Vaccinated travelers to Thailand are exempt from quarantine

Thailand will re-release vaccinated travelers from quarantine from February 1, authorities announced today, with the news giving new hope to the tourism industry that has been suffering for months.

Fearing the spread of the Omicron strain of the new coronavirus, the country had reinstated the mandatory quarantine measure in late December. However, only a few thousand cases of the new coronavirus are officially recorded every day in the country and the death curve from COVID-19 remains stable.

This information prompted the authorities to re-evaluate the situation. From February 1, vaccinated travelers will now have to take a negative coronavirus test in their country of origin, do a second one as soon as they arrive in the country and a last one on the fifth day, said a spokesman for the Tawisin Pandemic Management Center. Visanuyotin.

Tests in the country should be done at an approved hotel. If the result is negative, the visitor will be able to move freely in the country. "In the event of an increase in cases, the situation will be reconsidered," said Tawisin Visanuyotin.

After more than 18 months of closure, the kingdom reopened its borders in early November to vaccinated tourists only by showing a negative PCR test. Several tens of thousands of visitors benefited from this easing of restrictions.

Prior to the new coronavirus pandemic, the country was one of the most visited in the world with almost 40 million arrivals in 2019. The tourism ministry hopes the country will receive 5 million visitors this year.