RT-PCR Covid-19 tests still required for international arrivals – CCSA

Covid-19 screening at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport (October 2021) | Photo courtesy of PR Bangkok

After talk of whether to replace the mandatory RT-PCR Covid-19 test for international arrivals with the rapid antigen test kit method, the CCSA decided to continue to use RT-PCR tests to screen travellers upon arrival in Thailand.

The antigen test kits, or ATKs, will be used for travellers on days 6 and 7, or if they develop coronavirus symptoms, according to deputy spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nopakun Natapanu, who gives the CCSA press briefing in English. He added that the current testing requirements will remain “until further studies are completed.”

Those arriving to Thailand under the quarantine exemption scheme must wait in temporary isolation in their hotel room until their results for their RT-PCR test come back. Using the ATK method would potentially allow those travellers to be free to immediately travel Thailand upon arrival.

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Caitlin Ashworth

Caitlin Ashworth is a writer from the United States who has lived in Thailand since 2018. She graduated from the University of South Florida St. Petersburg with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and media studies in 2016. She was a reporter for the Daily Hampshire Gazette In Massachusetts. She also interned at the Richmond Times-Dispatch in Virginia and Sarasota Herald-Tribune in Florida.

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