Koh Samui Airport scrutinising international arrivals for Omicron
After the emergence of the Omicron variant, the first international flight arriving at Samui Airport on Koh Samui faced increased scrutiny. All passengers have been strictly screened as airport employees were instructed to thoroughly check incoming international passengers to curb the possible spread of the new Covid-19 variant.
The first international flight to arrive at Koh Samui Airport was from Singapore, with 54 travellers on board. None of those passengers had travelled to the 8 countries that had identified the significant spread of the Omicron variant originally.
All passengers are required to show proof of vaccination as well as a negative test result using an RT-PCR test no more than 72 hours before travelling to Thailand as part of the required Thailand Pass entry documentation. The disease control unit at the airport checks documents from direct international flights and administers another RT-PCR test as well as a thermal scan of each passenger. Travellers must wait in their hotel for test results before being allowed to leave their room.
Koh Samui has have 11 travellers from Africa since November 15, and authorities are testing them all for Covid-19 in case they are positive and carry the Omicron variant. 9 out of 11 of those travellers have already tested negative for Covid-19.
The Ministry of Public Health has considered 8 countries in southern Africa at high risk for the spread of the Omicron variant and Thailand has forbidden any travellers from those countries from entering since December 1. Officials will be following up on the condition of passengers from other countries arriving into Thailand for a 2 week period after their arrival.
SOURCE: National News Bureau of Thailand
