus material as claimed by the other poster.

 

It does say that the virus genetic material can still be found for quite a while after infection. Whether or not these virus particles are infectious is difficult to tell, maybe the laboratory test for that is not accurate enough (it might not detect below a certain threshold of virus particles, unlike the PCR test).

 

It says this in the article.

It's that not the same as saying a positive pcr test after day nice are false positive, since there are no live virus left or am I mixing up things?

 

No study detected live virus beyond day 9 of illness, despite persistently high viral loads, which were inferred from cycle threshold values.

[poohy]

4 hours ago, Bluespunk said:

That is a very recent development. I travelled to the U.K. late December and required a test both before travelling and within 48 hours of arriving. 

 

After you arrive in England you must take a COVID-19 test. This is the test that you booked before travel.

This must be a PCR test if you arrive in England before 4am Sunday 9 January. If you arrive after 4am, 9 January you can use a lateral flow test. You will be able to book lateral flow tests from 7 January.

You can take the test any time after you arrive and before the end of day 2 at the latest. The day you arrive is day 0.

[Bluespunk]

25 minutes ago, poohy said:

 

After you arrive in England you must take a COVID-19 test. This is the test that you booked before travel.

This must be a PCR test if you arrive in England before 4am Sunday 9 January. If you arrive after 4am, 9 January you can use a lateral flow test. You will be able to book lateral flow tests from 7 January.

You can take the test any time after you arrive and before the end of day 2 at the latest. The day you arrive is day 0.

So as I said, a recent development. 

[EricTh]

8 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

Thailand will never reach tourism targets with pcr tests before flight, after flight and another one later in sanbox.

 

Drop all the pcrs, change to just laterals (with pcr on testing positive)  and the tourists will probably come.

 

The government has an iron bowl so whether or not tourism improves, they are not affected. 

 

It's the common people who are suffering from loss of jobs and not the government officials.

 

 

Edited January 8, 2022 by EricTh

[whatsupdoc]

1 hour ago, Virt said:

It says this in the article.

It's that not the same as saying a positive pcr test after day nice are false positive, since there are no live virus left or am I mixing up things?

 

No study detected live virus beyond day 9 of illness, despite persistently high viral loads, which were inferred from cycle threshold values.

Right. It does make me wonder though why the virus particles seem no longer infectious. Like I said, RNA is very rapidly degraded unless protected by the virus envelope or some protein. Maybe some kind of blocking of the spike protein does the trick.

[Dont confuse me]

PCR tests are a money spinner, and just the start of things to come, don't think for one minute that the world wide financial impact this pandemic has caused will not cost the average guy something. 

Lost revenues have to be recovered which invariably means pice hikes