COVID-19: Thailand will remove some vaccinated visitors from quarantine beginning next month

BANGKOK: Thailand will eliminate coronavirus quarantine requirements for vaccinated visitors from ten low-risk countries beginning Nov. 1, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha announced on Monday, as the Southeast Asian country tries to recover from the pandemic.

Thailand experienced its deepest economic contraction in more than two decades last year, with the key tourism sector continuing to struggle.

Visitors from at least ten countries, including the United Kingdom, Singapore, Germany, China, and the United States, will be exempt from quarantine upon arrival, according to Prayuth in a televised speech.

More countries will be added to the list in the future, he said

“I know this decision comes with some risk. It is almost certain that we will see a temporary rise in serious cases as we relax these restrictions,” Prayuth said.

“We will have to track the situation very carefully and see how to contain and live with that situation because I do not think that the many millions who depend on the income generated by the travel, leisure, and entertainment sector can possibly afford the devastating blow of a second lost new year holiday period,” he said.

However, if a highly dangerous new variant of the virus emerges unexpectedly in the coming months, Thailand will take appropriate action, according to Prayuth.

Strict entry requirements and quarantine measures helped keep Thailand’s coronavirus outbreaks under control until recently, but the restrictions reduced arrivals to a fraction of the country’s nearly 40 million visitors in 2019.

Thailand lost $50 billion in tourism revenue last year, a drop of 82 percent.

It began with a pilot reopening on its most popular island, Phuket, on July 1, which has been vaccinating the majority of its local population.

According to the Tourism Authority of Thailand, only 100,000 foreign visitors are expected this year.

Thailand also intends to allow the resumption of alcohol sales in restaurants and the reopening of entertainment venues by December 1, according to Prayuth, who also stated that the country will have more than 170 doses of vaccine by the end of the year.

Thailand has vaccinated 32.5 percent of the country’s 72 million people against COVID-19 and has relaxed many restrictions in Bangkok and other provinces where infection rates have recently declined.