News Forum - Thailand’s Health Ministry to propose scrapping pre-departure PCR for Test & Go

[Marc26]

43 minutes ago, Janneman said:

Antigen test can give a positive result too of course. Which leads to incarceration at your own cost, changing flights, visa troubles and so on.

It's called travelling during a pandemic, it can be a bit stressful, I have done it plenty now............but it's the reality 

[Marc26]

38 minutes ago, Bernhard said:

It would be a not a bad step because of two reasons: First, the necessary "RT" in the test-paper makes it difficult to get, because most PCR-tests don't offer the explicit mentioning of "RT". Second: no tourist or expat wants to be infected, when having the PCR-Test on arrival in Thailand. So, I would go into self quarantine before start traveling. But the need of having a test before flight means, that you have to visit a place 72 hours before flight, where extraordinary many people are infected: the test center.

But maybe the better step would be, only PCR-test before flight (but without "RT") or simply ATK and no PCR-test after - it would reduce the risk of travelers, to have to pay for isolation in hospital or hotel. However, the current process of planning a travel is very difficult and many people will avoid it.

And what's about insurance? How dangerous is Covid for tourists, who are boostered, how much do they cost the Thai Health System? It all causes so many trouble when applying for EVisa and Test&Go. If people have no special reason to come to Thailand, they consider other countries.

it is as easy to get an RT-PCR test as any......

[WR2]

I don't care about predeparture test.  I care about arrival test, that will land me in the gulag.  The lowest form of life is a Thai bureaucrat.  Always doing bthe opposite of the right thing.

[BIGGLES]

 The bad news is:

Omicron is everywhere, it is extremely transmissible,  the chance of avoiding it is pretty slim to nill!

The good news:

Omicron is the best vaccine we never made B1, B2 and B2.2.

It is not much of a problem for those who have been fully vaccinated, there are exceptions, if you have underlying health issues.

Stop ALL testing for something we know exists, and is no longer the killer it was.

As for new strains of COVID:  If feeling unwell, and Covid is suspected, then test. If the test proves to be a new Covid, then proceed with all the medical wizardry Genome sequencing etc, and determine the threat level at that time.

But for Christ's sake,  if a 95 year old grany catches it, and goes back to work several days later, then we need to STOP being afraid  of our own shadow!

[Marc]

Pre-departure tests make perfect sense: no risk of infection on the plane or in the country, no unnecessary flight into an expensive and pointless hotel or hospital quarantine. What is the Ministry of Health proposing? Right, the opposite, the worst possible solution that maximises risk and cost for everyone and discourages rather than encourages tourists. That's short-sighted and stupid, in other words, it's the Thai government.

[fpschubert]

They have it backwards. Just emulate what Philippines is doing with its 48-hr RT-PCR negative result before arrival and your good to go. 

[Manu]

3 hours ago, Marc said:

Pre-departure tests make perfect sense: no risk of infection on the plane or in the country, no unnecessary flight into an expensive and pointless hotel or hospital quarantine. What is the Ministry of Health proposing? Right, the opposite, the worst possible solution that maximises risk and cost for everyone and discourages rather than encourages tourists. That's short-sighted and stupid, in other words, it's the Thai government.

To be honest, one of the rare countries worldwide that "makes perfect sense" is the UK. Starting tomorrow, the Passenger Locator Form and tests for all arrivals will be scrapped for the unvaccinated, not one single restriction left for ANYONE. Way to go. The pandemic is over, move on. It is (definitely) time now to get back the freedom of choosing individually what is risky for our lives or not, it is not the decision of any state, politician, authority...who have no more clue than anybody else it seems, at least we can obviously observe that the mighty Omicron does not care about their restrictions on populations and is doing its GOOD job regardless. If you are so scared, continue to live your life indefinitely away from socialising and being human, put the mask on, stay home, do not travel, do not go to places where concentrations of humans take place and let everybody else live their lives freely. Very simple!

[Fanta]

Bring your infected! We need the money! 

