BANGKOK, Jan 28 (TNA) – The government has readied all systems to resume its quarantine-free Test & Go entry scheme for visitors on Feb 1, according to the government spokesman.

 

Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana, the spokesman, said Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha was confident that all systems concerned were ready for the Test & Go resumption on Feb 1 to revive the tourism sector as soon as possible.

The government suspended the quarantine-free entry channel late last year because of the spread of COVID-19’s Omicron variant.

 

Full Story: https://tna.mcot.net/english-news-871724

 

-- © Copyright TNA 2022-01-28

 

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They should not be calling it the "resumption of TEST AND GO". This is not the same program they put in place November 1 last year and then suspended a month and a half later. This new program is twice as expensive, twice as inconvenient, and only marginally more effective, if at all. This is TEST GO STOP TEST GO AGAIN OR GO TO HOSPITAL.  What a farce.

3 minutes ago, charmonman said:

 This is TEST GO STOP TEST GO AGAIN OR GO TO HOSPITAL.  What a farce.

????  True!

 

They should follow the world & at most require covid test before leaving your country...NO test on arrival...NO Quarantine

We are not in a rush to return & will wait till that is the norm

Edited January 28, 20224 yr by meechai

Can we not wait for a new, super contagious strain to kick off in Europe and Africa like we did last time?

2 hours ago, charmonman said:

They should not be calling it the "resumption of TEST AND GO". This is not the same program they put in place November 1 last year and then suspended a month and a half later. This new program is twice as expensive, twice as inconvenient, and only marginally more effective, if at all. This is TEST GO STOP TEST GO AGAIN OR GO TO HOSPITAL.  What a farce.

Wasn't Nov-Dec T&G just Phuket, and is this anywhere?

Obviously the racist Anutin does not want foreigners in the country. You couldn't make it more difficult for visitors. What a joke. Meanwhile millions of Thais have lost everything. 

Don’t worry folks, this rubbish will be abolished when they realise that no one is coming. What a joke. My two year old nephew could do better! ????

9 hours ago, meechai said:

????  True!

 

They should follow the world & at most require covid test before leaving your country...NO test on arrival...NO Quarantine

We are not in a rush to return & will wait till that is the norm

One of the reason I'm not sure to visit LOS is the risk to spend 5 or in worst case 10 days in the hospital without any symptoms. (Health insurance will not pay, travel-insurance pay up to 3'000 USD.). Not speaking about rumors, they tell you beeing positve even you're not. Just for making some good money.

my familly want to come over for 3 weeks ,they wont while this is in place.

7 hours ago, habuspasha said:

Wasn't Nov-Dec T&G just Phuket, and is this anywhere?

No.  The original "Test & GO" included Bangkok and Pattaya...and pretty much anywhere lese as long as within a few hours drive on an internatuonal airport.

 

Location wise nothing much has changed. But this new version is a far cry from the former and massively inconvenient for anyone whose final destination is upcountry.

 

To me it is hardly much better than the 7 day quarantine. Costs almost as much, takes almost as long.

 

I've cancelled a planned trip to Cambodia & back for work because of this.

 

It probably will fail but they will not see that immediately  as there will be an initial spurt in applications due to (1) pent up demand and (2) Chinese New Year. But by mid-February I think applications will drop a lot.  It is a very badly designed "system".

3 hours ago, daveAustin said:

Don’t worry folks, this rubbish will be abolished when they realise that no one is coming. What a joke. My two year old nephew could do better! ????

I have no doubt about that whatsoever. But unfortunately, your two year old nephew is not a billionaire who bought himself a cabinet post. 

10 hours ago, charmonman said:

They should not be calling it the "resumption of TEST AND GO". This is not the same program they put in place November 1 last year and then suspended a month and a half later. This new program is twice as expensive, twice as inconvenient, and only marginally more effective, if at all. This is TEST GO STOP TEST GO AGAIN OR GO TO HOSPITAL.  What a farce.

But is it better than 7/10/14 day quarantine?

20 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

To me it is hardly much better than the 7 day quarantine. Costs almost as much, takes almost as long.

IMO as someone who has done 4 x 14 day quarantine and 1 x 7 day quarantine there is no comparison, this is much much better.

 

Not sure how you can say not much better than being locked up in a room?

25 minutes ago, HashBrownHarry said:

IMO as someone who has done 4 x 14 day quarantine and 1 x 7 day quarantine there is no comparison, this is much much better.

 

Not sure how you can say not much better than being locked up in a room?

 

 

For me, the confinement to the room is not the main issue with quarantine (and I've done 14 days).  It is the time and the money and the places I can't otherwise be....like my home.

 

You are locked in a room for 40 % of the time (2 out of 5 days).

 

but yes, for someone for whom the confinement aspect is a big problem, it would be somewhat better.

49 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

You are locked in a room for 40 % of the time (2 out of 5 days).

