Updated measures for entering the Kingdom of Thailand announced, starting April 1st

[alphonse]

I get the fact that a person testing positive upon arrival becomes a cash cow for the hospital he is sent too, but I don't get why the current measures constitute a money-making 'scam' for the country.

 

Surely, and in the bigger picture, the loss of potential medical tourism income alone, and caused by the current measures, to say nothing of losses to the general economy, far outweigh the revenue collected from PCR testing or a few hundred or so visitors forced to pay hospital bills for their Covid related stay.

Edited April 1, 2022 by alphonse

[StevieAus]

I understood that the level of insurance cover for the Thailand Pass was to be reduced to $US 20,000 from I April 2022

Has that happened ?

[PJ71]

22 hours ago, ukrules said:

It's far too much compared to plenty of other places.

 

Nobody will come and the rules will change, the only unknown is how long it will take for them to catch on.

I disagree, i left BKK the other night and there was plenty of tourists leaving.

[TheScience]

1 hour ago, Mises said:

You had it for 14 days.  I felt ill on a Friday afternoon, tested positive on Saturday morning and started a course of Ivermectin.  Felt fine Sunday afternoon and negative test on Tuesday.  Maybe the quick recovery is because I have not had the gene therapy or is it the "horse wormer"?  Ditto wife and daughter.

My wife's immediate family all caught it. They are all 100% now and 500k thb (5x100k) better banked thanks to my Covid coverage for them. They are so non plussed by it all they see getting covid as nothing but a positive.

[PJ71]

35 minutes ago, Uroller said:

I just flew from Phuket to London, no PCR test required to board Emirates, no arrival test in fact I filled out a very simple form before leaving and nobody spoke to me at Heathrow as I went through auto passport gate, hopped in the limo, went to my hotel, and that was it. Went out for a walk and only 1 in 20 or so wearing a mask and all shops bars etc open. No dead bodies piling up and life getting back to normal. However the Military do not run the UK, it’s that simple. Goodbye Thailand hello all those other warm sunny countries that are really open????

Why did you go to Phuket and not one of the other countries that is 'really open'?

[CG1 Blue]

9 hours ago, gejohesch said:

Plus this new rule from Thailand does not change the rules applied by the airlines. Many of them (most?) still require a PCR test before boarding for Thailand. Bottom line : this new rule is a lot of pissing in the wind!

The airlines only follow the arrival country rules. But I agree with your last comment! 

[the green light]

From the article

" Travelers must have a fully paid hotel reservation confirmation for the arrival date which must include an RT-PCR test, ATK test kit, and airport pick-up. 

airlines may still require an RT-PCR test  before boarding."

 

Business as usual- nothing new

 

From what I understand that  travelers will need to book 5 nights in an approved hotel for the the 2 tests and most airline requires at least a Covid-19 test before flying.

Let us not forget if you tested positive be prepare to pay at least  Baht 100,000 for an isolation in an expensive hospital not covered by insurance.

 

Insurance company will pay if you were sick and needed to go to hospital and not just tested positive.

 

I do not understand what improvement Thailand is doing

the answer  NOTHING

[garyk]

12 hours ago, bluejets said:

Out of touch with reality and incompetent at governing the country.

Meanwhile the tourist dependant Thais still hang on by the skin of their teeth (if they are lucky) economically.

It not just the tourist dependent Thais.   It is devastating the economy. 

I have a friend in a small town in the north. They tell me they have never seen anything like it.

 

 

[the green light]

by now,  No traveler  would  want to travel unless he has received the 2 vaccination and the first booster.  that is the requirement entering other countries.

 

Thailand has set up an elaborate system of testing arriving foreigner for money in addition a force isolation plan at a hospital. One should look at at least Baht 100k not covered by insurance of extra cash in case you tested positive. 

 

The government do not want to dismantle the system. Sad news. tourism will go to other nations.

 

How can anybody consider Thailand to be the haven for expat., buy properties, or even do business.  I think somebody does not want any visitors back or live in Thailand 

 

 

 

 

 

[the green light]

It is funny that I read all the remark made on Forum

 

As a joke, would it be pleasant everyone  if the arriving travelers were issue a Baht 500 coupon to be used at the girly bar on Soi Nana between 11am to 2 pm for an afternoon delight.

HAHA here is an incentive

[it is what it is]

39 minutes ago, the green light said:

It is funny that I read all the remark made on Forum

 

As a joke, would it be pleasant everyone  if the arriving travelers were issue a Baht 500 coupon to be used at the girly bar on Soi Nana between 11am to 2 pm for an afternoon delight.

HAHA here is an incentive

 

only an incentive if you're a sex tourist.

[peter zwart]

And on another topic here i read that april 1 jokes and pranks are not allowed? im confused.

[Tom Vanderlay]

????

[Onerak]

21 hours ago, BangkokReady said:

With only around 70% having had two doses of vaccine, around 30% at three and seemingly a reluctance to boosters, we have no idea how many Thais actually have/will have a decent level of protection against the latest variant.  Presumably anyone who has only had two doses of Sinovac, not very much.

THe last 7-day figures indicate UK, Germany, France with high rate of vaccination and boosters have more death/million compared to US 66% vaccination and 30% booster. 
 

Edited April 1, 2022 by Onerak

[BangkokReady]

3 minutes ago, Onerak said:

THe last 7-day figures indicate UK, Germany, France with high rate of vaccination and boosters have more death/million compared to US 66% vaccination and 30% booster. 
 

So what are you suggesting the implication of that is?  Vaccines increase deaths so we shouldn't vaccinate?  The lower the vaccine rate the more protected you are and the higher the vaccine rate the less protected you are?

