BANGKOK, Thailand — Thailand on Thursday started halving the quarantine time for vaccinated travelers as a primary step to allowing inoculated individuals into the nation without the need to isolate.
The pandemic has devastated Thailand’s tourism business, a key revenue earner, however, strict border measures have left the nation comparatively unscathed.
Tanee Sangrat, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, mentioned that travelers — Thais and non-Thais — are now not required to have fit-to-fly documents issued by Thai consulates from Thursday. Foreigners, however, still have to show a negative COVID-19 test result.
He mentioned that people who are certified to have been vaccinated shall be allowed to spend seven days in special quarantine hotels, compared to the previous 14 days. Unvaccinated individuals have to spend 10 days in quarantine unless they arrive from one of 11 nations — all in sub-Saharan Africa — in which case they have to do the full two weeks.
He mentioned that those vaccinated must have certificates approved by the Thai FDA and/or the World Health Organization. Thailand has approved seven vaccines including Sinovac, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, and Moderna.
Thailand hopes to first fully reopen the island of Phuket, its most popular destination, by July 1 for vaccinated travelers without quarantine. However, they will be required to spend a certain time, probably up to a week, in Phuket before they are allowed to travel elsewhere in Thailand.
Businesses on the island hope to vaccinate most residents till May — an ambitious goal given the slow pace of vaccinations in the nation.
Thailand has essentially been closed to overseas travelers for a year and kept infections and deaths low. It has reported 28,889 confirmed cases with 94 demises. On Thursday, it had 26 new cases.