[Benroon]

16 hours ago, Freeduhdumb said:

This makes no sense... if you were going to keep any testing, wouldn't you want that testing be before you bring people onto a plane and to your country? If you're going to scrap testing then all of it needs to be scrapped. 

Agreed, I thought it was the airline too that stipulated you must have it which makes sense. I have no problems procedures being in place to ensure as far as possible that everyone in the same plane as you is free from the virus. 

Testing after arrival sure scrap that 

[Marc26]

29 minutes ago, Benroon said:

Agreed, I thought it was the airline too that stipulated you must have it which makes sense. I have no problems procedures being in place to ensure as far as possible that everyone in the same plane as you is free from the virus. 

Testing after arrival sure scrap that 

  No the airlines hate the pre-arrival testing

 

It all falls on them to do the work checking and they lose passengers that don't want to take a test to fly

[Marvin]

 A pre boarding test should be efficient along with our proof of vaccination. Mandates are being lifted, dropped and everything is opening in Thailand. Same should go with the entry scheme. 

Thank You

Marvin

 

[Guphz]

18 hours ago, MrNovax said:

Im happy to see steps in the right direction but how about scrapping the whole system and allowing life as normal (not new normal) to resume?   2 years in, either these restrictions worked and covid is defeated or they didnt work and they are pointless.  there is no third option.  

There is a third option, namely that restrictions aren't a magic bullet and don't magically make the virus go away overnight, but that they help control the situation so as to avoid things like the healthcare system collapsing.

I'm not saying this is the actual result in all cases, but the question of whether restrictions are working or not is not a black or white issue.

[Mazz11]

Here's hoping, do it soon please.

That will save me a lot of money and worry

[Manu]

20 hours ago, Dmitrii said:

Looks like Thailand is finally returning to normal life though.

But the process is really slow, I absolutely agree with it.

No way near "normal" life, for a start you just have to see people here walking on completely deserted beaches with their mask on (I even saw not so long ago a couple kayaking with that mask on just off an empty beach). Sorry that's just NOT normal. And I am talking about normal, not "new normal".

[Poolie]

8 minutes ago, Manu said:

No way near "normal" life, for a start you just have to see people here walking on completely deserted beaches with their mask on (I even saw not so long ago a couple kayaking with that mask on just off an empty beach). Sorry that's just NOT normal. And I am talking about normal, not "new normal".

Ah well, you cant be too careful.

[Samtrio]

It is a scam; no1 would fly without having a pcr test, if positive : he wouldn fly; if negative then he does. If he flies without pcr then at thailand he would test false positive so they would charge him hefty thousands of dollars for hospital quarantine and ruin his vacation....every1 is complaining about thai-pass and pcr test upon arrival only....pcr b4 taking off is every1 willing and happy to do even if it is not required. Some special intrest groups in thailand wanna impoverish thai ppl just to scam tourists outta their money.pathetic...

[Poolie]

15 minutes ago, Samtrio said:

It is a scam; no1 would fly without having a pcr test, if positive : he wouldn fly; if negative then he does. If he flies without pcr then at thailand he would test false positive so they would charge him hefty thousands of dollars for hospital quarantine and ruin his vacation....every1 is complaining about thai-pass and pcr test upon arrival only....pcr b4 taking off is every1 willing and happy to do even if it is not required. Some special intrest groups in thailand wanna impoverish thai ppl just to scam tourists outta their money.pathetic...

There was 39 cases of infection on arrival today. If they are trying to scam you, they arent exactly setting the world on fire are they?

[MrNovax]

5 hours ago, Guphz said:

There is a third option, namely that restrictions aren't a magic bullet and don't magically make the virus go away overnight, but that they help control the situation so as to avoid things like the healthcare system collapsing.

I'm not saying this is the actual result in all cases, but the question of whether restrictions are working or not is not a black or white issue.

