The Public Health Ministry plans to ask the Center for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) to reduce the mandatory quarantine period for tourists from 14 to 10 days, said Deputy Prime Minister and Public Health Minister, Anutin Charnvirakul.
To alter to shorter quarantine period, the ministry has prepared antibody test kits for COVID-19 with high accuracy, which can give results within 3.5 days to replace nasal swab tests or blood tests.
The new test method was introduced for the trial with quarantinees.
Regarding the government’s Special Tourist Visa (STV) scheme, Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) said it is the process of visa application at the Thai embassy. The first group of tourists will come from China to Phuket in late October
Another group will arrive from European countries at the beginning of November but their destination has not been confirmed.
Now, only five provinces are ready to provide alternative state quarantine facilities for tourists. Those provinces are Bangkok, Phuket, Burirum, Prachinburi and Chonburi.
They are required to strictly comply with the public health measures, the same as those applied to Thai returnees. Most importantly, the reopening must be agreed by most local people, the TAT governor said.
The quota on visitors from low-risk countries is limited at 1,200 people per month and they must undergo the Covid-19 testing before departure and after arrival in Thailand, he added. (TNA)
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