Thailand to scrap all emergency provisions as it seeks to boost a very fragile economic recovery

[Eleftheros]

54 minutes ago, VBF said:

Not disagreeing with you, BUT it might also be the first time in history that such an infection has been so easily spread by people who are infected and asymptomatic at the same time 

Have you heard of a viral disease called 'measles'? It is more infectious than Covid, and can be spread by people up to 4 days before any symptoms appear, as the CDC notes.

[tandor]

12 hours ago, TooMuchTime said:

Good thing I don't have to pay for some dumb covid test to enter Thailand anymore.  Fully unvaccinated here and enjoyed my time in Bangkok never wearing a mask.  Glad to see I inspired confidence in this decision.

...may a pox be upon you.

[phukettrader]

1 hour ago, jacko45k said:

I find Thai TV to be the most peculiar in that respect. Sole newscasters being masked, small groups....

Not peculiar at all if your aim is to brainwash and maintain fear in the general population. This has nothing to do with health.

[jacko45k]

Just now, phukettrader said:

Not peculiar at all if your aim is to brainwash and maintain fear in the general population. This has nothing to do with health.

I struggle to see the programs my Mrs watching as being an attempt to brainwash her.... they are wasting their time if they are! She only takes her mask off to drink her wine and laugh!

[VBF]

1 hour ago, Eleftheros said:

Have you heard of a viral disease called 'measles'? It is more infectious than Covid, and can be spread by people up to 4 days before any symptoms appear, as the CDC notes.

Yes i had measles as a child.

Once again I'm in partial agreement with you except that:

 

1 Measles eventually shows itself in the patient, allowing contacts to be traced whereas Covid can be completely asymptomatic, meaning that the infarcted person can spread it for several days completely unknowingly.

 

2 In general, (note that generalisation) Measles is less likely to be fatal than some variations of Covid.

[canuckamuck]

5 hours ago, soumanioco said:

Look at all the snails coming out of their holes to celebrate what exactly? That they didn't get vaxxed!!!

 

All you can do is feel sorry for such individuals. 

 

Don't kid yourself, it is a hell of an achievement to have come through all of that fear mongering, extortion and massive peer pressure and to have stood by your convictions

Everyone who avoided the vax is a hero in my book.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

As far as Thai TV presenters wearing face masks are concerned, I'd presume it's a worthwhile attempt on the government and MoPH's part to set a good mask wearing general example for the general public.

 

After all....

 

 

"People are advised to put on masks in crowded or poorly ventilated places."

[jacko45k]

Just now, canuckamuck said:

Everyone who avoided the vax is a hero in my book.

Including the many who died of Covid.....? That makes them an idiot in mine!

[canuckamuck]

3 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

Including the many who died of Covid.....? That makes them an idiot in mine!

And what about the vaxxed who died of the vax. Are they your heroes?

[edogthong]

7 hours ago, jacko45k said:

Wooohoo for you. 

It's nearly over now, move on to another crusade.... 

People like you casually move on to another thing after you've been advocating to take people's freedoms away for over two years without admitting that you were wrong or giving any form of vindication to those who suffered due to your ignorance.

[jacko45k]

11 minutes ago, canuckamuck said:

And what about the vaxxed who died of the vax. Are they your heroes?

Not many of those that I am aware of, and many were caused by incorrect application. Don't focus in the massive minority.

[jacko45k]

5 minutes ago, edogthong said:

People like you casually move on to another thing after you've been advocating to take people's freedoms away for over two years without admitting that you were wrong or giving any form of vindication to those who suffered due to your ignorance.

People like me? Have we met at some rally or something? I am still alive, in my book it proves I was correct.

[Chiang Mai Will]

Another new Covid subvariant has been detected and is now spreading rapidly around the world - already making up a quarter of new cases in some countries. BF. 7, also known as BA. 5.2.1.7, is now making up 25% of cases in Belgium and 10% of cases in Denmark, France and Germany.

 

Dr Stuart Ray, vice chair of medicine for data integrity and analytics at Johns Hopkins’ Department of Medicine, told Fortune : "The same growth advantage in multiple countries makes it reasonable to think that BF. 7 is gaining a foothold."

 

He added: "It’s been a while since we went from Alpha to Beta to Gamma to Delta, then to Omicron. We may be complacent. This may be feeding into the notion that this is behind us.”

