The United Kingdom is removing Thailand from its ‘red list’ of countries, enabling Thais who have been fully vaccinated to enter the UK without needing to undergo PCR testing before disembarking and without needing to quarantine upon arrival, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has indicated.
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Tanee Sangrat said Thailand was being removed from the UK’s red list of countries that were deemed to pose high risks of COVID-19 infections. The removal takes effect at 4 am London time on October 11, after which travelers from Thailand will not need to take a PCR test before departing. The travelers will still need to get tested by the PCR method, on the second day after arriving in the UK. Quarantine will not be required.
The UK government announced it was now accepting Thai vaccine certificates for those inoculated with vaccines made by AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna, and J&J. No conditions are imposed on the origin country of vaccines used. Travelers from Thailand who received other makes of COVID-19 vaccine such as Sinovac’s and Sinopharm’s, and those who are unvaccinated, would still need a PCR test before departure and enter 10 days of quarantine upon arrival.
The decision to remove Thailand from the UK’s red list came in part due to efforts by the Thai embassy in London, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Public Health, and other relevant agencies to coordinate with their UK counterparts to facilitate travel from Thailand to the UK and to encourage travels from the UK to Thailand during the latter’s high tourism season. (NNT)