News Forum - Phuket officials alarmed by number of tourists testing positive on arrival

[Guest1]

19 minutes ago, MrNovax said:

I went through it just two weeks ago, first thing they did when we got to the hotel was test us.  they retested us again on day 9.  

But they don't have to worry, you walk around, right? So why talk about? Keep numbers low.

[Freeduhdumb]

When I came into Thailand on the COE scheme, the airline check in gate agent at the Seattle airport took my PCR lab result paperwork and disappeared for about 10 minutes... I presumed she did a check on the medical clinic I went to for the result. But they digital copy sent to me could have been easily altered if I had wanted too. Yep... the gate agents are going to have a difficult time authenticating these.... especially during busy or after hour times. 

[Lyp14 [ctxa]]

14 minutes ago, Freeduhdumb said:

When I came into Thailand on the COE scheme, the airline check in gate agent at the Seattle airport took my PCR lab result paperwork and disappeared for about 10 minutes... I presumed she did a check on the medical clinic I went to for the result. But they digital copy sent to me could have been easily altered if I had wanted too. Yep... the gate agents are going to have a difficult time authenticating these.... especially during busy or after hour times. 

Normally they have a QR code which upon scanning redirects you to the labs website and shows your record on their website, thus Photoshopping the printed version of it is pretty useless if they decide to check it.

[Freeduhdumb]

16 minutes ago, ctxa said:

Normally they have a QR code which upon scanning redirects you to the labs website and shows your record on their website, thus Photoshopping the printed version of it is pretty useless if they decide to check it.

The U.S. has seen a big decline in the general use of RT-PCR testing as the CDC revoked its emergency use authorization. And I don't believe labs have generally started using this QR cod system. I suppose the question becomes... does Thailand require a QR code for the test? I know they generate a QR code for the Thai pass now. But I don't think my RT-PCR test necessisarly needs a QR code... anyone confirm this? 

[Lyp14 [ctxa]]

6 minutes ago, Freeduhdumb said:

The U.S. has seen a big decline in the general use of RT-PCR testing as the CDC revoked its emergency use authorization. And I don't believe labs have generally started using this QR cod system. I suppose the question becomes... does Thailand require a QR code for the test? I know they generate a QR code for the Thai pass now. But I don't think my RT-PCR test necessisarly needs a QR code... anyone confirm this? 

No the RT-PCR is not required to have a QR code by the government of Thailand. 

But in Europe, according to EU law any lab of any member country must provide RT-PCR report with a QR code which can be used to verify it. 

Edited February 4, 2022 by ctxa

[HiuMak]

* Fake PCR certificate - Easy

* PCR Test - Delete

* Honest Tourist - Difficult

* Endemic in Thailand - Not yet 

[FrankLuke]

Once again a Thailand news story without all the necessary pertinent facts:  What nationalities and countries are these travelers from arriving Phuket without the appropriate pcr tests and what airlines by name allowed them to travel?

[D-Boy]

Not enough detail.  What countries?  Back-track?  Internal testing issue?  Everyday or specific flight (s)?  What variant?  Etc, etc, etc...

The jump to judgement/paranoia/fear is getting ridiculous.

[Busqueezo]

Once again a Thailand news story without all the necessary pertinent facts:  What nationalities and countries are these travelers from arriving at Phuket without the appropriate pcr tests and what airlines by name allowed them to travel?

[BillO]

Have to think foreign tourists are going to be more concerned over the false positives. Just another reason to think they are being scammed and not come to Thailand. 

[Marc26]

4 hours ago, ctxa said:

Normally they have a QR code which upon scanning redirects you to the labs website and shows your record on their website, thus Photoshopping the printed version of it is pretty useless if they decide to check it.

 

 

I've traveled about 6x

In US, Canada and Mexico

 

They checked my tests but no way did they do any extensive search

 

Just the results 

[Chatogaster]

 

For 1-4 January, 1.8% tested positive in T&G and no one reported that foul play might be a key factor. Since then, the daily case count has doubled in the world (on average that is; in Russia it has increased 6-fold). In light of that, a significant rise in day 1 positives is only to be expected (3% is even surprisingly low).

Yet only now it is speculated that foul play might be rampant (suggesting that many test results could be fake is neither subtle nor ambiguous). Sometimes I get the feeling officials improvise on the spot and report the first thing that comes to mind without providing proof or even plausible arguments.

