Breaking: Quarantine for foreigners back to 14 days!
Taweesilp Visanuyothin, spokesperson for the Center for Covid-19 Situation Administration, announces stricter Covid-19 control measures in a broadcast from Government House in Bangkok on Thursday.(screenshot)
The Center for Covid-19 Situation Administration, the advisory body to the government, today introduced a series of tightened measures that also affect foreigners who want to travel to Thailand. For example, the mandatory quarantine for all arrivals in Thailand will again be 14 days instead of 7-10 days for fully vaccinated foreigners.
Furthermore, there will be more Covid-19 controls, the number of "dark red" zones will be expanded and wearing face masks outdoors will become mandatory throughout the country.
CCSA spokesperson Taweesilp Visanuyothin says May 1 will end the shortened quarantine periods of 7-10 days (another source says May 6). Foreigners are again locked in their hotel rooms for 15 days (14 nights) and are only allowed to leave them for medical treatment or a Covid-19 test.
From 1 May, six provinces will also be designated as dark red zones with maximum and strict Covid-19 control. They are Bangkok, Chon Buri, Chiang Mai, Nonthaburi, Pathum Thani and Samut Prakan. The number of red zones with maximum control will increase from 18 to 45 provinces, while the orange control zones will decrease from 59 to 26 provinces.
Twenty-six provinces declared orange zones are Krabi, Kalasin, Chai Nat, Chumphon, Trat, Nakhon Nayok, Nakhon Phanom, Nong Khai, Bung Kan, Buri Ram, Phangnga, Phayao, Phrae, Mukdahan, Mae Hong Son, Yasothon, Loei, Sakon Nakhon, Satun, Samut Songkhram, Sing Buri, Surin, Nong Bua Lam Phu, Uttaradit, Uthai Thani and Amnat Charoen.
In all zones, people must wear a face mask when going outside. Fines will be handed out, but these will not immediately be very heavy.
Entertainment venues and schools are closed across the country. Shopping centers may be open until 21.00 p.m. with a limited number of visitors, promotional events are not allowed. Parties are prohibited.
In dark red provinces, people are not allowed to leave their zone unless it is strictly necessary. In the red zones, dining is allowed until 21.00 p.m. and until 23.00 p.m. in the orange zones, with no sale or consumption of alcoholic beverages. In red zones, restaurants can take takeout orders until 23.00 p.m.
Convenience stores such as 7-Eleven and Familymart are allowed to open between 04.00 a.m. and 23.00 p.m. in the dark red and red zones. The restriction does not apply in orange zones.
Source: Bangkok Post
I arrived in Thailand together with my Thai husband on April 26 (from the Netherlands). On arrival, 10 days (11 nights) of ASQ quarantine still applied. So on May 7th we can leave our ASQ.
Does this change mean that we will simply keep these days and that this will take effect for travelers who travel into Thailand from now on?
Of
Does this mean we will get extra quarantine days?
If anyone knows about this I'd love to hear it.
Thank you in advance.
Thai PBS talks about travelers arriving from May 1 “People traveling to Thailand from abroad will, from May 1st, be required to spend 14 days in quarantine”. The Thai-language site of PBS states this:
“สำหรับการปรับระยะเวลากักตัว ปรับจาก 7 หรือ 10 เป็น 14 วันทุกประเภท ไม่อนุญาตให้ออกจากห้องพ More information ับผู้ที่ได้รับอนุมัติ COE ตั้งแต่ 1 พ.ค.2564 หรือ ผู ้ที่ได้ รับ COE ก่อนวันที่ 1 พ.ค. More information 6 พ.ค.2564 เป็นต้นไป และตรวจหาเชื้อ 3 ครั้ง”
If I read it that way, these rules apply to people who arrive from May 1 and you would be locked up in the hotel outside of that and therefore longer than intended. But I don't dare put my hand in the fire about it.
The ministry's own website, which would be the primary source for getting an answer to this, sadly appears to be down. I think it's a bit of a wait for additional information with more certainty / details. After all, with translations and simplification of news in the (English-language) media, essential details sometimes get lost. If Ging puts the TV on PBS, he might hear more details in the news in the next few days. Hopefully the hotel management can give a certain answer to this within now and May 1th.
- https://www.thaipbsworld.com/tougher-anti-covid-19-restrictions-imposed-by-ccsa-from-may-1st/
- https://news.thaipbs.or.th/content/303844
Nothing will change for you - as the decision-making process currently stands - because this will apply to holders of Certificates of Entry issued on or after 1 May 2021. Holders of previously issued CoEs arriving before May 6 can still claim the 7 or 10 days of quarantine they were originally eligible for.
No, this only applies to “new” arrivals. The 10-day ASQ applies to you (provided you have not tested positive in the meantime, of course).
