Top official describes the popular ‘Test and Go’ entry as a loophole exposing Thailand to Omicron

[mjakob007]

1 hour ago, geisha said:

Honestly , the world saw that video, it was a horrifying example of lack of hygiene!! The best possible  place to catch Covid, not on an airplane or in a bar, just in an isolation unit .

would there be a defamation suit for negative review!

[BangkokReady]

Would have come in regardless, as it did with Thais for all the other variants.

 

Just racism to try and blame Thailand's problems on foreigners.  Sad.

[rwill]

How about proposing all alcohol must be at least 70% so it will kill the virus.

[ThailandRyan]

1 minute ago, BangkokReady said:

Would have come in regardless, as it did with Thais for all the other variants.

 

Just racism to try and blame Thailand's problems on foreigners.  Sad.

I agree 100%, Looks like todays numbers of cases are once again a charade as the number have dropped backwards......so how again is what they are doing just since Friday Evenings announcement been responsible for a drop in 2 days.  However, I am sure they will see it as they have again won and been successful. 

[Yewbzee]

If only they had had the foresight to ban alcohol sales in January 2020 I'm sure Thailand would be Covid free now.

[flbkk]

When Covid first started, I supported the harshest measures. I am a healthcare professional. I thought that Thailand should have Berlin wall border security, without shooting people of course, your free quarantine to Burmese  workers so they wouldn’t have incentive to jump the border, When vaccines became available, people should be forced to take them, and those unwilling or in eligible for vaccination should be kept at home, including children. However with Omicron, it seems like the only thing to do is let it go. There has been a lot of debate in this thread about whether there is forced incarceration of foreigners who test positive. Sometimes this is so. I’ve been an executive for a for profit hospital in the United States. My primary duty was to fill the beds. With private hospitals in Thailand, and hotels use for isolation, the goal is the same. They’re going to lobby to force people into them. Also, with insurance, the goal is not to pay claims. So you have insurance companies not covering asymptomatic quarantine, or refusing to pay legitimate claims.

 

 

 

[meechai]

44 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

Dr Taweesilp Visanuyothin is a blazing idiot. The number of people found positive from the program was miniscule. He is just another emotionally undeveloped fool, looking for a scapegoat, and refusing to take responsibility for anything. Dumb and dumber. 

 

Woe is Thailand when men like him end up in positions of leadership. True bottom of the barrel selections. 

It is true & something all foreigners residing in Thailand by choice should look at closely.

 

Try to realize that while yes the whole covid story was big but not major...it is not in reality that big not like a missile crisis or civil war or many other much bigger things

 

If this whole covid fiasco in Thailand has shown foreigners anything it should be that you do not want to be trapped in Thailand in a REAL Crisis period!

 

Yes a nice place to visit ....or was pre 2014 but these days it is General Dumb & his other brother General Dumber running the show & sadly even supposed doctors etc show the same small minded ignorance with their explanation in this article yet again blaming others for what was inevitable & in many ways a blessing for the world to have this milder mass immunization thru Omicron

 

If your not the Foreigner that is trapped by a situation to live out your life in Thailand learn something from this small test run crisis called Covid...Take a look elsewhere while you still can.

 

Look at other countries & see how they helped their citizens thru this small crisis & see what was given freely in aid

Then look at Thailand...If not for the kindness of others they would not even have any vaccines

 

For the citizens look at how they were not helped at all with any social aid food/cash stimulus etc

 

Not trying to scare monger just a wake up notice to any still asleep

[nickmondo]

tourists or no tourists

alcohol or no alcohol

you cannot stop Omicron

let it happen for goodness sake, then all this <deleted> will be behind us.....

[spidermike007]

Taweesilp is an overly rich, self entitled man, who very unfortunately was put into a position of authority, where he has been able to make consistently damaging, dangerous and erroneous statements. 

 

He has absolutely no understanding of basic economics, and cares not one iota about the economic well being of the common man, and knows nothing of the vital impact tourism and it's related industries has on the Thai economy.

 

Men like him should not be given a pulpit from which they can spout nonsense. However, it is symptomatic of a typical Prayuth style lack of leadership. 

 

 

[jacko45k]

20 minutes ago, Yewbzee said:

If only they had had the foresight to ban alcohol sales in January 2020 I'm sure Thailand would be Covid free now.

I bet there would be a lot less in Pattaya right now!

[law ling]

I think the porous land borders have been a greater "loophole" ... but the guy is a Dr. so I won't argue with him.

 

Why didn't he speak up earlier? 

 

Test & Go is a child of the government ... so he's just made himself unpopular ... next time Senate seats need to be allocated.

[TKDfella]

Ha, wonder what this government will do if the new 'combination Delta/Omicron, Deltacron' is found in Thailand (25 cases apparently identified in Cyprus)? 

[Dialemco]

Omrcron will have entered Thailand whether or not borders closed  It will be with us indefinitely.  International  Tourists will not come to Thailand or any where else when quarantine is required and when those who have braved the ever changing rules imposed by government  and local administrations are treating so badly incarcerated in state hospitals for no medical reason and charged  double  prices which not recoverable from Thai Insurance Insurance Polices  they have been compelled to purchase. So make up your minds allow tourists entry without restrictions or keep borders closed stop the immeasurable harm being caused to the tourist industry before it is too late.

[misterphil]

If all these tourists brought in Omicron then all these tourists have the $50,000 insurance so shouldn't that have the hospitals making a lot of money that goes back in to the government? 

[tomacht8]

And again, the foreigners are to blame. This stupid oversimplification of a complex problem shows the helplessness of this "doctor". As if their, sometimes idiotic, measures would completely eradicate C19. With such limited-thinking people, the misery only gets worse and lasts longer.

