14 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

That's a huge step forward......looking forward to that so I can travel around again....

Live in hope

1 hour ago, The Hammer2021 said:

No it's not. 'Endemic' status is defined by the authorities in consultation with medical authorities- World peace isn't.

Endemic means when fatality rate is down to 0.1. Now it it 0.83 approx. Some way to go.

42 minutes ago, Marvest said:

Then there's this... 

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/dying-covid-unvaccinated/story?id=82834971

Interesting, from your link:

 

With around 60% of Americans fully vaccinated during the most recent wave, daily deaths from omicron are still relatively high, which begs the question: Who is dying of COVID-19 when there is such strong vaccination coverage?

Infectious disease doctors say it is still mainly unvaccinated people, most of whom are in their 30s and 40s with no underlying health issues, who are dying.

4 hours ago, GroveHillWanderer said:

BA.1 and BA.2

Sounds about as deadly as Bananas in pyjamas!Oh Morgan what are you doing?

NOW, NOW,NOW. This could already have been just about finished. It's not because Prayut wants to maintain state of emergency. 

 

14 hours ago, TooMuchTime said:

This is scary and sets a very dangerous precedent!

 

We need to make sure everyone is fully vaccinated with 2 doses, fully 2 dose boosted, and 2 masks at all times if they even want to consider going to Thailand.

 

Test before flight, test on arrival, test day 5, and test on flight out.

Why a test on a flight out? Surely that's none of Thailand's business. The person is leaving.  It IS a matter for the country of destination.

"economic data suggests strongly that foreign tourism income has a far higher impact on the country’s economy than originally thought due to its impact on confidence and the level of indirect economic activity generated."

 

WOW - they are looking at economic data??  Who could have predicted this? Surely they need a new committee of 30+ professors from Chula to study this new economic data in great detail - maybe a year or so.....

It could be that you might not have to worry about infected travellers from Europe as Putin is probably going to nuke the place, im sure this will end the pandemic in Europe.

I am enjoying a week holiday in Mexico at the moment.  Normally,I would not hold up Mexico as a model country.  However, it sure is nice to travel into here with no Covid restrictions/requirements of any kind … other than those imposed by the Canadian government to fly.  Without comparing Thailand and Mexico on numbers of Covid deaths, tourism in Mexico is alive and well with all the hotels I tried to book nearly full.  Parenthetically, Thailand is FAR better tourism value than Mexico (overpriced due to its nearness to the USA)

5.9 million people have died from COVID 19, and still there are some stupid people who

think it is a joke. Alpha, Beta and Delta variants were no joke. Stupidity and stupid people 

certainly are in vast numbers on Earth though.

They still won't get many tourists while many of the activities hat tourists come for are closed, or have to shut early.

1 hour ago, chilli42 said:

I am enjoying a week holiday in Mexico at the moment.  Normally,I would not hold up Mexico as a model country.  However, it sure is nice to travel into here with no Covid restrictions/requirements of any kind … other than those imposed by the Canadian government to fly.  Without comparing Thailand and Mexico on numbers of Covid deaths, tourism in Mexico is alive and well with all the hotels I tried to book nearly full.  Parenthetically, Thailand is FAR better tourism value than Mexico (overpriced due to its nearness to the USA)

Same here. Actually for months. Mexico, Costa Rica, huge tourists destination, have managed to not kill their business. 

And indeed, Thailand is (or was ?) a much, much, much better place to enjoy !

Wonder / waiting to see if Thailand will really want tourists back. They have to lift all restrictions for that (does not make any sense with Omicron, as smart countries have agreed).

We will see that (if they will maintain restrictions for months again, opening very slow) after the actual peak of cases (witch is kind of strange, Thailand being again in the opposite direction than the rest of the world ?). 

20 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand will scrap all restrictions on inbound tourists once the COVID-19 virus has been declared endemic, something that is expected this year.

The key words ... "THIS YEAR".

Dropping ALL restrictions is the only way I see things ever picking up again. Sure, I'm vaxxed but I'm not jumping through hoops, getting RT-PCR tests, self-ATKs, or uploading a Certificate via the ‘Mor Prom’ app just for a holiday. Nor do I want to wear a mask for a 12-hour flight.

 

For me, this is welcome news. Though the proof will be in the pudding.

10 hours ago, shackleton said:

Yes most here on Thai visa would agree the sooner the better

It's a Positive step forward ???? 

" Sometime this year " You consider that positive !

Yes it may look like a good news... I am hoping too, can't compare Latin America to SE Asia and especially Thailand.

