Thailand to resume registration for quarantine-free ‘Test and Go’ program on Feb 1

[Bangkok Barry]

Does the Test & Go Mk 2 also reintroduce the rule from Mk 1 that anyone returning to Thailand in less than 21 days does not need to quarantine except while waiting for the PCR test result?

[Enoon]

39 minutes ago, au82tiger said:

I figured something like this would happen.  4 days ago I got my TP for the 7 days quarantine, for the 4th of February.  I live in Khon Kaen so traveling back & Forth would be ridiculous, but it'd be nice to not be in lock down for no good reason.  On top of that my car is there in Bangkok at my usual hotel and just the other day they started their ASQ status.  It could have been very nice to be in a one day quarantine with my car with me.  I wonder if I could get it changed... but I'll bet you can't apply for the Test 'n Go until the 1st.  If anyone has any insight I'd love some input.  Tim

There seems to be problem with Thai people, in print/text, using "the" instead of "a".

 

One sees it all the time, ie "passengers must have the ticket for travel" instead of "passengers must have a ticket for travel".

 

My guess is that tourists will be required to book into a hotel, anywhere, for the 5th day test.

 

 

 

[robertson468]

Hopefully as time progresses the Government will realize that to test again on day 5 is not the best tactic, because arrivals will have been wondering around the Country with a risk of becoming infected.    I believe that many will decide to go elsewhere.  Thailand is not doing itself any favours with this "Test and go" system.  Hopefully, as time goes bye, those in charge will review this rule and either reduce it to the original 1 day isolation, or like the UK do away with it all together! 

[fulhamster]

18 hours ago, Will B Good said:

So does the 5th night have to be spent in same hotel as 1st night?

 

What is the purpose of having to be in a hotel (other than money).....it just increases the chance of the infection spreading when I could be at home.

The sole purpose of the 2nd hotel booking is purely baht

[fulhamster]

13 minutes ago, robertson468 said:

Hopefully as time progresses the Government will realize that to test again on day 5 is not the best tactic, because arrivals will have been wondering around the Country with a risk of becoming infected. 

Perhaps that is what they are hoping for 10 days in hospital at an extortionate cost

[tlcwaterfall]

4 hours ago, wensiensheng said:

Yes. But why test again on day 5 now? Tourists have 5 days roaming around during which they may catch the virus. Lots of covid here, my daughter is isolating at home with it as we speak. So the day 5 test serves what purpose?

The purpose is to continue to give the hotels and associated hospitals extra income!

[happydreamer]

Lets just get back to life so they can make money elsewhere besides extorting residents.  

 

[Tonypandy]

18 hours ago, DonniePeverley said:

This is NOT Test and Go . 

 

The second test does not make it TEST AND GO. It makes it test and test again then go after 5 days, except in Thai logic the 5th day is really the 6th day. 

 

If you are coming on holiday for a week or two, this is utterly ridiculous and fraught with risk of testing positive and thus ending up in a hospital for 2 weeks. 

 

It's essentially just the Sandbox programme isn't it ?

Test Go Test Go

[shaff]

why day 5 in hotel waiting for tests?? when you have been free for 3 days mixing with the population? can some someone please explain the rationale? apart from the forced spend in a hotel for that night...

[DLock]

There is dumb, really dumb and then Thai dumb.

 

This "Test and Go, and then come back and do Test and Go again" will not last long.

 

The knucklehead that came up with this idea, and the groupthink sycophants will redact this in a few weeks back to "Test and Go" with a Hospital test at Day 5.

 

They had 1 job.

[Mr Meeseeks]

1 hour ago, robertson468 said:

Hopefully as time progresses the Government will realize that to test again on day 5 is not the best tactic, because arrivals will have been wondering around the Country with a risk of becoming infected.    I believe that many will decide to go elsewhere.  Thailand is not doing itself any favours with this "Test and go" system.  Hopefully, as time goes bye, those in charge will review this rule and either reduce it to the original 1 day isolation, or like the UK do away with it all together! 

