Coronavirus (Covid-19)
Reduced quarantine approved for some foreign arrivals

The Thai government has agreed to reduce mandatory quarantine for certain categories of arrivals from overseas. The national committee on communicable diseases, which falls under the umbrella of the Public Health Ministry, has approved the measure based on the fact that a global vaccination drive is leading to a gradual reduction in case numbers.
According to a Nation Thailand report, the following categories of international arrivals are included in the reduced quarantine, which varies from 7 to 10 days:
- Foreigners with a valid Covid-19 vaccination certificate that is no more than 3 months old and no less than 14 days old, in possession of a negative Covid test result: 7 days’ quarantine
- Repatriating Thai nationals who have a valid Covid-19 vaccination certificate no more than 3 months old and no less than 14 days old but who do not have a negative Covid test result: 7 days’ quarantine
- Foreigners who have a negative Covid test result but no vaccination certificate: 10 days’ quarantine
Reduced quarantine will not apply to travellers from any part of Africa, due to the highly contagious nature of the South African variant that has recently emerged. All arrivals from Africa will still be required to undergo 14 days’ quarantine.
The reduction in quarantine is one of a number of measures being looked at to review the country’s decimated tourism sector. Officials are also planning to introduce ”area quarantine” in major tourist destinations from next month.
Under the proposal, foreign tourists will only have to remain in their hotel room for the first 3 days of their 14-day quarantine. They will be tested for Covid-19 during the first 3 days and if negative, allowed to leave their room and roam freely around the resort for the remainder of their stay. However, they will not be permitted to leave the resort until they have completed the full 14 day quarantine period.
SOURCE: Nation Thailand
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Coronavirus (Covid-19)
Thai Hotel Association pushes “hospitels” – hotels as hospitals

With the third wave of Covid-19 ripping through Thailand, hospitals are rapidly filling up and the Thai Hotels Association has proposed “hospitels” as a creative solution. The portmanteau of “hospital” and “hotel” is the THA’s brainchild for creating more space for the growing number of Covid-19 infections that require treatment or at least observation as Thailand hits record daily case numbers. The idea of turning hotels into temporary hospitals was promoted by association president Marisa Sukosol Nunbhakdi this week.
“The move aims to reduce crowdedness at hospitals and promote continuous care for Covid-19 patients after new cases increased rapidly since late March.”
23 hotels have already registered to be hospitals, with 2,000 patients currently receiving treatment in the 4,900 available beds. The Ministry of Public Health laid out guidelines for hotels interested in participating. Hotels must have a minimum of 30 rooms and pass the alternative state quarantine evaluation. The ASQ-approved properties must have evidence of acknowledgement by the surrounding community to confirm their validity and eligibility. The hotel must be able and willing to take care of hospitalised patients for 5 to 7 days, even with no signs of symptom progression. Conversely, patients checking in must agree to stay in the hotel and be relatively self-sufficient.
Strict medical requirements must be met as well. Each patient must be provided with their own digital thermometer and pulse oximeter, and a portable x-ray machine must be available. The hotels must be staffed like hospitals, with at least one doctor, a clinical psychologist, a pharmacist, a radiologist, and an infection control nurse. There must also be one nurse per every 20 patients staying at the property.
This proposed solution might provide a welcomed supplement to the rudimentary field hospitals the Thai army has been hastily building to accommodate the influx of newly infected patients. While the quick work is commendable, some have hypothesized that at-risk foreigners may be ignoring calls to come forward for Covid-19 testing in part because being diagnosed may land them in these less-than-posh field hospitals for days on end. A more comfortable “hospitel” would allow infected foreigners to be treated in more pleasant surroundings thus encouraging them to come forward for testing.
SOURCE: National News Bureau and Nation Thailand
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Coronavirus (Covid-19)
Bangkok is now a red zone. Government gives people today to get back from Songkran break.

…. before the next round of restrictions come into force at midnight tonight.
Bangkok and 17 other Thai provinces (there are 77 in total) are now declared maximum control areas. These “red zones” are the feature of the Thai Government’s new restrictions to get a grip on its rising Covid infection numbers since the start of April. The restrictions will last for at least 14 days.
From tonight, at midnight, some new restrictions are in force, not only in the red zones but every where else.
Think nightlife, think gatherings of more than 50 people, think restaurants. These are the area the government has generally targeted. The CCSA spokesperson yesterday, and the Thai PM Prayut Chan-o-cha, went out of their way to portray the new restrictions as NOT curfews and NOT lockdowns. But, if you live in a red zone province, including Bangkok, then the new set of restrictions are a lockdown in just about every sense without outright telling people to stay at home.
