Visitors from 15 locations must show health certificates, insurance before boarding flights to Thailand

Clarifying earlier reports, Thailand’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAAT) say that it will require air travellers, whether Thai or foreign, coming from 15 locations to show health certificates proving they are free of the Covid-19 coronavirus, and proof of insurance covering virus treatment, before boarding flights to Thailand. Earlier reports were that passengers from all locations would have to present the documents.

The CAAT’s governor Chula Sukmanop announced the measure and other requirements yesterday as part of the government’s efforts to contain the disease. The conditions are to take effect on Saturday. He said arriving passengers who were in China, including Hong Kong and Macau, Iran, Italy or South Korea in the past 14 days will be quarantined. These areas have been designated as “disease infected zones”.

Chula says that when passengers check in, airlines must verify whether they have visited coronavirus epidemic areas in the previous 14 days. They must require passengers from those infected zones and 11 other transmission areas to present health certificates issued no more than 72 hours before the flight departs. The certificates must guarantee that the passengers are free of the virus.

The 11 transmission areas are Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, specific cities in Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the USs. The Japanese cities are Aichi, Chiba, Hokkaido, Karagawa, Kyoto, Okinawa, Osaka, Tokyo and Wakayama, according to the Bangkok Post.

Airlines must also require that passengers from these places to have insurance covering Covid-19 treatment in Thailand, up to at least 3.1 million baht (100,000 US$).

Passengers who cannot provide the documents won’t be allowed to board their flight to Thailand. Those who are allowed to board must also provide the address of their accommodation in Thailand, either by written forms or by the Airports of Thailand mobile phone app.

The CAAT also requires airlines to seat passengers as far from each other as possible, and to regularly disinfect their planes. Chula added that Thai disease control officials are authorised to isolate aircraft and quarantine passengers.

Airlines that fail to comply will have to pay for the transport, quarantine and treatment of passengers, and bear the cost of related cases of disease control.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post