The test and go system is not to benefit visitors or to encourage people to come, it is to demonstrate how well they are doing in controlling the spread of the virus in Thailand and to inconvenience foreign visitors because, in true Thai fashion, they don't really want loads of us here at the moment but just can't come out and openly say so.

[mancub]

Measures aimed simply both at pacifying their xenophobia and partially appeasing the tourism industry.

Half-ar&ed at best.

[Chongalulu]

19 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

Astonishingly idiotic....

 

OK - Test & Go with 1 night makes sense...

 

.... but the 5th night highlights an utter degree of paranoia combined with utter stupidity and all because a handful of people have ‘travelled on’ before getting a result which was positive.

 

I can’t fathom the idiocy of discussion in that room when these decisions were being made....

Most unfathomable Thai officialdom decisions are easily explained by reference to Hanlon's Razor and the Dunning Kruger effect. Or perhaps more simplistically by the 'Thai Thick gene ' ???? 

[tomyami]

My feeling and was hoping to go in jan/feb now it be after sonkran in april, last year thats when it shutdown, the 10 days isolation when found positive more lightly with omicron for the next month or 2

The new rule to enter Thailand is just one big sandbox.

Might go Cambodia in march for a month first.

[jacko45k]

1 hour ago, fulhamster said:

The sole purpose of the 2nd hotel booking is purely baht

I thought it was because some infected people were not showing up as positive on-arrival testing. Perhaps not having been infected long enough, (could be infected en-route). There were a few cases and hence the day 5 testing came in....

[grantbkk]

These fools must have come up with the 2nd test plan while being entertained by mistresses and bargirls by these rip-off hotels. 
We don’t know how many skipped the second test but making it a 10,000 Baht fine and deportations for a violation of the testing requirement should act as a deterrent. There are enough police standing around in every picture I see to get the job done. A nominal bounty of 1,000 Baht will get themoff their ass. 
the 2nd test BS money grab will put off tourists. 

[jacko45k]

2 minutes ago, grantbkk said:

There are enough police standing around in every picture I see to get the job done

The way to get a Policeman is not to call 191, but get a camera out and a big flowchart.

[Harveyboy]

20 hours ago, Will B Good said:

Been away for two months and the wife is pining for me....555

hamsun man i bet 

[mjakob007]

5 hours ago, Danderman123 said:

By definition, there cannot be an overstay for hospitalizations during Test and Go. 

There has been several instances of visitors being levied fine for overstay.

but then, who has the nerves to argue about this, when one could potentially miss a flight and cost even more

[tomyami]

1 hour ago, jacko45k said:

I thought it was because some infected people were not showing up as positive on-arrival testing. Perhaps not having been infected long enough, (could be infected en-route). There were a few cases and hence the day 5 testing came in....

Previous people arriving with a thai pass fully vaxed and 72 hour found to be less than 2%

locals mostly untested, poor quality vaccines and most social interaction are the bigger risk put the two together who is more likely to infect....

and its not the one who has to pay

[scorecard]

14 hours ago, CartagenaWarlock said:

I thought the 300 baht surcharge should cover for health insurance for at least a month or two. 

Does anybody have full details of:

- how it works/

- what is covered/

- how long the cover lasts/

- can it be extended etc?

[simola]

Who in their right mind would want to go to Thailand for a holiday? Day 1 and 5 tests. Bars and pubs closed. Restaurants on curfew. Public still scared to death through lack of information and communication.  There are so many other countries that will welcome you with open arms. 

[jacko45k]

13 minutes ago, tomyami said:

Previous people arriving with a thai pass fully vaxed and 72 hour found to be less than 2%

locals mostly untested, poor quality vaccines and most social interaction are the bigger risk put the two together who is more likely to infect....

and its not the one who has to pay

Locals have been vaccinated with AZ or Pfizer in some cases and is not the issue.... that is a diversion.

.......2 in a hundred foreign arrivals can infect a lot of people, Treetown might be an example! Omicron certainly did not walk here. 

