Pattaya discusses “hotel isolation” for Test & Go, Sandbox travellers with Covid-19
After hundreds of horror stories of foreign tourists being required to stay in a quarantine hotels around Thailand after testing positive for Covid-19, officials in Pattaya discussed a so-called “hotel isolation” to allow travellers to continue staying at their hotel or resort if they test positive for the virus and have mild or no symptoms.
The idea is not to force travellers into sleeping on a cardboard bed at a field hospital or to transfer to a “hospitel,” or quarantine hotel… which, according to a reporter who stayed in a Phuket hospitel, it was more like an “Asian Hotel California” with beer-fuelled, late-night parties.
Under both the Test & Go quarantine exemption scheme, travellers must book stays at SHA Extra+ hotels on Day 1 and again on Day 5 to undergo RT-PCR tests. The hotels can be in different provinces, as long as they are approved for the entry programme. The SHA Extra+ certification means a hotel meets standards set by the Safety and Health Administration and partners with a local hospital to handle positive Covid-19 cases among travellers.
The director of Chon Buri Tourism and Sports, Ampai Sakdanukulchit Sliwinski, led a meeting held at Pattaya City Hall to discuss preparations for the anticipated influx of travellers after Test & Go registrations reopens on February 1. Ampai says that 5% of the hotel rooms at SHA Extra+ hotel will be designated for hotel room isolation, allowing travellers who test positive for Covid-19 to continue to stay at the hotel rather than checking into a quarantine hotel or private hospital. She says the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration must approve the plan.
Here’s what the tourism director told the Pattaya News…
“We are seeking the best way to assist international tourists who arrive in Pattaya and Chon Buri area if their Covid-19 test was positive with mild or asymptomatic symptoms. We understand one of the biggest “fears” of tourists is testing positive and potentially being forced into places (hospitals, quarantine centres, etc) that they don’t wish to go to, especially being fully vaccinated and having mild symptoms or less.
Our goal is that if a traveller is positive for Covid-19 and mild or asymptomatic they are given every opportunity to stay in the hotel room of their choice versus being forced to hospitals or quarantine centres.”
SOURCE: Pattaya News
