Thailand Suspends Quarantine-Free Entry Due to Omicron Until 4 Jan

By
Shawn Ambrose
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If life were a party, COVID-19 would be a party pooper that showed up every 15 minutes.

When it leaves, the party is fun again and you think things will return to normal, but 15 minutes later, the party pooper is back, only in a different form.

Whether it be dining out, having visitors, or travelling abroad, the coronavirus has time and time again forced us to take two steps back just when we had taken one forward.

This time it’s the Omicron variant, and its main reason for existence seems to be to put an end to as many travel arrangements as possible.

Thailand Suspends Quarantine-Free Entry Due to Omicron Until 4 Jan

Thailand has suspended its quarantine-free scheme due to concerns over the potential spread of the Omicron strain.

The suspension, which began at midnight today (22 Dec), will be in place until 4 Jan, when the situation will be reviewed. 

Under Thailand’s “Test and Go” scheme, vaccinated foreign travellers could enter the country without the need to quarantine as long as they took a test.

Now, visitors will be required to undergo a hotel quarantine for a period between 7 to 14 days, depending on their vaccination status and country of departure.

Those who have already registered for the Test and Go scheme can still enter the country without quarantine, but have to take an additional polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test on the seventh day of their arrival at a government-designated facility. The test will be sponsored by the Thai government.

An alternative is the “Phuket Sandbox Scheme”, which allows visitors to travel around Thailand after spending one week on the island.

63 Omicron Cases in Thailand; 1 Local Case Detected Recently

Foreign Ministry spokesman Tanee Sangrat explained that these measures have been re-introduced to curb the spread of the Omicron variant, a highly-mutated COVID-19 strain that is believed to be more infectious than previous iterations.

At the moment, there are 63 Omicron cases in Thailand, one of whom is a local case that was detected on Monday (20 Dec).

What Now for the VTL?

It appears that this means Singapore residents can’t travel to Thailand under the Vaccinated Travel Lane scheme, even if they’re fully vaccinated.

The two countries had launched a VTL less than 10 days ago, on 14 Dec.

This is why it’s important to check the latest public health and border measures for the countries we plan to visit, especially before buying plane tickets.

With COVID-19, nothing is certain, and everything can change in an instant.

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Shawn Ambrose
Email: [email protected]