BUT... They actually just changed the second test from PCR to Antigen, they did not scrap it, nor provide clarity about the forced hospitalization. 

 

It's the Tourism and Sport Ministry whish, to return to normal, "this year maybe" indeed...

We know how it works... Will see in a few months, if something official.

20 hours ago, webfact said:

planning to scrap all entry restrictions on foreign travellers sometime this year

My guess it will be sometime in mid-March.  Bets anyone?  Bye bye CoVid.  

2 hours ago, Cambodger said:

Glad I held out and never took that experimental mystery potion. 

Feeling good! 

Just as long as you dont want to travel anywhere outside your current borders ,that wouldn't make me feel very good .

Vaccine requirements worldwide wont relax much , if at all , for years to come.

4 minutes ago, wealthychef said:

My guess it will be sometime in mid-March.  Bets anyone?  Bye bye CoVid.  

Thailand has constantly been been 6 months behind the ball since vaccinations started.

With that in mind my bet would be the autumn.

13 minutes ago, joecoolfrog said:

Thailand has constantly been been 6 months behind the ball since vaccinations started.

With that in mind my bet would be the autumn.

Can you really see Thailand clinging to its mandates as its competition in neighboring states relax theirs?  I don't.  I think this all falls like a house of cards.  If not... see you in Autumn!  ????   I would be a fool to claim my predictions are any better than yours!   Cheers

My thoughts are -

1, Omicron is not a joke , im now on day 5 have, untill today have been quite ill. Having said that some years back I got Denghi fever in the village and totally lost 5 days was twice as ill as Omicron.

2, Agree that the real value of tourism to Thailand is at least 25% GDP.

3, The current government are mostly military men not buisnessmen so have absolutely no idea how to juggle the finances, i.e. we have got money lets buy some tanks  and submarines etc, not lets invest into the people  .

4, The current Thai government think the main £/$ from tourism will come from millionaire visitors when it does not / will not. Fair enough the gap year students/backpacker brigade live on tiny budgets but the ones I knew years ago have all gone back later in life again and again as have their friends and relatives. These are not millionaires, Im not a millionaire and only maybe know 2 and neither of them have been or are interested in visiting Thailand. Where as I have at least 60 other friends who have been numerous times, in fact as some of my friends now reside in Australia and New Zealand Thailand is often used for holidays so we can all meet up as its more or less half way from the UK. Again none of us are Millionaires.

5, The entry requirements need to be dropped and the entertainment areas, bars and eateries need to be allowed to open up again asap. Millions of Thais need to get back to work and yes bar girls mostly get cash from their clients but they spend it in the shops etc and it all goes back into the economy.

6. If your not jabbed then more fool you , no entry anywhere and a higher chance of catching /not recovering and death.

 

21 hours ago, Bkk Brian said:

That was not my point, i was making a clear comparison on SA with low vaccinations and Thailand which are much higher and so deaths far less. As for the UK, I'm all for its total re opening and lifting of restrictions due to its high immunity wall. For Thailand the Test and go is a complete waste of time.

Absolutely agree with you.  

Test and go, they can give me a blow.  I'm vaccinated, on a plane, so is everyone else, that's enough.  

50 minutes ago, mickj88 said:

My thoughts are -

1, Omicron is not a joke , im now on day 5 have, untill today have been quite ill. Having said that some years back I got Denghi fever in the village and totally lost 5 days was twice as ill as Omicron.

2, Agree that the real value of tourism to Thailand is at least 25% GDP.

3, The current government are mostly military men not buisnessmen so have absolutely no idea how to juggle the finances, i.e. we have got money lets buy some tanks  and submarines etc, not lets invest into the people  .

4, The current Thai government think the main £/$ from tourism will come from millionaire visitors when it does not / will not. Fair enough the gap year students/backpacker brigade live on tiny budgets but the ones I knew years ago have all gone back later in life again and again as have their friends and relatives. These are not millionaires, Im not a millionaire and only maybe know 2 and neither of them have been or are interested in visiting Thailand. Where as I have at least 60 other friends who have been numerous times, in fact as some of my friends now reside in Australia and New Zealand Thailand is often used for holidays so we can all meet up as its more or less half way from the UK. Again none of us are Millionaires.

5, The entry requirements need to be dropped and the entertainment areas, bars and eateries need to be allowed to open up again asap. Millions of Thais need to get back to work and yes bar girls mostly get cash from their clients but they spend it in the shops etc and it all goes back into the economy.