[MarkyM3]

19 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

You just know that come 10th February there is going to be a whole host of stories and posts on here about catching covid whilst out in the general populace for 4 days between first and second test !

 

I'll stick with my 7 days hotel AQ. Chances of catching covid between 1st and 2nd test in AQ hotel is pretty remote compared to mixing with the 142th per million ranked untested thais. Don't mind sacrificing a few days as  I should be in country for minimum 14 months

Coming to same conclusion. I arrive on 3rd Feb from the UK.

 

This day 5 test means a risk for picking up C19 while walking round outside, assuming you pass the day 1 test, and then facing the possibility of hospital/hospitel sanctions and the aggravation around getting an insurer to pay for it if asymptomatic.

 

It would be handy to be let out of the room, though, to go poolside/sunbathing as I'd assume that's low risk if ensuring socially distancing/hygiene (and not expecting many guests about anyway....).

 

In any case, the TP website still shows the Test & Go option hasn't been updated  so it's not selectable as of now. I'm not willing to wait more than 8 days before I make my TP application so if it's not sorted by next Monday then I am just applying via the AQ method.

[MarkyM3]

19 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

Locals have been vaccinated with AZ or Pfizer in some cases and is not the issue.... that is a diversion.

.......2 in a hundred foreign arrivals can infect a lot of people, Treetown might be an example! Omicron certainly did not walk here. 

The vast majority of C19 cases are coming in across the porous land borders and have been since the start of the pandemic. Foreigners arriving by air, being double or triple vaxxed and tested before and on arrival, carry a relatively low risk. The lack of testing in Thailand means no-one has any idea about the real prevelance of C19 in the community.

 

People testing positive on day 5 of this scheme will most likely have picked it up in Thailand. 

[jacko45k]

Just now, MarkyM3 said:

You do realise the vast majority of C19 cases are coming in across the porous land borders and have been since the start of the pandemic. Foreigners arriving by air, being double or triple vaxxed and tested before and on arrival, carry a relatively low risk. 

 

People testing positive on day 5 of this scheme will most likely have picked it up in Thailand. 

I recall that was the case early in the pandemic.. shrimp processors etc.  I have not seen data or informed posts to confirm this... land borders are officially closed aren't they still?

[MarkyM3]

25 minutes ago, simola said:

Who in their right mind would want to go to Thailand for a holiday? Day 1 and 5 tests. Bars and pubs closed. Restaurants on curfew. Public still scared to death through lack of information and communication.  There are so many other countries that will welcome you with open arms. 

Indeed, I'm only coming in Feb-June for essential personal business that has been on ice for 2 years. Two of my friends who want to travel to the region have dropped the idea. 

[Cherrytreeview]

6 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

Gibberish.....

A bit like your suggestion that covid is the fault of tourists arriving at BKK.

Alpha and Delta was spread in Thailand by HiSo Thai's in Thong Lor and by migrant labour crossing land borders.

No matter how many times people are told those facts, it's easier to destroy tourism to keep a virus variant out that is now endemic in Thailand.

UK will try to live with covid from March. Apparently 40-60% of those in hospital "with" covid were admitted for other reasons.

Most worrying on these threads, is that people seem to think a Test-Wait-Maybe-Go-Hospital on arrival in Thailand is still acceptable as part of the "new normal".

It isn't.

[MarkyM3]

Just now, jacko45k said:

I recall that was the case early in the pandemic.. shrimp processors etc.  I have not seen data or informed posts to confirm this... land borders are officially closed aren't they still?

I think they are but I'm mainly talking about people crossing illegally from Myanmar, which has hundreds of miles of borders with Thailand. As do other countries. Myanmar in turn borders Bangladesh, which borders India etc..  

 

I just don't see what this T&G scheme is achieving, it's AQ-lite and is a real fudge. 

[pattaya1234was]

A friend arrived  a week ago. Stayed in hotel in Bangkok and then travelled  to his apartment in Pattaya. On day5/6 he had his second pCR test in a hospital in Pattaya. He has not been 'detained' anywhere.