Phuket reopens but botched preparation limits travellers

[MatthewM]

I am planning to enter the Phuket Sandbox at the end of July. If I have a 2-day business trip to a country which is not on the list of Sandbox countries a week before my trip to Thailand, will this trip to a non-sandbox country preclude me from entering the sandbox?

[MikeB]

9 hours ago, Soidog said:

I agree MikeB. I had hoped to return via Bangkok and then on to Phuket. Possibly submitting to a PCR test on arrival and then free to roam Phuket for 7 days and then on to other parts of Thailand for 3 months, returning home on a flight from BKK. At the moment that plan is totally impossible and like you will wait until September to see what develops. 

Im still not clear if you can go to bkk and then on to Phuket. An article in the BKK Post yesterday quoted an official to say it was, and yet the local Thai Embassy says direct flights only. Which is misleading as they don’t mean Direct, as it seems I can fly via the Middle East and then in to Phuket!

Can anyone clarify if you can Transit BKK and then on to Phuket? 

From what i have heard there will be the possibility of transiting through BKK to HKT when flights become available on this route and when they have set up the quarantine transit zone in BKK 

My biggest worry with the sand box is that you are traveling around Phuket and you have a false positive day13 and you now have to do 2 weeks quarantine 

i am thinking that it would be far less risk to just enter via BKK and do 2 weeks quarantine then be free to move about to where you need to with less cost 

[bushav8r]

42 minutes ago, MikeB said:

From what i have heard there will be the possibility of transiting through BKK to HKT when flights become available on this route and when they have set up the quarantine transit zone in BKK 

My biggest worry with the sand box is that you are traveling around Phuket and you have a false positive day13 and you now have to do 2 weeks quarantine 

i am thinking that it would be far less risk to just enter via BKK and do 2 weeks quarantine then be free to move about to where you need to with less cost 

You could still test positive during the two week stay at an ASQ hotel in Bangkok.  At least you won't have to pay extra for the Covid tests.

[MikeB]

15 minutes ago, bushav8r said:

You could still test positive during the two week stay at an ASQ hotel in Bangkok.  At least you won't have to pay extra for the Covid tests.

Yes but the chances of catching COV19 if you are in isolation in BKK is lower than if you are around Phuket although the false pos is still a risk 

[AussieBob]

3 hours ago, MatthewM said:

I am planning to enter the Phuket Sandbox at the end of July. If I have a 2-day business trip to a country which is not on the list of Sandbox countries a week before my trip to Thailand, will this trip to a non-sandbox country preclude me from entering the sandbox?

Best to ask all questions to the Thailand Embassy in your own country. It depends on where you come from and where you go to - and that list will change on a week by week basis. 

[bushav8r]

4 hours ago, MatthewM said:

I am planning to enter the Phuket Sandbox at the end of July. If I have a 2-day business trip to a country which is not on the list of Sandbox countries a week before my trip to Thailand, will this trip to a non-sandbox country preclude me from entering the sandbox?

One of the basic requirements before departing for Phuket is "Must have been staying in the approved home country for at least 21 days before departure".

[dainius]

25,000 booking nights looks big... but in really since people have to say 14 days... 25000 / 14 = 1785 rooms only

[AussieBob]

39 minutes ago, bushav8r said:

One of the basic requirements before departing for Phuket is "Must have been staying in the approved home country for at least 21 days before departure".

Good point - that changes my answer to:  No.  But check with your local country Thailand Embassy. 

Cheers.

 

[MikeB]

58 minutes ago, bushav8r said:

One of the basic requirements before departing for Phuket is "Must have been staying in the approved home country for at least 21 days before departure".

Unless you are fully vaccinated and are coming from within Thailand. so if you have done 2 weeks quarantine in BKK and are vaccinated then you will be able to go to HKT with no issue as per the people moving around Thailand now 

 

[AussieBob]

10 minutes ago, MikeB said:

Unless you are fully vaccinated and are coming from within Thailand. so if you have done 2 weeks quarantine in BKK and are vaccinated then you will be able to go to HKT with no issue as per the people moving around Thailand now 

That is a concern - that Thais are able to come and go to Phuket - vaccinated or not.

