Coronavirus (Covid-19)
Misery as arrival ban keeps families apart

Thailand’s ban on foreign arrivals is causing misery among families across the nation as foreigners married to Thai nationals plead with the government to let them return to be with their families.
James Jacobs, a Briton stranded in France, told Nation Thailand he wants to return to his 29 year old wife Sopa, who lives in Chiang Mai. Speaking by phone, Sopa said her husband has been stranded in France since Thailand stopped all incoming flights in April for fear of imported Covid-19 infections. She says she can only keep in touch with him online.
Alan Cheetham, another Briton who is stranded in the UK, says he wants to get back to his family in the northeastern Udon Thani province. He created a Facebook page called “Thai Expats Stranded Overseas due to Covid-19 Travel Restrictions” last week. More than 450 people who are in the same situation have already joined. Together with a second page, “Farangs Stranded Abroad due to Lockdown in Thailand,” with 397 members as of today, they share information as part of their efforts to reunite families.
Trapped in Ireland, Michael O’Halloran says he wants to be with his 3 daughters, aged 13, nine and 20 months, now living with his wife in Chon Buri.
Alan Edwards, another expat who is in a similar predicament, says it’s unfair that families are being kept apart during the crisis just because one of the spouses is not Thai.
“I understand that in these difficult times, many difficult decisions have to be made by the Thai government, but does the prejudice against Thai/foreigner families have to go on for so long? How is it fair that Thai people and children must be without a loved one or a parent because they are not Thai?”
Rob Kennedy, who belongs to “Farangs Stranded Abroad due to Lockdown in Thailand,” is trapped in Brunei, and says the Thai embassy there is helpful, but officials in Bangkok are showing little interest in his case. He says he’s willing to pay for quarantine if he’s allowed to return.
Another expat who has a family in the southern resort city of Phuket, speaking on condition of anonymity, says he left Phuket in March and now cannot return. He has a four year old son who has a medical condition.
“Mam,” a Chiang Mai woman who didn’t wish to give her real name, told Nation Thailand that her husband has been stranded in Canada for months.
“My two year old girl often asks, ‘where is Daddy’?”
The Thaiger has received a number of emails along the same lines, pleading for access back to the country to reunite with family and relatives in the Kingdom. The Thaiger has referred them to the Thai embassies in the countries they’re currently living in.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand banned all incoming passenger flights on April 4 and has extended the ban several times. The latest extension is until June 30.
The government says it is worried about importing new Covid-19 cases as the rate of infections is still pretty high in many countries, while here it has dropped to single digit increases for more than a week.
Authorities are letting Thai nationals stranded abroad return home in limited numbers, based on the capacity of state quarantine facilities and hospitals.
Recently, the government decided to have hotels and hospitals work together on quarantine facilities that can accommodate people who want to be comfortable and are willing to pay for it. This model may also apply to foreign tourists.
SOURCE: Nation Thailand
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Coronavirus (Covid-19)
The Thai government threw a tourist party (sound of crickets) | VIDEO

The Thai Government, flushed with the success of their containment of Covid-19, decided to market the Land of Smiles to the world as the safe place to travel. With the annual wet season starting to weaken the tourists would flock back to the S E Asian country that had such a remarkable success containing, then almost eradicating itself, of the coronavirus.
Then they came up with the STV – the special tourist visa which would have the world’s eager travellers packing their sun cream for up to 270 days of Thai tourism.
There were promises of plane loads of tourists and even published flights and carriers. A few flights arrived, most didn’t.
In fact, since the start of the STV, the Special Tourist Visa, with its long list of restrictions and requirements, was floated, along with a re-vamped Tourist Visa, less than 400 people have arrived per month, on average, since the end of October. In the October and November of the year before more than 3 million people arrived in Thailand. Even the government’s limit of 1,200 new tourist arrivals per month was even slightly tested.
The government had bought all the streamers and a pretty new dress for the party but no one came.
What went wrong?
Where was the much-anticipated pent-up demand and people banging on the doors of the world’s Thai embassies?
It was the European winter and the ‘snowbirds’ would surely be back to soak in some Thai sun rays. But no.
The first problem was there wasn’t much for them to come back to. They would have the beaches of the islands all to themselves, they wouldn’t have to wait in line for anything, the domestic airlines were still selling low fares to Tavel anywhere around the country.
But otherwise there wasn’t a lot for them to do. The tourism magnets were a shadow of their former selves. Walking Street, Bangla Road, tours and tour boats, all the tourist strip restaurants. The buzz of the crowds was gone and more than 90% of the tourist-related business had closed up.
Their staff, their families, their bank loans, their stock and investments – all on hold and forced to find come other means to make ends meet. 931 of some of the larger official tourism operators have now gone out of business, according to Bloomberg News. There would be thousands of the smaller family operations that have also been swept aside by the Thai government’s responses to the world pandemic.
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Coronavirus (Covid-19)
Covid-19 travel pass to pilot on Etihad and Emirates Airways flights