All arrivals holding a Certificate of Entry issued on or after May 1 must undergo the 14-day quarantine.
If all goes well, we are both still obliged for 10 days. Anyone who received COE after May 1 and who entered after May 6 must stay in a hotel for 14 days.
My question is:
Flying from Bangkok to Phuket May 5 is that possible? Due to red zone
What you say is not correct. Pertinently untrue. It concerns the number of days that is shown on your COE. If you now have a COE that says you have to go into quarantine for 10 days, you fall into the old region. All people from May 1, so May 2, from May 1, go into the 14-day arrangement. But the arrangements have not even been officially confirmed yet and there will be a lot of resistance from the cate and the tourist industry. Of course this is really not possible. The only reason this is now temporarily happening is the past week of celebrations. But the bill is once again looking for a stick to hit and you guessed it, we are the kid.
It's a pity, but pertinently true…
The CoE document reads: “The Communicable Disease Control Officer at International Port Health Office of Thailand has the authority to decide on the final quarantine period.”
So, one will impose 14 days…
What has not yet been mentioned here is that there is also 3x testing. So you can get out of solitary confinement 3 times.
LATEST UPDATE: ( April 29, 2021)
Travelers arriving in Thailand from 6 May 2021 onwards will be subject to 14-day quarantine, regardless of the vaccine certificate.
Source: https://www.thaiembassy.be/2020/07/09/info-for-non-thai-nationals-traveling-to-thailand/?lang=en
From the website of the Thai Embassy in The Hague:
Latest developments: From 1 May 2021 until further notice.
All non-Thai visitors arriving in Thailand on or after May 1, 2021 must complete the quarantine period of at least 14 days.
EXCEPT: Visitors whose COEs have been issued by April 30, 2021 AND who arrive in Thailand by May 5, 2021 (Thai local time) will still be entitled to a reduced quarantine period of 7 or 10 full days as per the measure from 1 April 2021.
Thank you for your response.
Glad to hear this hasn't changed anything for us. My mother-in-law is seriously ill, hence our trip. It would be annoying if this had meant something to us. So I was shocked for a while... (I'm not surprised anymore these days haha). But thank you very much for your responses.
Bangkok is now in the dark red zone. You may not leave the dark red zone only if necessary.
I am flying May 5th to Phuket. Is that necessary?
Can someone help me with this?
regards
Esther
If you have a place to stay or stay in Phuket, you are necessarily on the road. By the way, it remains a strange story because as a foreigner you may not have a permanent place or you are a tourist and travel around; then you can hardly be forced to rent something on site or to book a hotel. Therefore, think that if you tell them you are going home, wherever that is, they will leave you alone and then leave you alone.
Subarnabumi Airport is not located in Bangkok province but in Samutprakan province. Or am I wrong??
I land May 1st and therefore still fall into 'old' arrangement, with negative Corona test and vaccinated?
My Thai text above states that the new rules apply to “those who have received COE approval from May 1, 2021, *or* those who have received the COE before May 1 and will arrive in the Kingdom from May 6, 2021.”
In short, with a CEO issued in April but arriving in the period up to and including May 5, you fall under the old rules.
I also land on May 1… do we fall under the old scheme? Can hope so. What a misery again.
It is clearly symbolic politics (the foreigners are not the ones bringing the virus into Thailand), but the government apparently wants to send a signal to the population that something is being done. Unfortunately, the wrong measures are being taken.
Of course there should have been a travel ban for Songkran. Now the infections are rising and everyone can count back when those infections started; indeed just in the days before Songkran. In addition, the government is far too slow with the vaccination program and people rely entirely on the locally produced vaccines and they have the arrogance to refuse vaccines offered by other countries (including India) because of "not necessary". How unbelievably arrogant are you?
As for the 14 days ASQ measure for foreigners; unnecessary and nonsensical! Then cross out that people can come to Thailand as "tourists" and only allow family, business trips, diplomats, etc. Then only people who really have something to look for in Thailand and those numbers are relatively low. In addition, you can leave the requirement of being fully vaccinated and limit ASQ to 7 days. This way you keep control and you keep it manageable for those involved. I personally would still consider 7 days ASQ, 14 days is simply a no-go.
As said, this measure is mainly to show that the government is doing something, only the government is taking the wrong decisions and the decisions that should have been taken were not taken. Shame. You don't fight Corona by blaming someone else and doing nothing yourself.
I think the new rules have to do with the outbreak in India with that new variant. Many Indians also live in Thailand.
India is also not far away.
The government could then decide to impose ASQ on Indians for 14 days, not the rest of the foreigners. The government could also decide to ban tourists and make that group no longer eligible for a CoE. The current measure is discriminatory and, above all, based on nothing. The numbers of foreigners entering Thailand under a CoE is limited. If you then exclude a hotbed like India, other visitors can come to Thailand without any problems, without posing a health risk. It is mainly symbolic politics
You will immediately receive an answer here and, among other things, a reason to an earlier TB question why the embassy does not want to deliver a CoE too early. It can all just change.