But no one is gonna come for 5 days so your % theory is flawed.

 

 

25 minutes ago, HashBrownHarry said:

But no one is gonna come for 5 days so your % theory is flawed.

 

 

I was referring to the % of the quarantine time (because that is what it is) in which you are confined. 2 out of 5 days.  As opposed to 1 put of 7 for sandbox and 7 out of 7 for AQ (vaccinated). 

 

Not so bad for people who live in Bangkok or Pattaya as they can go home on between. But for those of us who live upcountry it is not practical to go home then turn around and come back.

 

So it is 5 days confined to Bangkok and having to pay for a hotel. 2 of those 5 days limited to the hotel room, 3 days can go out but I really have no nothing much to do in Bangkok for 3 days anyhow. 

I'll give it just a few more weeks before they scrap the whole system (or simplify ot substantially) and open up like everywhere else is doing. 

8 hours ago, Charlie Halliday said:

Obviously the racist Anutin does not want foreigners in the country. You couldn't make it more difficult for visitors.

It does show what the Thai leaders really think of foreign tourists doesn't it?  They can't hide their disrespect.

16 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

I was referring to the % of the quarantine time (because that is what it is) in which you are confined. 2 out of 5 days.  As opposed to 1 put of 7 for sandbox and 7 out of 7 for AQ (vaccinated). 

 

Not so bad for people who live in Bangkok or Pattaya as they can go home on between. But for those of us who live upcountry it is not practical to go home then turn around and come back.

 

So it is 5 days confined to Bangkok and having to pay for a hotel. 2 of those 5 days limited to the hotel room, 3 days can go out but I really have no nothing much to do in Bangkok for 3 days anyhow. 

Yes, that's well noted.

 

I live 4 hours from BKK, i would drive home and enjoy the freedom of my house etc then return for day 5, being careful to avoid crowds etc to remain free of Covid ( maybe ). 

 

I agree, the expense is noted if you have to 'hang out' in BKK for example.

 

Hopefully day 5 gets dropped soon.

????

Vietnam and Malaysia have more stringent entry requirements.

55 minutes ago, Danderman123 said:

Vietnam and Malaysia have more stringent entry requirements.

And Vietnam is faring no better than Thailand I see, 

49 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

And Vietnam is faring no better than Thailand I see, 

Vietnam has far fewer visitors than Thailand. 

13 hours ago, Sheryl said:

I was referring to the % of the quarantine time (because that is what it is) in which you are confined. 2 out of 5 days.  As opposed to 1 put of 7 for sandbox and 7 out of 7 for AQ (vaccinated). 

 

Not so bad for people who live in Bangkok or Pattaya as they can go home on between. But for those of us who live upcountry it is not practical to go home then turn around and come back.

 

So it is 5 days confined to Bangkok and having to pay for a hotel. 2 of those 5 days limited to the hotel room, 3 days can go out but I really have no nothing much to do in Bangkok for 3 days anyhow. 

Hopefully more hotels in partnerships with a hospital will pop up in the coming days, so hopefully the likes of yourself wouldn't have to go back to Bangok. 

I'm 40 minutes south of Hua Hin and I've already found a good selection of hotels that will do the T & G on day 5. 

One of them offering a test at 11 am, result back 6 hours later. I might not even have to stay the night in the hotel. Could potentially be back in my house by 6 pm same day.

As far as I know, you only have to stay in the room until you get the results back. 

2 hours ago, bungalow1969 said:

Hopefully more hotels in partnerships with a hospital will pop up in the coming days, so hopefully the likes of yourself wouldn't have to go back to Bangok. 

 

I (and many others) hope so but much doubt it, I am in a rural area with very, very few foreigners and not many Thais going abroad either so there would probably nto be enough demand for any hotel to bother to do this.

 

You are lucky, if I were in your situation I would not have  cancelled my trip.

15 hours ago, Capella said:

I'll give it just a few more weeks before they scrap the whole system (or simplify ot substantially) and open up like everywhere else is doing. 

Agree but I think more than a few weeks. It will look good initially because due to delay in launching the system there will initially be a surge in applications (more than Thailand Pass can handle -- doesn't take much to crash that site) so we can probably expect initial triumphant reports. It will then decline and eventually they will see that it is not getting many tourists in

What I read about Test&Go 2.0 it's more a Test&Come back.

Luckily I came back in Nov 2021 and was free to go on day of arrival.

5 hours ago, Danderman123 said:

Vietnam has far fewer visitors than Thailand. 

Another reason that surprises me.....

This is not Test and Go. 

 

Farce. They do not test the Thai population the same way they are zealously checking vaccinated tourists. 

20 minutes ago, DonniePeverley said:

This is not Test and Go. 

 

Farce. They do not test the Thai population the same way they are zealously checking vaccinated tourists. 

The Thai population could hardly be compared to tourists.