In Australia, the last 4 outbreaks have all come from 'leaks' in quarantine facilities, and there has been several cases of fully vaccinated workers getting covid (no symptoms) and then passing it on to others - a vaccinated nurse recently exposed over 300 people to the virus.  Being vaccinated does not mean you are immune - it means you will (likely) have far less medical problems - but you will still be able to catch it and then pass it on to others. 

So if you are correct, that means a vaccinated Thai person can travel to and from Thailand mainland (anywhere) which is a country where there is 5000+ new cases every day - and their own covid control authority is saying they are about to have a 4th wave of infections.  That is it for me - no chance the Thai wife and I am going to Thailand or Phuket until this is all over - sorry. 

[Joe]

Why am I not suprised! They can't even get this right! But they sure announced it with a lot of fanfare! Poor Thailand! I feel bad for it's citizens! They deserve better!

[vlad]

There is a Rumor doing the rounds of other social media site's, that one of the " Tourists " that  Traveled on the first flight into Phuket from Abu Dhabi on the Etihad flight had in fact tested Positive at the Airport and was quickly quarantined. Can Thaiger look into this ?. If it is correct why was he or she allowed on board in Abu Dhabi  and what Nationality were they. Is there a media blackout on this from The Governor because of the damage this could cause to the reputation on the planners of the roll out.

[BillBKK]

Those Landing gears are not yet fully out & locked, and the runway is 60 feet away :-(

Either the image is Photoshopped or that Qatar Airways is in serious landing trouble

 

 

[Stonker]

3 hours ago, AussieBob said:

That is a concern - that Thais are able to come and go to Phuket - vaccinated or not.

They are (as is anyone, Thai or farang), but if not vaccinated anyone entering Phuket is supposed to have had a recent PCR test.

 

How strictly that will be applied to, say, delivery drivers is a very different matter, as will be verification of PCR tests.  At 2,500 to 3,000 baht a time I think it's unrealistic to assume that unvaccinated delivery drivers and so on will be happy to pay that everytime they go when they can get a certificate for a couple of baht from Photoshop.

 

... and, as you rightly said, vaccinated immunity is NOT sterile immunity.

[King Cotton]

34 minutes ago, BillBKK said:

Those Landing gears are not yet fully out & locked, and the runway is 60 feet away :-(

Either the image is Photoshopped or that Qatar Airways is in serious landing trouble

Well spotted! . . . but which of those 2 options was the true one, I wonder?

 

Hello, BillBKK and welcome to Thaiger Talk

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Happy posting

King Cotton

[Soidog]

5 hours ago, MikeB said:

Yes but the chances of catching COV19 if you are in isolation in BKK is lower than if you are around Phuket although the false pos is still a risk 

That is an excellent point regarding travel around the island and the risk of infection.  I know several people who have been double vaccinated and still caught the virus. This of course is normal as the vaccines protect you from serious illness and death more than they do infection. Should this happen as you suggest, then even though you may feel nothing more than a slight head cold, you will be whisked away for 2 weeks in a hospital. It’s something worth checking your insurance details on. Most European countries don’t enforce hospital isolation unless you become sick enough to need close medical care and insurers may not be prepared to pay the 15,000-30,000 baht a day costs? 
 

Once again MikeB, a very good point indeed. 

[vlad]

45 minutes ago, BillBKK said:

Those Landing gears are not yet fully out & locked, and the runway is 60 feet away :-(

Either the image is Photoshopped or that Qatar Airways is in serious landing trouble

This is PhotoShopped as the Aircraft was an Airbus A380 none of which flew into Phuket yesterday.

[KaptainRob]

Phuket did an excellent job of disinfecting all International aircraft arrivals >

[TimothyN]

22 hours ago, KaptainRob said:

Fair comment Jason.  Let's hope the initial fiasco is largely over and there's no major outbreak of covid to impede further arrivals.

