Pattaya will begin October with 70 percent of its adult population fully vaccinated against Covid-19 but will not be reopening to foreign tourists for another month.
Mayor Sonthaya Kunplome said Sept. 27 that the crucial threshold for vaccinating city residents was passed when the last 1,600 of 100,000 people received their second dose of coronavirus vaccine.
Reaching the 70-percent mark was the key obstacle to implementing the “Pattaya Move On” plan to welcome fully vaccinated foreign tourists to Pattaya on Oct. 1, but not the only one. The government said Pattaya and Chonburi Province also need to show a substantial drop in new daily coronavirus cases as well as hospitalizations. Having failed to meet those two metrics, Pattaya’s reopening earlier was pushed back to Nov. 1.
Chonburi on Friday reported 820 more cases, 132 of which were in Banglamung District, which includes Pattaya. Daily cases in the district have failed to decline, even as the province’s overall caseload trended downward through the beginning of this week. But Chonburi has seen case increases for four consecutive days.
Two more deaths also were reported and 11,483 remain hospitalized.
Sonthaya said Pattaya will spend October getting ready for reopening and continuing to vaccinate the public. Between 2,000 and 3,000 doses are being administered each day, but October’s immunization focus will be on students – in preparation for the reopening of schools in November – and booster shots for those inoculated with the Chinese-made vaccine from Sinovac Biotech, which is seen as less effective against the coronavirus delta variant.
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