[Mike k]

2 hours ago, DonniePeverley said:

 

 

This was literally last week, and countless other tourists being sent to hospitals (or isolation units). 

He's lucky they don't sue him for defamation 

[Cake Monster]

So, it has only taken this Top Official,- Taweesilp, over 2 Years to realise that any kind of " Opening " of the Country to Tourism without Quarantine, would make the Country vulnerable to any kind of Covid Variant that was in existence.

What a top man.

[D M G]

Everything seems to go into ~2 weeks reviews.  Stay tuned for the end of the month.

[Mike k]

38 minutes ago, rwill said:

How about proposing all alcohol must be at least 70% so it will kill the virus.

What proof would whiskey would that be ????

[Cake Monster]

9 minutes ago, TKDfella said:

Ha, wonder what this government will do if the new 'combination Delta/Omicron, Deltacron' is found in Thailand (25 cases apparently identified in Cyprus)? 

I also heard from my Daughter yesterday of this so called  "Hybrid " Variant that was located in Cyprus.

However, I have seen no such reports on BBC or any other News Channel of this reported find.

Anutin did mention that Omicron, and Delta, were both on the increase here in Thailand.  - Again, it was Anutin speaking

Are they combined into this " Hybrid " Variant. ?

We will have to wait and see. I for one certainly hope not.

 

 

[ThailandRyan]

2 minutes ago, Cake Monster said:

I also heard from my Daughter yesterday of this so called  "Hybrid " Variant that was located in Cyprus.

However, I have seen no such reports on BBC or any other News Channel of this reported find.

Anutin did mention that Omicron, and Delta, were both on the increase here in Thailand.  - Again, it was Anutin speaking

Are they combined into this " Hybrid " Variant. ?

We will have to wait and see. I for one certainly hope not.

 

 

Thailand will call it OhMyMelticron................

[Cake Monster]

4 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

Thailand will call it OhMyMelticron................

Dont you mean they will call it " Oh My Godicron "

[JacksonM]

1 hour ago, WEBBYB808 said:

Yes !  It actually  did!

????????

[ThailandRyan]

6 minutes ago, Cake Monster said:

Dont you mean they will call it " Oh My Godicron "

I like yours better then mine....lol

[hioctane]

3 hours ago, DonniePeverley said:

Countries with their borders sealed are still seeing massive omicron waves. 

 

Thailand's borders are not sealed - they have porous boders into Mynamar, which are in turn porous into India. India is seeing a massive wave of Omicron infections at the moment, and this will eventually seep into Myanmar and then into Thailand. 

 

Targetting tourism (which is vital for the Thai economy) is low grade xenophobia playing to the crowd. 

 

Thailand are treating this new Omicron wave just like the original variant. You cannot do this. You have 300,000 daily cases in France, 480,000 cases in the USA, 200,000 cases in Italy - you can't lock this many people up daily. Targetting tourism is like cutting of your nose to spite your face. 

 

What is the end game here then? Just seal borders forever?

You are behind. USA has surpassed a million a day! And yes, it happened that fast. It almost doubled in a week. 

 

However, it is not the same as before. Symptoms are milder and vaccination definitely helped prepare for it.

 

 

[hioctane]

16 minutes ago, Cake Monster said:

I also heard from my Daughter yesterday of this so called  "Hybrid " Variant that was located in Cyprus.

However, I have seen no such reports on BBC or any other News Channel of this reported find.

Anutin did mention that Omicron, and Delta, were both on the increase here in Thailand.  - Again, it was Anutin speaking

Are they combined into this " Hybrid " Variant. ?

We will have to wait and see. I for one certainly hope not.

 

 

They are millions of variants. Everytime viruses spread they mutate. It is just that some are more notable than others.

[sambum]

3 hours ago, Daithi85 said:

Why do u keep saying their locking everybody up? Mandatory quarantine is no longer been enforced. Home isolation is the new Go for people who with no symptoms or mild.Things are completely different here this time round,no lockdowns, no curfews.

"Mandatory quarantine is no longer been enforced"

 

It is where I come from, and a couple of my friends with no symptoms are being "held" in th e most expensive hospital on the island - why? - IMHO because they have insurance and he is a "wealthy farang". And people that are being tested at the local clinic are being told told that if the test proves positive, an ambulance will be sent to their home to "collect" them and take them to hospital.

 

"Things are completely different here this time round,no lockdowns, no curfews."

 

Oh.yeah, for how long? "The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) on Friday did not go as far as public health officials had demanded by banning alcohol sales nationwide. Nonetheless, it is believed that a further tightening of regulations has begun."

 

 

[JustAnotherHun]

3 hours ago, Daithi85 said:

Why do u keep saying their locking everybody up? Mandatory quarantine is no longer been enforced. Home isolation is the new Go for people who with no symptoms or mild.

This seems to be handled differently.

My GF and my son were locked in to a "hospitel" in Pattaya on Saturday. Both without symptoms

[Trip Hop]

1 hour ago, BangkokReady said:

Would have come in regardless, as it did with Thais for all the other variants.

 

Just racism to try and blame Thailand's problems on foreigners.  Sad.

I wonder who they would try to blame if Thailand had its own mutation? Most probably keep quiet until they allow it to transmit outside then blame them?

[mran66]

5 hours ago, TooMuchTime said:

They need to immediately round up all foreigners and put them in isolation camps.

 

 

... And instruct anybody thinking of holiday in Thailand skip the hassle of travel and just send the money to Thailand!  Easier for everyone.