We should watch for the Singapore model to hopefully be adopted as if successful that could become a usable model for the likes of Samui and Phuket, in the future. 

This 'Singapore Model' is just an editorial in the 'vox imperium' Straits Times rag written by three ministers. It is not a plan or public policy. It's not even being debated. 

[MikeB]

6 hours ago, AussieBob said:

That is a concern - that Thais are able to come and go to Phuket - vaccinated or not.

In Australia, the last 4 outbreaks have all come from 'leaks' in quarantine facilities, and there has been several cases of fully vaccinated workers getting covid (no symptoms) and then passing it on to others - a vaccinated nurse recently exposed over 300 people to the virus.  Being vaccinated does not mean you are immune - it means you will (likely) have far less medical problems - but you will still be able to catch it and then pass it on to others. 

So if you are correct, that means a vaccinated Thai person can travel to and from Thailand mainland (anywhere) which is a country where there is 5000+ new cases every day - and their own covid control authority is saying they are about to have a 4th wave of infections.  That is it for me - no chance the Thai wife and I am going to Thailand or Phuket until this is all over - sorry. 

The vaccine will not stop someone getting Covid it just means that they don't get as sick. Here in Aus if we had 80% vaccination rates in the population then we would not have the issues we are having now and the country could open up again. The media in Aus is making a huge scare story out of not much when you look at the numbers and then compare them to say women taking the pill 

If you want to look at the adverse case numbers https://www.tga.gov.au/periodic/covid-19-vaccine-weekly-safety-report-01-07-2021 

My big issue with returning to phuket after getting my vaccinations is if i return a false positive on day 13 and am then forced into quarantine for 2 weeks at my cost i would be better off not risking it and just go to BKK for 2 weeks quarantine to start with 

[MikeB]

2 hours ago, KaptainRob said:

Phuket did an excellent job of disinfecting all International aircraft arrivals >

https://www.ft.com/__origami/service/image/v2/images/raw/https%253A%252F%252Fs3-ap-northeast-1.amazonaws.com%252Fpsh-ex-ftnikkei-3937bb4%252Fimages%252F2%252F8%252F8%252F3%252F35073882-10-eng-GB%252FCropped-1625114901RTXDUKIS.JPG?width=700&fit=cover&gravity=faces&dpr=2&quality=medium&source=nar-cms

got to get that virus inside those engines 

[MikeB]

2 hours ago, Soidog said:

That is an excellent point regarding travel around the island and the risk of infection.  I know several people who have been double vaccinated and still caught the virus. This of course is normal as the vaccines protect you from serious illness and death more than they do infection. Should this happen as you suggest, then even though you may feel nothing more than a slight head cold, you will be whisked away for 2 weeks in a hospital. It’s something worth checking your insurance details on. Most European countries don’t enforce hospital isolation unless you become sick enough to need close medical care and insurers may not be prepared to pay the 15,000-30,000 baht a day costs? 
 

Once again MikeB, a very good point indeed. 

That is one of the reasons that to get into Thailand you must have specific Covid insurance 

 

[AussieBob]

1 minute ago, MikeB said:

That is one of the reasons that to get into Thailand you must have specific Covid insurance 

True.  But what a way to ruin your holiday. Meet someone from mainland and get tested positive - next 14 days in a hospitel (hopeful not ICU in a hospital). 

[MikeB]

12 hours ago, MatthewM said:

I am planning to enter the Phuket Sandbox at the end of July. If I have a 2-day business trip to a country which is not on the list of Sandbox countries a week before my trip to Thailand, will this trip to a non-sandbox country preclude me from entering the sandbox?

From what i have read MatthewM i think it would, as you have to spend the previous 21 days in one of the approved countries to get the COE 

[MikeB]

7 minutes ago, AussieBob said:

True.  But what a way to ruin your holiday. Meet someone from mainland and get tested positive - next 14 days in a hospitel (hopeful not ICU in a hospital). 

But with both vaccinations you may get the virus but it is highly unlikely that you will need ICU or even medical treatment