And in June the weather can be different…
Reader question: Why not apply for another CoE until June?
https://www.thailandblog.nl/lezersvraag/lezersvraag-waarom-pas-in-juni-weer-een-coe-aanvragen/
I don't get it.
Or I just get it. So it's that 'Ai Falang' again which people like to use as a scapegoat?
Didn't do anything myself to start something like a vaccination, so I'm going to grab foreigners again.
In the meantime they try to appease the angry tourism sector… which has to rely on the very same 'Ai Farang'.
An unnecessary split. I will look for an alternative…
Too bad!
Best regards,
Franky
Ls
All in all. So it's just waiting, waiting, waiting.
I see it coming that we can't even travel normally in November.
And then I'm still very positive (rather negative)
We'll have to be patient
Although the condition of the population is deteriorating rapidly.
Every day I get requests for a job or money!!
I am now helping 1 family, but they are having a very hard time.
10 hours work for 300Bath
They have to get by with the three of them..
And we just complain.
For all Thailand goers. Hold on!!!
Maybe until November and otherwise January??
Gr rob
visitors whose COEs have been issued no later than 30 April 2021 AND who will arrive in Thailand no later than 5 May 2021 (local time in Thailand) are still entitled to a reduced quarantine period of 7 or 10 full days as per the measure as of April 1, 2021.
I read this today on the site of the Thai embassy in The Hague dated 30-04-2021
can always change, of course, but yes, TIT
In addition to using a 14-day quarantine again, other rules are also being tightened. I am basing this on an announcement from the hotel where I was quarantined in December (I am still a member of the hotel's Line group). Below is the verbatim text of this morning's announcement:
“It has been brought to our attention the announcement of the Ministry of Public Health that guests under quarantine facilities must adhere to the followings:
– Guest is not allowed to use Relaxation areas during the entire stay.
– Room Cleaning service is not available during the entire stay.
– Laundry service is available after 2nd NETGATIVE SWAP TEST RESULT of our stay.
This will be effective from Saturday 1 May 2021, approximately 2 months. If there is an alteration you will be informed accordingly.”
In December, after the first negative PCR test, I was allowed 2x an hour every day in the garden ("relaxation area") of the hotel. On April 16, it was announced that from April 17, this may only be once a day.
So today it was announced that from tomorrow you will not be allowed to leave your room at all. That makes the quarantine a lot less pleasant.
Yes, but that is nothing new, because that was already stated in the text of the article: Foreigners are again locked in their hotel rooms for 15 days (14 nights) and are only allowed to leave them for medical treatment or a Covid-19 test.
I wonder again how can one check that you are staying in a dark red zone.
As an example from practice, as I experience it now, and experienced it last year with the same kind of zone division.
I live in Lamphun province on the border with Chiangmai province.
Just up and down the Ping River on the way to the KadFarang in HangDong in CM is no problem at all.
There are often only checkpoints on busy main roads.
But if you go inside on the bike like me, you will not come across a single control point or anything that looks similar.
Last week there was an inspection, I heard from hearsay, along the superhighway to CM at Thai Wasadu shopping center.
I drove by the Mits on the road along the railway line to CM and did not see a single checkpoint or anything.
They are better off spending the time and energy on the breeding grounds where the virus has free reign, so also at night at pad gentlemen controllers, and not sitting in a tent along the road ala Songkran and watching mobile phones.
Jan Beute.
And another question: how do you know where the border is between two districts? Are they going to put district poles because I've never seen one......
Dear Chris, I had a stomach ache from laughing about half an hour ago.
It was about the following.
Reading the Thaivisa it was about new restrictions regarding Chonburi province.
This is unbelievable a country within a country it seems to be.
It seems that if you want to travel from this province of Chonburi, which also includes Pattaya, you must have a valid or urgent reason why and apply for a permit to go outside.
Reminds me of being able to go abroad on holiday or for work or something like Thais.
You have to meet all kinds of requirements to be able to go outside.
And then I read one of the many responses and even from a farang. He wrote.
Trying to fight a virus with bureaucracy is like trying to fight a fire by throwing paper on it.
I think they are slowly losing their way here, but then also completely.
But internal borders or not Janneman goes up and down for a while and then comes back.
Thailand a lot of blabla and little wool.
And in the meantime, the local Sanook barber continued to operate as usual last night, ala Thai moonschine whiskey, until three o'clock in the morning.
Whether they have thought of the 1.5 meters and the mandatory face mask is highly doubtful.
And tomorrow it's business as usual.
Jan Beute.