A travel pass for passengers inoculated against Covid-19 or who have tested negative will be piloted on flights for Dubai’s Emirates and Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways. With the travel pass issued by the International Air Transport Association, passengers can keep control of their data and share their test results with airlines and authorities for travel.
The travel pass will be offered on selected flights from Abu Dhabi in the first quarter, and will expand the pass to other destinations of the trail is successful. Emirates is going to implement phase 1 of the travel pass in April for flights departing from Dubai.
Recently, the IATA travel pass programme has been also tested in International Airlines Group and Singapore Airlines.
SOURCE: Reuters
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Coronavirus (Covid-19)
Outbreak in Samut Sakhon is “worrying,” CCSA spokesperson says

While the number of daily new Covid-19 cases continues to drop, health officials are still scrambling to contain the virus in the prime hotspot: Samut Sakhon. The outbreak in the coastal fishing province is “worrying,” according to Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration spokesperson Taweesilp Visanuyothin.
Health officials rolled out a proactive mass testing campaign after a spike of Covid-19 cases in mid-December. The vast majority of cases were concentrated around the Central Shrimp Market in the Mahachai fishing hub, which affected a large migrant population. The virus has since spread to 61 of Thailand’s 77 provinces.
With the help of proactive testing, more than 4,000 cases were reported in Samut Sakhon. Field hospitals have been set up on the fly to treat and quarantine those that are infected.
But public health officials are still racing to test as many people in the province as possible with plans to inspect 600 factories and test 50 factory workers per day. There are 12,000 factories in Samut Sakhon and Taweeslip says health officials are speeding up testing to “isolate infected people as soon as possible.”
“The outbreak in Samut Sakhon is worrying. It is difficult to conduct active case-finding there. There are many obstacles, including the number of factories… Meanwhile, factory owners and workers must cooperate. There are more than 10,000 small factories where 1-200 people are employed.”
SOURCE: Bangkok Post
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Peter madzell
Saturday, May 23, 2020 at 2:20 pm
Hi yes there are many westerners who are unable to return to thailand I returned to Aust from thailand at the end Feb leaving my wife in buriram I cannot leave aust at the moment but I hope once the flight ban into thailand is lifted I can return I do not think
The bans are the result of any malice to any particular country but a responsible action
By the thai govt to curb this virus the travel
Bans from are more worrying I hope common sense will prevail soon
stephen mathias
Saturday, May 23, 2020 at 9:05 pm
Yeah i live in Phuket and work in Africa. I left on 25th February and cannot get back to Thailand now. Understandable that they don’t want to risk people coming in from heavily infected countries. I hope they will open the borders again in July but i fear they will impose a 2 week quarantine. I work 5 weeks and then get 3 weeks off and spending 2 of the 3 weeks in quarantine is not appealing. One week with my wife and then back to work….
Toby Andrews
Monday, June 29, 2020 at 1:38 am
I’m not so charitable. The Thai dictatorship – because that is what it is – is being unreasonable.
IF a traveller is tested not contagious they should be allowed into Thailand. Especially when they have a spouse here.
Thailand has not even 60 deaths from the virus. The Thai government are using the minimal threat of the virus to be become despot dictators.
And they have fixed the next election, it will be a coalition, which means these morons will still be in power.
Only a revolution will remove them now.