Thailand to relax rules for international arrivals from March 1 despite COVID surge

[BadSpottedDog]

42 minutes ago, cncltd1973 said:

So failing either test will cost you 300,000 baht?

Exactly. This was from social media yesterday. This is why people aren't coming. I've seen a lot of similar posts.

 

[In the jungle]

2 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

During TP v1, the fifth day test was either unsupervised, ignored or simply not being done.

 

Anyway, why keep talking about the inefficiencies or otherwise of Thailand's Covid controls? All this wasted bandwidth and we can't change anything about it. It is what it is.

There are plenty of other destinations in the world. 

[Laughing Gravy]

8 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

Why is Thailand "losing face" so terribly important to you guys?

As I have said it is childish and immature and should be left back in the dark ages. Its a place I call home and no amount of face saving has any positive affect. I thought that was obvious but clearly not.

Edited February 24, 2022 by Laughing Gravy

[pattayapip]

I arrive tomorrow, so my Day 5 Test should be 1st March, So hope I can just do the Rapid Test at Home, Or is this too much to wish for ?

[tomazbodner]

2 hours ago, Pdavies99 said:

They still don't get it!!!

 

We are not coming under your rules!!

You're so important, Thailand could not possibly survive without you... Who is "We"?

[Hoppyone]

17 hours ago, PhuketDok said:

Does this mean the Day 5 quarantine stay in an SHQ hotel is no longer required?

Duh yes

[Willy Wombat]

55 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

Funds a bit tight, eh?

The opposite actually.

 

[tomazbodner]

18 minutes ago, In the jungle said:

There are plenty of other destinations in the world. 

Plenty of Chinese, Arabs and Indians to replace oh so important westerners as well...

[NanLaew]

19 minutes ago, In the jungle said:

25 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

During TP v1, the fifth day test was either unsupervised, ignored or simply not being done.

 

Anyway, why keep talking about the inefficiencies or otherwise of Thailand's Covid controls? All this wasted bandwidth and we can't change anything about it. It is what it is.

There are plenty of other destinations in the world. 

Yes there are alternatives so why the need for this perpetual Thailand beat up?

[Gottfrid]

That, folks! That´s how desperation looks.

[Willy Wombat]

23 minutes ago, Lazybones said:

It was 72 hours when I came last month

It probably still is.

Does it matter if I take my test 48 hours before instead of 72 ?

[spidermike007]

This will help. It is certainly a positive development. It might allow Thailand to see up to 100,000 visitors a month. Likely no more than that. And if they finally develop the manhood and courage to scrap the program entirely, and follow the rest of the planet by requiring only double vax, tourism will rebound somewhat. But, they have made too many mistakes, miscalculations, bone headed decisions, and been far too arrogant, for far too long, for anyone to consider the possibility that when they eliminate all restrictions, things will be like they were before. That will never happen in our lifetimes. The damage to the industry is permanent. Expect  no more than 5 million tourists a year, five to ten years from now. 

 

There were a dozen areas that needed to be addressed and fixed, prior to Covid, that have been completely ignored, out of arrogance and sheer hubris. No progress on any of those fronts.

 

Two years is a long time. Many countries have been open for a long time, and Thailand continues it's path toward irrelevancy, and is being forgotten, and eliminated from contention. 

 

The fake puritan goons continue to homogenize, pasteurize and eliminate what little culture, character, street life, entertainment and nightlife that exists here. This is not smart. This is fake puritanism. This is hypocrisy which is operating at the zenith of human foolishness. A total lack of understanding of human nature, and a complete inability to see what it truly appealing about this place. 

 

Thailand still has not figured out that it needs the support of the world 30X more than the world needs Thailand. 

 

Thailand desperately needs capable leadership at this time. New blood. Fresh ideas. Less protectionist, less corrupt, less ignorance from overly rich, overly entitled men, who care not one iota for the vast majority of the Thai people, or the ex-pat community, but instead spend most of their time guarding, and building their wealth. In other words, let's get some decent human beings in charge for a change. One can only hope. 