6. If your not jabbed then more fool you , no entry anywhere and a higher chance of catching /not recovering and death.

 

Hey, I am really sorry that you're sick.  Everyone who I know that has had omicron, and it's been a lot has been "like a cold" to more common "I had a runny nose for a day and had a nap" and that was it.  

Colds suck.  I guess we will just have to have it and get over it won't we?  If I get it I won't be happy being sick but hey, life goes on right?  I've had the flu, viral pneumonia, and lots of sickness that lated a week leaving me in bed.  I lived!  

On 2/25/2022 at 12:28 PM, Blumpie said:

You will be seeing this more and more as the pandemic is declared over.  Just give it time.  

Omicron is a total joke.  A total utter joke.  

My personal experience, - My son brought it home from school , Im 69 and wife 45 (Thai) my son got it like a mild cold, he is 10yrs old, I got headaches and running nose , fatigue for a few days, my wife the only one vaccinated with 2 shots of Pfizer was in bed for nearly 4 days, bad headaches and coughing up mucous, we all were coughing up a bit but nothing as bad as bronchitis after the flue.

We isolated 10 days and the only medication was Panadol every four hours, We are over it and my son is back to school, the only other thing was we all took D3 and K2 and magnesium and zinc, then, when it started we all took vitamin c, but don't do this unless you talk to your doc first.. So for us it was not as bad as some flues we have had, but smokers and diabetics may be at higher risk as they are with the common Flue. Cheers, I hope things open up soon I have been stuck here over 2 yrs now and want to get back, to home I call Thailand my home.

15 hours ago, desert dueller said:

I'd wait for how BA.2 variant turns out. Seems to be the next big wave on the horizon. And apparently much worse than anything encountered previously.

 

https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/23/health/covid-ba2-omicron-studies-explainer/index.html

That would appear to be fear mongering..... 

While it may well be the most contagious variant so far, it is not the most dangerous symptomatically. It is claimed to be of a similar level as the B1-Omcron variant, which itself was optimistically claimed to be the variant to end the pandemic, by bringing about Covid herd immunity. 

Dr John Campbell recently stated this.

An inflammatory post and an inflammatory reply have been removed.

1 hour ago, kiwikeith said:

My personal experience, - My son brought it home from school , Im 69 and wife 45 (Thai) my son got it like a mild cold, he is 10yrs old, I got headaches and running nose , fatigue for a few days, my wife the only one vaccinated with 2 shots of Pfizer was in bed for nearly 4 days, bad headaches and coughing up mucous, we all were coughing up a bit but nothing as bad as bronchitis after the flue.

We isolated 10 days and the only medication was Panadol every four hours, We are over it and my son is back to school, the only other thing was we all took D3 and K2 and magnesium and zinc, then, when it started we all took vitamin c, but don't do this unless you talk to your doc first.. So for us it was not as bad as some flues we have had, but smokers and diabetics may be at higher risk as they are with the common Flue. Cheers, I hope things open up soon I have been stuck here over 2 yrs now and want to get back, to home I call Thailand my home.

Here’s one of my personal experience in Thailand. Friend of mine early 30’s caught it. Not vaccinated, he claims his doctor in the UK told him not to because of a medical reason but never really convinced me of that, regardless he suffered quite bad, just over a week of severe coughing including black gunk coming out, fever, severe aches and body pains. Shortness of breath. He was on the verge of calling the hospital to get admitted, only reason he never was because of the cost. Luckily pulled through. 
His girlfriend living with him, is vaccinated and boosted, she looked after him throughout, she also caught it but suffered mild symptoms just a mild cold she said.

11 hours ago, dinsdale said:

NOW, NOW,NOW. This could already have been just about finished. It's not because Prayut wants to maintain state of emergency. 

 

Prayut most certainly wants to maintain the the state of emergency as long as he can. He does not want those troublesome freedom seeking students and others to start offering their opinion about his leadership.

Scrap all restrictions?? All?? Does that include the insurance scam?? Off course it does, everyone entering Thailand will be paying 300Baht for it.

What about the PLF?? Will that apply too??

 

Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn as well as the bunch of clowns on the governmental-merry-go-round might be interested to learn, that vacation plans for Summer 2022 are almost finalized, booked and concluded. 

So, unless someone pulls the coronaphobia-plug once and for good, Thailand will see yet another disastrously empty "high" season, which will not only bite into the country's GDP but will fan the glooming charcoal of social uproar. The writing, gentlemen, is on the wall in big capital letters ... if you ask me ????