 

Kevin Kavanagh, president and founder of the patient advocacy organization Health Watch USA told Fierce Health Care: "It is anyone’s guess if BF.7 rapid growth will continue."

Erin Prater, writing for Fortune, said: "Scientists are taking notice of BF.7 because it’s making headway in an increasingly crowded field of Omicron subvariants."

[canuckamuck]

28 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

Not many of those that I am aware of, and many were caused by incorrect application. Don't focus in the massive minority.

The head in the sand defense.

[jacko45k]

Just now, canuckamuck said:

The head in the sand defense.

The minutiae diversion nonsense. You find one bad grain of sand and the whole beach is contaminated.... what silliness. 

[geisha]

13 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Sadly I did give in, but at the time the government was making it just too hard to live without surrendering, but at least I waited till an alternative to the "newtech" pfizer was available, and I didn't take the "booster" soon as they gave in and cancelled the overly authoritarian dictat.

 

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/new-zealand-links-26-year-old-mans-death-pfizer-covid-19-vaccine-2021-12-20/

New Zealand authorities on Monday said they had linked a 26-year-old man's death to Pfizer Inc's (PFE.N) COVID-19 vaccine after the person suffered myocarditis, a rare inflammation of the heart muscle, after taking his first dose.

The death is New Zealand's second linked to a known but rare side effect from the vaccine after health authorities in August reported a woman had died after taking her doses.

There will always be side effects and yes, people gravely ill or dying from any type of vaccine or medicine ! 
We all saw the effects on people who chose not to be vaccinated, and those that lived, regretted bitterly that they did not listen to the world’s science. 

[bang saen guy]

This got sidetracked by anti-vaxxers. The emergency decree was never about Covid. It was about controlling 14 year old protesters

[rattlesnake]

12 minutes ago, geisha said:

There will always be side effects and yes, people gravely ill or dying from any type of vaccine or medicine ! 
We all saw the effects on people who chose not to be vaccinated, and those that lived, regretted bitterly that they did not listen to the world’s science. 

In the real world, those of us who did not get vaccinated are alive and well, and happy we had the guts to stand up for what we though was right in the face of overwhelming pressure and threats.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

1 hour ago, Chiang Mai Will said:

 

Dr Stuart Ray, vice chair of medicine for data integrity and analytics at Johns Hopkins’ Department of Medicine, told Fortune : "The same growth advantage in multiple countries makes it reasonable to think that BF. 7 is gaining a foothold."

 

 

And further from the same Fortune article:

 

"The tangle of Omicron spawns—with or without a new parent variant—could make for a rough fall and winter, Ray said.

 

His advice? Continue to mask and get your booster. And remember that the pandemic isn’t over. 

 

“There are people who predicted COVID would be over by Easter of last year,” he said."

[onthedarkside]

A post with an unsourced and unsubstantiated claim regarding COVID and other deaths has been removed.

 

[Karma80]

1 hour ago, bang saen guy said:

This got sidetracked by anti-vaxxers. The emergency decree was never about Covid. It was about controlling 14 year old protesters

Don't worry. The global financial disaster and the biggest international conflict since WWII is ramping up now. That will keep people nicely occupied ????

[AsianAtHeart]

11 hours ago, kamahele said:

It sounds like a child wrote this. What type of foreigner comes to a country, not their own and flouts that they don't follow the rules that all of the locals follow with no complaint?

Is one supposed to check his or her reasoning faculties in at the gate when entering a foreign country?  Why would you think such an idea would make you look more mature and less childish?  Are adults supposed to merely conform, having no ability to make decisions independent of those around them?

 

As it happens, many Thais did not get the vaccine.  There are some here who are capable of original thought.

[Eleftheros]

3 hours ago, canuckamuck said:

Don't kid yourself, it is a hell of an achievement to have come through all of that fear mongering, extortion and massive peer pressure and to have stood by your convictions

Everyone who avoided the vax is a hero in my book.

When discussing vaccination, I think we have to take into account that the equation has changed considerably since 2020.

 

I have great sympathy for people who queued up for the vaccine as soon as it was available, as the publicly reported Covid mortality figures looked alarming, the powers-that-be said categorically that if you got vaccinated you would not get Covid, and that widespread vaccination would halt the pandemic in its tracks. Add to that the threat of being stripped of your livelihood if you weren't vaccinated, no wonder people complied.

