Thailand’s Public Health Ministry has adopted four measures to be applied to all tourists visiting Thailand, including those from China after the Chinese Government eases travel restrictions on their citizens on January 8th.
The measures are:
- All visitors must have received at least two doses of COVID-19 vaccine before their arrival
- All visitors should take out health insurance coverage, which includes COVID-19, before their departure for Thailand
- All visitors should wear face masks while travelling on public transport in Thailand and in public places and take rapid antigen tests if they develop COVID-like symptoms.
- Visitors should postpone their visits to Thailand if they develop a respiratory disease.
The measures were proposed by a technical sub-committee of the National Communicable Disease Committee and were approved today (Thursday) at a joint meeting between the Public Health, Transport, Foreign Affairs and Tourism and Sports ministries, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration and the Office of the Insurance Commission.
Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, who chaired the meeting, said that he is confident that Thailand is fully prepared to cope with the mass arrival of tourists from China and to take care of them.
He assured that all foreign tourists, including the Chinese, will be treated equally, without discrimination.
Since the COVID variants spreading in China resemble the variants detected in Thailand, the public health minister said that COVID-19 should not be used as a pretext to discriminate against any nationality, including the Chinese, when visiting Thailand.
He said that the Ministry of Public Health, in its capacity as the enforcer of the Communicable Disease Act, is ready to make adjustment to the existing measures, to deal with any emergent situation in the future.
Anutin also said that tourists who want to get vaccinated while in Thailand can do so, but at their cost, adding that the Thai Government has no policy to provide free vaccinations to tourists.
Deputy Government Spokesperson Traisuree Traisoranakul, meanwhile, said that the Ministry of Tourism and Sports has put in place measures to help foreign tourists who become infected while in Thailand, adding that they can call the tourist police on 1155, the Tourism Authority of Thailand on 1672 or tourist assistance centres on 02 134 4077 to seek help or advice.
For tourists who want to continue their journey to other countries, where tourists are required to be screened for COVID infection, she recommended that they stay at “SHA Plus” hotels, where there are screening services certified by the Thai Medical Science Department.