[Onerak]

8 hours ago, BangkokReady said:

So what are you suggesting the implication of that is?  Vaccines increase deaths so we shouldn't vaccinate?  The lower the vaccine rate the more protected you are and the higher the vaccine rate the less protected you are?

THe anti-vaxxers in the USA have got hold of this stats to debunk the effectiveness of boosters in the wake of FDA's approval for second boosters. How do you counter their arguments?

[Stargeezr]

Considering how fast most government work, it will take the Thai government at least until June or July to

finally get things right.  I am not expecting any thing to change until at least the Fall in September or October.

Maybe by then with the high season approaching, the government will wake up.

[gejohesch]

13 hours ago, CG1 Blue said:

The airlines only follow the arrival country rules. But I agree with your last comment! 

Not sure that's true that's the whole story. I think (but I admit I'm not an expert) it's rather a case of the airlines following the rules of the arrival country plus slapping on their own rules on top anyway.

 

The proof is in the pudding : let's see which airlines flying to Bangkok will stop asking for a pre-fly PCR test!

[jacko45k]

15 hours ago, Uroller said:

I just flew from Phuket to London, no PCR test required to board Emirates, no arrival test in fact I filled out a very simple form before leaving and nobody spoke to me at Heathrow as I went through auto passport gate, hopped in the limo, went to my hotel, and that was it. Went out for a walk and only 1 in 20 or so wearing a mask and all shops bars etc open. No dead bodies piling up and life getting back to normal. However the Military do not run the UK, it’s that simple. Goodbye Thailand hello all those other warm sunny countries that are really open????

All as the highest number of infections ever in the UK persisted.....In England, around one in 13 people were likely to test positive for COVID last week, or 4.1 million people - up from one in 16, or 3.5 million people, in the week to 19 March.

 

Thailand does right insisting on a test on people coming from there!

Edited April 2, 2022 by jacko45k

[BangkokReady]

3 hours ago, Onerak said:

How do you counter their arguments?

Easy.  Vaccines work, so there must be other factors.  Antivax types are normally insane, dishonest and low intellect, so I presume that if they aren't outright lying, they are at the very least misrepresenting the facts.  It's not something I'm going to spend too much time looking into though (or even thinking about), for exactly those reasons.

[BangkokReady]

6 minutes ago, paul1804 said:

Such a beautiful country with so many great people but they need to get over this hurdle and elect responsible caring people that will prosper the nation as a whole and not just line their own pockets to the detriment of others.

Agreed, but I would argue that the government prior to the coup wasn't much better.

[paul1804]

16 hours ago, alphonse said:

I get the fact that a person testing positive upon arrival becomes a cash cow for the hospital he is sent too, but I don't get why the current measures constitute a money-making 'scam' for the country.

 

Surely, and in the bigger picture, the loss of potential medical tourism income alone, and caused by the current measures, to say nothing of losses to the general economy, far outweigh the revenue collected from PCR testing or a few hundred or so visitors forced to pay hospital bills for their Covid related stay.

Totally agree, Thailands leaders just dont get it even though its right in their face!! 

[paul1804]

3 minutes ago, BangkokReady said:

Agreed, but I would argue that the government prior to the coup wasn't much better.

Yes agree but that doesnt mean they keep on electing morons does it!!

[ozimoron]

3 hours ago, Onerak said:

THe anti-vaxxers in the USA have got hold of this stats to debunk the effectiveness of boosters in the wake of FDA's approval for second boosters. How do you counter their arguments?

After 10 seconds thinking about this I would suggest that the US has a higher rate of population than Germany or France who have already been infected (due to lower vaccination rates)  and therefore have higher rates of immunity leading to lower rates of death now, despite the higher rate of vaccinations. The proposition that somehow the vaccines have led to higher rates of death is utterly insane.

[CharlieH]

Reported posts with unsupported claims and responses to it removed.

 

 

If you are going to make any claims in this subject (Covid), you must back it up with a link to a credible source or it will get tossed out along with any responses to it.

 

[TheScience]

On 4/1/2022 at 1:02 AM, mlkik said:

Dont like it dont come.

 

Simple.

Evidently, they are not.

 

Genius

[zzaa09]

1 hour ago, TheScience said:

Evidently, they are not.

 

Genius

....and even more evident that the deciding authorities really don't have a grasp of they're doing regarding all the ever-changing entry programs.

Somewhat convoluted genius.

[CG1 Blue]

9 hours ago, gejohesch said:

Not sure that's true that's the whole story. I think (but I admit I'm not an expert) it's rather a case of the airlines following the rules of the arrival country plus slapping on their own rules on top anyway.

 

The proof is in the pudding : let's see which airlines flying to Bangkok will stop asking for a pre-fly PCR test!

Airlines already struggling to stay in business would not put extra obstacles in the way of getting customers back on board. The airlines simply enforce the arrival country's rules. They have nothing to gain from adding their own PCR test rules. 

Hopefully they're all on the ball enough to update their websites etc for Bangkok flights. I haven't checked

[ThailandRyan]

11 minutes ago, CG1 Blue said:

Airlines already struggling to stay in business would not put extra obstacles in the way of getting customers back on board. The airlines simply enforce the arrival country's rules. They have nothing to gain from adding their own PCR test rules. 

Hopefully they're all on the ball enough to update their websites etc for Bangkok flights. I haven't checked

Arrival and transiting countries they are flying through ....

[gejohesch]

1 hour ago, CG1 Blue said:

Airlines already struggling to stay in business would not put extra obstacles in the way of getting customers back on board. The airlines simply enforce the arrival country's rules. They have nothing to gain from adding their own PCR test rules. 

Hopefully they're all on the ball enough to update their websites etc for Bangkok flights. I haven't checked

OK, let's hope so