 

In 2022, things have changed - the virus is much less virulent, the vaccines have not prevented breakthrough infections, and so the risk/benefit balance is not the same.

 

That risk/benefit shift is going to continue in the same direction barring the unlikely appearance of a rogue variant of greater virulence. And even in that case, the unvaccinated can always bite the bullet and get a course of vaccines.

 

But the vaccinated can never become unvaccinated, which may become a cause for regret for some of them.

[300sd]

11 hours ago, soumanioco said:

Look at all the snails coming out of their holes to celebrate what exactly? That they didn't get vaxxed!!!

 

All you can do is feel sorry for such individuals. 

 

Time for your next jab!

[SGD]

17 hours ago, Jonathan Swift said:

Most of you who are smugly declaring you've never been vaxed very likely have actually had it with no recognizable symptoms. Get an antibody test and find out.

Proving beyond doubt that non of it was necessary.

 

By the way, any news on where the trillions of dollars, pounds, euros etc. have gone to because no-one seems to know, except we now have a World War debt to pay back over the next 100 years.

Perhaps look at who usually profits from war.

 

[tomazbodner]

From linked article: Entry into Thailand for foreign travellers will be the same as existed before the start of 2020 with just a passport and immigration check-in on arrival

 

Oh cool! That also means the return of "You in Thailand too long"? Let's see if the number of "refused entry" reports starts spiking from next week on...

[webfact]

Thailand ends COVID-19 Emergency Decree on 30 September 2022

International travellers to Thailand will no longer be required to show proof of vaccination or ATK test results from 1 October, 2022.

 

TAT Newsroom

 

 

Thailand’s Centre of COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) announced the ending of the nationwide COVID-19 Emergency Decree on 30 September, 2022, as the kingdom reclassifies COVID-19 from ‘a dangerous communicable disease’ to ‘a communicable disease under surveillance’ from 1 October, 2022.

The CCSA also stated that from 1 October, 2022, international travellers to Thailand will no longer be required to show proof of vaccination or ATK test results.

 

The ending of the COVID-19 Emergency Decree, which has been in place for 19 times since 25 March, 2020, will result to the CCSA be automatically dissolved, and all the regulations, announcements, and orders issued by the Prime Minister and the Cabinet under the decree be revoked.

 

Since the pandemic, Thailand has gradually reopened to international tourism starting in July 2021 with the Phuket Sandbox, Samui Plus, and 7+7 Extension programmes. This was followed by a four-phase reopening timeline from October 2021 to January 2022.

 

The kingdom entered the stage of fully reopening from 1 July, 2022, with the removal of the Thailand Pass registration scheme, and foreign nationals only be required to show proof of vaccination or a negative ATK test result within 72 hours of travel, this will be lifted from 1 October, 2022, onwards.

 

In addition, the cabinet approved extending the period of stay to 45 days (from 30 days) for tourists from countries/territories entitled for visa exemption, and to 30 days (from 15 days) for those eligible for a Visa on Arrival (VOA). This will be in effect from 1 October, 2022, until 31 March, 2023.

 

Source: https://www.tatnews.org/2022/09/thailand-ends-covid-19-emergency-decree-on-30-september-2022/

 

-- © Copyright TAT NEWS 2022-09-24

 

- Cigna offers a range of visa-compliant plans that meet the minimum requirement of medical treatment, including COVID-19, up to THB 3m. For more information on all expat health insurance plans click here.

 

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[rabang]

I was too pessimistic a year ago but still much closer to the truth than those who thought this vaccine/testing/masking etc. bs would go on forever.

 

 

[simonok]

This stuff is as old as the hills! ????

 

Re the OP, I say, GOOD!

 

On the mask front, it'll probably only serve to put western tourists off, IMO?

[anrcaccount]

13 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

As far as Thai TV presenters wearing face masks are concerned, I'd presume it's a worthwhile attempt on the government and MoPH's part to set a good mask wearing general example for the general public.

 

After all....

 

 

"People are advised to put on masks in crowded or poorly ventilated places."

Worthwhile? Thailand is literally the only country in the world where newsreaders wear masks. It's massively disproportionate.

 

Genuine educated public health advice would be to mask up if vulnerable or if having symptoms.

 

There has been a huge decrease in Covid case loads since late July when that advice was published.