 

 

 

 

[NanLaew]

15 minutes ago, pepi2005 said:

...especially the push for vaccinations...

Nope sorry, you lost me there.

 

My work, my income, my life and the life of my family depends 100% on being fully vaccinated.

[The Fugitive]

16 hours ago, Cherrytreeview said:

The vast majority of spread is community spread within Thailand.

Foreigners arriving testing positive is an irrelevant decimal point.

Most developed countries worked that out months ago.

Why people don't understand this is beyond me.

Attempting to stop people earning a living by closing borders when they are more likely to catch it from their children, is a little illogical to me.

 

Top comment!

[Neni]

Surely a 15 minute test can be done at the airport. 

[superal]

1 hour ago, Jimbo53 said:

 

Good see they have knocked the 5th day <deleted> on the head! They just need to get rid of the rest of it,people still won't go if they can be put into quarantine if someone beside them on the plane tests positive,and your negative !

I don't see the sense of doing a pre arrival PCR Test if you have to do one on arrival,and book a hotel on 1st day,its ludicrous,either do one,or the other!! T.I.T

 

There is a reason for on arrival pcr testing inasmuch there are many fake test certs and the only way to be confident , is to test again on arrival . Pre-flight testing is often a requirement from the airline . What I have not seen mentioned on this topic is that there are now at least 2 different types of anti viral tablets that if taken within the first 5 days of covid infection , can reduce the effects of the virus significantly and in most cases stop hospitalisation . Maybe they are not available in Thailand ? 

The reasons given by BJ for ending covid restrictions in the UK were that omicron was less severe , majority of the UK population have been jabbed and the anti viral medicines have reduced the hospitals burden . With this ease on the rules for new arrivals announced on the same day that Khon Kaen has imposed further restrictions , makes no sense .

[Stargeezr]

So now all the Thai government has to get rid of is the easily hacked Thailand Pass and a few

other restrictions, and then maybe a few more tourists will be interested in returning to this 

tropical country. I am inclined to try Vietnam, as my relative says it is a pretty country to go and see and the beaches

are great as well.  Besides, in Vietnam currency I could be a millionaire.  Win  win.

[NanLaew]

45 minutes ago, Willy Wombat said:

1 hour ago, Lazybones said:

It was 72 hours when I came last month

It probably still is.

Does it matter if I take my test 48 hours before instead of 72 ?

Didn't you say "No thanks" already?

[SiSePuede419]

17 hours ago, NanaSomchai said:

People from both sides of the spectrum (that means us the farangs and them, the Thais) have had enough with this COVID-19 nonsense, every involved sides have had enough of the restrictions, the lockdowns, the nonsense, the lives destroyed, and so on, open the damn thing already and let's goooooooooooooo!

You know, people in Europe probably said the same thing about the plague. 

 

Obviously they were wrong since the plague killed 1/3 of Europe, so it didn't matter what they thought.

 

Viruses don't care about your feelings. ????

Edited February 24, 2022 by SiSePuede419

[NanLaew]

30 minutes ago, Stargeezr said:

...easily hacked Thailand Pass...

Oh, that's a new one

 

Citation please?

[NanLaew]

31 minutes ago, Stargeezr said:

So now all the Thai government has to get rid of is the easily hacked Thailand Pass and a few

other restrictions, and then maybe a few more tourists will be interested in returning to this 

tropical country. I am inclined to try Vietnam, as my relative says it is a pretty country to go and see and the beaches

are great as well.  Besides, in Vietnam currency I could be a millionaire.  Win  win.

Mind the Vietnamese quarantine on arrival in state facilities ONLY and have fun.

[paul1804]

Well lets all hope that the flip doesnt flop as is mostly the case. It was blatantly obvious that tourist were getting infected whilst in Thailand rather than bringing it with them so we hope the authorities persevere with the new regulations and we will start seeing a reasonable amount of visitors. Dont hold your breath!!

[ohno]

2 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

Oh, that's a new one

 

Citation please?

 Here you are:

 

Quote

 

It seems that government websites in Thailand are often the target of successful hacker attacks and now it appears the Thailand Pass site is no exception. Reports are surfacing of people receiving a spoof email regarding the Thailand Pass pointing them to malicious content.