There are plenty of areas of the world that didn't put in place these protocols and none of t hem, not a single one was was overwhelmed let along having a collapse of the health care system.  I'd place solid money you couldnt tell the difference in the charts between areas that did nothing, did little, or completely locked down/mandates etc. 

Stop fear mongering.  

[Marc26]

1 hour ago, MrNovax said:

There are plenty of areas of the world that didn't put in place these protocols and none of t hem, not a single one was was overwhelmed let along having a collapse of the health care system.  I'd place solid money you couldnt tell the difference in the charts between areas that did nothing, did little, or completely locked down/mandates etc. 

Stop fear mongering.  

Well let's take a look at Mexico vs Thailand

 

Mexico was pretty much open 

 

They have 300k+ deaths

 

Thailand has had 24k

 

So how is that scare mongering?

 

Some places cared more about deaths than others.............

[Poolie]

And Mexico is only 7000 miles from Thailand. A perfect weekend away!

Alright, I know it's a place where our your friends go so maybe some of you think of it as an alternative but having visited twice (from UK) I wont be going again.

[MrNovax]

4 hours ago, Marc26 said:

Well let's take a look at Mexico vs Thailand

Mexico was pretty much open 

They have 300k+ deaths

Thailand has had 24k

So how is that scare mongering?

Some places cared more about deaths than others.............

have posted this before but see how you do:

 

https://www.covidchartsquiz.com/

 

[Marc26]

2 hours ago, MrNovax said:

have posted this before but see how you do:

https://www.covidchartsquiz.com/

Haha

 

I'm not reading that crap 5555

[Manu]

18 hours ago, Marvin said:

 A pre boarding test should be efficient along with our proof of vaccination. Mandates are being lifted, dropped and everything is opening in Thailand. Same should go with the entry scheme. 

Thank You

Marvin

Marvin, why is that test and a proof of vaccination in any way "efficient"? Firstly, since we know that vaccinated or not, you have JUST AS MUCH possibilities to catch and transmit the virus, should then in your logic just a test be "efficient"? But then what is the point of the test? Not to bring Omicron into Thailand? But it is already everywhere, what difference does that make considering also that it is not worse than the flu? Shouldn't it be anyway the way forward to get a worldwide natural immunity while not mixing people from different countries is creating the opposite? As I said before, where I am in Thailand, it is basically easier to count people who have not had covid the last few weeks, most of us had it at some point or another, including myself, including 6 unvaccinated people I know personally with literally all the same symptoms. I do not know a single one badly ill or/and ending up in hospital. And everyone can clearly observe that it is the same all over the world. So why still now the over cautious strategy? For how much longer? Marvin, you said "Mandates are being lifted, dropped and everything is opening in Thailand" but that is not the case. Most of all the main one, opening the country, and not using the word to make it look like it is an opening while it is not really, is really important for so many people here relying on tourism and so on. The rich Thai people got way richer over the past 2 years (as worldwide) but the situation for the poors will get to a point of no return, for some it has already been the case. If the original virus sars-cov-2 two years ago had been Omicron, nobody would have ever even talked about it (apart from Big Pharma, but that's their job to make money regardless by selling expensive drugs), so why we still continue this madness??? Drop ALL restrictions, move on and let people resume their lives for those whom it is not already too late.

[Fanta]

2 hours ago, Manu said:

   

That’s nice. Now go and repeat it in an ICU ward full of Covid patients on lung machines. I dare you. 

[Thommo]

14 hours ago, Samtrio said:

It is a scam; no1 would fly without having a pcr test, if positive : he wouldn fly; if negative then he does. If he flies without pcr then at thailand he would test false positive so they would charge him hefty thousands of dollars for hospital quarantine and ruin his vacation....every1 is complaining about thai-pass and pcr test upon arrival only....pcr b4 taking off is every1 willing and happy to do even if it is not required. Some special intrest groups in thailand wanna impoverish thai ppl just to scam tourists outta their money.pathetic...

Not everyone is complaining about the TP,  I am not and have have used it 2 times to enter the kingdom. For what it is worth I think some people just enjoy complaining