Everything will have to be closed from 11pm – 4am in the morning, including all convenience stores. Hope you’ve paid your Netflix subscription!
Restaurants and cafes in the red zones will be able to open until 11pm, but dine-in services will only be available until 9pm. Takeaway food can be sold until 11pm to allow the businesses and activities to continue. And there will no alcohol available anyway.
The government is also advising businesses in Bangkok, and other red zone provinces, to allow employees to work from home, or have adequate precautions in place if they need to work in the offices.
Unlike the last two outbreaks of Covid within Thailand, this cluster has emerged from the indulgences of Bangkok’s hi-sos, celebrity and look-at-me culture. The trendy clubs around Thong Lor and Ekkamai are the destination for people that want, or need, to be seen, including some politicians who have either ended up infected or knew someone in the club and pub scene and have had to self-isolate.
The late evening sojourns, with nary a care for masks or social distancing, small spaces, lots of people… it has proven the perfect breeding ground for a new Covid cluster.
Bangkok’s legendary shopping centres and community malls will have to shut their doors by 9pm, a situation now across the board for all Thai shopping centres including places like your local Tesco mall.
But convenience stores, supermarkets, community markets can stay open until 11pm.
At this stage people are being advised to to travel to Bangkok, or any other red zone province, for the next 2 week (after midnight tonight). The travel advisory isn’t an order at this stage, more of a hurry-up-and-get-back-from-your-holidays request.
Last weekend saw the mass exodus out of the city. The same return from the provinces is happening today and tomorrow. Even though the official Songkran holiday ran from Tuesday to Thursday this week, plenty of people have take the Mondays and Friday off last week to end up with an extended 9 day holiday. The government was hoping the longer Songkran break would be a boon for the shattered hospitality and tourism businesses. But last weekends sudden climb of new Covid infections caused some people to cancel or postpone their bookings.
The annual Songkran road toll, usually a national disgrace, was cut by over 50% this year due to the lack of traffic and people deciding to wait it out and catch up with their families later.
Thailand recorded 1,547 new infections around Thailand today, a slight drop from yesterdays’ 1,585 reported new cases. But the last 4 days have revealed the largest list of daily infections since the first case was detected in Thailand on January 13 last year, a 61 year old Chinese passenger on a flight from Wuhan to Suvarnabhumi – the first known case of the novel coronavirus outside of China.
2 leading police from the Thong Lor police station have already been sidelined into inactive posts, a face-saving measure to show the government were being pro-active in reacting to the sloppy enforcement (or non-existent enforcement) of Covid precautions in the district’s active nightlife. Officials are also tracking down the owners of the nightclubs and bars for potential prosecution, principally around Bangkok and in Phuket where parties, promoted and run by a group called ‘Kolour’ ended up becoming Covid spreader events.
Here’s a list of the red zone provinces.
1. Bangkok
2. Chiang Mai
3. Chon Buri
4. Samut Prakan
5. Prachuap Khiri Kan
6. Samut Sakhon
7. Pathum Thani
8. Nakhon Pathom
9. Phuket
10. Nakhon Ratchasima
11. Nonthaburi
12. Songkhla
13. Tak
14. Udon Thani
15. Suphanburi
16. Sa Kaeo
17. Rayong
18. Khon Kaen
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Coronavirus (Covid-19)
Covid UPDATE: 1,547 new infections, restrictions start after midnight tonight

Today the CCSA has announced that there are 1,547 new infections around Thailand, a slight drop from yesterdays’ 1,585 reported new cases. Today’s additional infections takes the total number in Thailand to 40,585 since the start of the pandemic. We will add to this story when more figures and provincial totals become available.
All but 3 of today’s newly reported infections were local – 1,544.
Bangkok – 279
Chiang Mai – 140
Chon Buri – 99 (155 cases were reported by Chon Buri officials this morning which will go into tomorrow’s national totals)
Prachuap Khiri Khan – 58
Samut Prakan – 27
All other provinces listed here…
Te CCSA reports that 11,916 people are still under care and supervision in Thai hospitals or field hospital facilities. 99 people have died, a local death rate of 0.24%.
At midnight tonight new restrictions come into force for red and orange zone provinces. Here’s a list of the red zone provinces.