 

It is believed that the email database collected by the Thailand Pass website has been accessed by hackers who are using the list of applicants to spread malware. Users have reported receiving fake emails warning that there is something wrong with their Thailand Pass application and urging them to download an attachment from a link in the email. The test has some telltale warning signs such as poor English and punctuation.

 

 

 

https://thethaiger.com/hot-news/tourism/warning-thailand-pass-spoof-email-with-malicious-links

[Chongalulu]

They’re like a child knowing they have to eat their vegetables ,but first push it around on the plate for  several minutes  ,eventually putting it to their mouth then back down again ,all the while sulking. They need to be ushered to the naughty step!  ???? 

[peter zwart]

17 hours ago, bkk6060 said:

Sure yes, why not open it all up despite people are getting sick, hospitalized and still dying. 

 

Money and the economy are more important, right?

 

Let's go!

ZZZzzzzzzzzzz

[hotchilli]

2 hours ago, sandyf said:

Who has had to pay this 300 baht cover?

From April everyone entering Thailand via an airport, not sure if it will apply at land borders.

[NanLaew]

51 minutes ago, ohno said:

54 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

Oh, that's a new one

 

Citation please?

 Here you are:

 

Quote

 

It seems that government websites in Thailand are often the target of successful hacker attacks and now it appears the Thailand Pass site is no exception. Reports are surfacing of people receiving a spoof email regarding the Thailand Pass pointing them to malicious content.

 

It is believed that the email database collected by the Thailand Pass website has been accessed by hackers who are using the list of applicants to spread malware. Users have reported receiving fake emails warning that there is something wrong with their Thailand Pass application and urging them to download an attachment from a link in the email. The test has some telltale warning signs such as poor English and punctuation.

OK, thanks for that. So one 'hack' where a few emails were scraped and a few gullible applicants may have gotten spyware.

 

For added context, this pales is the face of the multi-million email and contact information data scrapes that happened on Facebook and LinkedIn early last year.

[jacko45k]

2 hours ago, BadSpottedDog said:

Since COVID began, Mexico has had 2,416 deaths per million vs. UK that had 2,351 per million, according to Worldometer. 

And hence Mexico did worse than UK, which I believe is what I stated. Maybe read, think, then post. Mexico as an example... what an error.

[hioctane]

19 hours ago, Cherrytreeview said:

That would involve common sense and losing face.

The fact that they have reduced insurance down to 20,000 dollars shows how serious they really think the disease is.

Yesterday i thought Thailand Pass and the testing regime was here to stay.

Gladly, this morning i think that may not be the case from Q3.

Things like the UK binning all restrictions won't have done any harm either.

Seems like a strange coincidence but it seems Thailand is beginning to wake up and smell the roses. At last.

The average cost is 300,000 baht even for the most severe cases. Over estimation in the beginning. Regardless, the difference in costs between $20,000 and $50,000 coverage is a couple of dollars.

 

They are following other countries in easing restrictions. 

[Thalueng]

18 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

I agree... its obviously better for those of us coming back anyway - but it won’t make much difference at all to short term tourists many of whom are likely to be avoiding Thailand simply because of the Thailand Pass process and Insurance requirements. 

 

I agree with a Pre-Travel PCR - thats about all that needs to be done.

How water tight does a sinking ship need to be ?....   Not that Thailand is sinking, but, attempting to keep water out is like having a mosquito net on the front door while keeping the windows open - Covid is already rife in Thailand - incoming travellers are less likely to have covid than any random member of the population. 

I like the comparison with the mosquito net, brilliant.

 

Have you ever considered that incoming travelers' Covid numbers are low because of the measures in place? It's good that they got away with the 5th day requirement since there were very few travelers testing negative on day 1 and positive on day 5. Registering for the Thailand Pass is not much different to what other countries request before entering the country, including many European countries. Many travel booking platforms, online or offline, already offered a travel insurance before Covid with various options during the booking process, just expand this to include the Covid insurance for Thailand.