The world would be a better place if people said "I don't know" more often.

 

[Grumpyoldman]

11 minutes ago, Chatogaster said:

.The world would be a better place if people said "I don't know" more often.

Not in the Thai culture. Make something up to save face. Then sue for slander and defamation of character if you are challenged.

[Charlie]

1 hour ago, Busqueezo said:

Once again a Thailand news story without all the necessary pertinent facts:  What nationalities and countries are these travelers from arriving at Phuket without the appropriate pcr tests and what airlines by name allowed them to travel?

i read it was mostly from Russia....which is no surprise...they have some very high covid cases.

[Charlie]

1 hour ago, Chatogaster said:

For 1-4 January, 1.8% tested positive in T&G and no one reported that foul play might be a key factor. Since then, the daily case count has doubled in the world (on average that is; in Russia it has increased 6-fold). In light of that, a significant rise in day 1 positives is only to be expected (3% is even surprisingly low).

Yet only now it is speculated that foul play might be rampant (suggesting that many test results could be fake is neither subtle nor ambiguous). Sometimes I get the feeling officials improvise on the spot and report the first thing that comes to mind without providing proof or even plausible arguments.

The world would be a better place if people said "I don't know" more often.

a solution that will help...ban Russians.

[PohTou]

3 hours ago, BillO said:

Have to think foreign tourists are going to be more concerned over the false positives. Just another reason to think they are being scammed and not come to Thailand. 

That would concern me and also arriving negative and then becoming positive  5 days alter after being exposed to the Thai population. Omicron incubation period can be only 2 or 3 days.  A very risky proposition.

And a very expensive possibility with a ruined holiday. Not worth it. My Thai-Canadian friends have canceled their trip (4 people) to Thailand. Too expensive for 4 people. 

[Chatogaster]

2 hours ago, Charlie said:

a solution that will help...ban Russians.

When Omicron was discovered in several SA-countries, Thailand decided to ban the entire continent in a heartbeat. Not surprising if you look at the usual number of incoming African tourists. But banning Russians amounts to a 30% reduction in international tourists that might (the following is an almost random guess) halve the 3%. Before applying such a drastic solution, Phuket must first be sure:

1. that there is an imminent problem (Phuket can already cope with up to 5%, and capacity could probably be cranked up),
2. that reducing the problem is worth losing a considerable chunk of revenue over, and
3. that there are no alternative solutions (like penalizing operators that allow boarding based on e.g. ATK-results or by reducing the 72 hour window).

I'm not sure about any of those points, but I am sure neither is Phuket.

[JamesR]

I suppose if they bothered testing the local population they would also be alarmed with the number of people testing positive, if you don't test then you don't know.

 

[Donald]

On 2/4/2022 at 8:33 AM, Charlie said:

My understand most of them are Russians. Stop them coming in. Russia has a HIGH rate of covid cases. 

To many Americans here that will jump on the "blame the Russians" train.

[Lyp14 [ctxa]]

The Russians are worse than the Americans when it comes to mask. 

 

I saw a family of Russians at Doha airport last month, neither of them wore masks and they blatantly ignored the local airport staff telling them to mask up… 

That is until real Qatari police showed up and next I saw them cuffing the father and frisking him. 

[Poolie]

52 minutes ago, Donald said:

To many Americans here that will jump on the "blame the Russians" train.

You very nearly got that spot on.

[Stonker]

9 hours ago, Grumpyoldman said:

Not in the Thai culture. Make something up to save face. Then sue for slander and defamation of character if you are challenged.

Except the deputy governor didn't make anything up to save face.

All he did was say that some people had assumed that was happening, and that if it was there was nothing the Phuket authorities could do about it.

Sounds pretty reasonable .

[AussieBob]

40 minutes ago, Poolie said:

You very nearly got that spot on.

To right 

[Bangkok]

I doubt they are positive. Knowing the Thai's they're marking the tests positive because they make alot of money out of each foreigner from kickbacks at hospital hotels. It's always about the money in Thailand. They make nothing when a Thai tests positive.

[AussieBob]

No one else has said it yet - so I will.  A more 'correct' headline would be:    

'Phuket officials alarmed by media reports about the number of tourists testing positive on arrival'