1. Bangkok
2. Chiang Mai
3. Chon Buri
4. Samut Prakan
5. Prachuap Khiri Kan
6. Samut Sakhon
7. Pathum Thani
8. Nakhon Pathom
9. Phuket
10. Nakhon Ratchasima
11. Nonthaburi
12. Songkhla
13. Tak
14. Udon Thani
15. Suphanburi
16. Sa Kaeo
17. Rayong
18. Khon Kaen
FULL LIST OF PRECAUTIONS (starting at 1 minute past midnight Sunday, April 18)
Across all provinces…
• Closures of schools, all nightlife venues, pubs and clubs, karaoke bars and massage parlours
(except for international schools running exams)
• No events can have more than 50 people
Provincial red zones (listed below)…
• Dining-in allowed until 9pm (but can do takeaway until 11pm)
• Serving of alcohol banned
• Shopping centres and fitness centres to be closed by 9pm
(Sporting fields, exercise places, gyms and fitness clubs must close at 9pm)
• Convenience stores, markets, supermarkets must be closed by 11pm
Everywhere else…
• Dining-in allowed until 11pm
• Serving of alcohol banned
• Shopping centres to be closed by 9pm
Additionally, people are being discouraged from traveling to “Red Zone” provinces. Businesses are also being ‘asked’ to allow staff to work from home or introduce other measures to minimise risk of infection at the workplace. These workplace and travel ‘advisories’ will certainly be ramped up if the number of daily cases continue to rise.
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Bill
Thursday, March 11, 2021 at 10:11 am
Still a no-go for approx 99%. Unless you live there too much work.
dave
Thursday, March 11, 2021 at 10:27 am
So I’m still stuck in a resort, which I’m paying for, according to this plan. Get rid of the quarantine for vaccinated, covid free tested people, and millions upon millions of euros, dollars, rubles, etc., will find their way to Thailand!
lA
Thursday, March 11, 2021 at 11:35 am
Flew from Phuket last week got my 1st shot soon 2nd shot but will not go back to my Phuket condo till there is no quarantine in the USA once you got your 2 shots u can board any plane anywhere I have live in Phuket 35 yrs married to Thai so get with it Thai government after this going Bali to surf and will spend my money there till Thailand gets over this dum idea it’s already almost to late for a recovery and by the way the vaccine in the USA is not the low Chinese one and of course everyone shot is free!!!!! Didn’t really want to go but the Thai government c19 plan is a real loser!
Issan John
Thursday, March 11, 2021 at 1:15 pm
“They will be tested for Covid-19 during the first 3 days and if negative, allowed to leave their room and roam freely around the resort for the remainder of their stay. However, they will not be permitted to leave the resort until they have completed the full 14 day quarantine period.”
If correct and if approved (IF) this is effectively a 3 day quarantine followed by 11 (13?) days pointlessly confined to a hotel / resort area where those confined to the hotel / resort can, if infected, pass on the virus to other guests, hotel staff and anyone they arrange to meet in the hotel / resort.
Difficult to believe anyone would be stupid enough to approve this, as the backlash if anyone infected others under these circumstances could set back opening the borders by months.
Ray
Thursday, March 11, 2021 at 1:46 pm
It is obvious that the max 3 month period of being vaccinated relates to the fact that at the moment there is no data available for cases where people are longer inoculated. It is expected that this time frame will gradually be stretched when time passes. It shows how cautious the Thai authorities are but at the same time want tourists to come back.
martin walker
Thursday, March 11, 2021 at 2:28 pm
will i be able to have my girlfriend at the hotel ???
Kent Lamoreux
Thursday, March 11, 2021 at 11:30 pm
Would like to see a specific date the 7 and 10-day quarantines take effect. Is it immediately or on a future date?
AC
Saturday, March 13, 2021 at 3:37 pm
Yes John, many tourists are looking forward the eleven days promenades around the resort.
Jake S
Saturday, March 13, 2021 at 7:33 pm
Dear Thai Government
If you truly want to know how to attract foreign money, study Puerto Vallarta, MX
Or Mexico in general
That’s where I’ll be spending my dirty farang money from now on
Look at some Vallarta videos on YouTube and learn. I promise not to tell your Chinese mast- errr…”advisors”
Chris
Sunday, March 14, 2021 at 2:57 pm
This article is misleading. This hasn’t been approved yet.
Nipral
Monday, March 15, 2021 at 10:55 am
Yet another military joke !
We wont come ! Understood soldiers ?
Mike
Thursday, March 18, 2021 at 10:06 am
To quarantein doesn’t make sense if I’ve been vaccinated already. What’s the reason now for the vaccination does anyone know?