News Forum - BREAKING: Registration closes for Test & Go starting today

[AussieBob]

9 hours ago, Glenwood said:

I appreciate both responses, though I agree that it is best to take the TAT press release as the most authoritative information, with the noted caveat that TAT indicates the situation to be 'fluid'. There is also the Thaiger news point about reassessing which countries will be taken off the 'eligible for entry' list, and given that Omicron is spreading at rates which are 'astonishing' medical authorities around the world, I would expect the list of 'ineligible' countries to grow quickly.

"TAT press release as the most authoritative information" is a clear indication of a lack of understanding about Thailand.  Mate - TAT are blatant charlatans - there has rarely been an accurate statement released by TAT.   By far, the most accurate organisation is CCSA - but then a few days later their boss (The PM) changes that decision - or the Health Minister (Anutin) makes yet another political play to be the next PM, and the PM (Prayut) responds.

The two of them have been at each other for a while - Anutin was 'called in' to Prayut's Office a few months ago and they had 'frank discussions'.  Prayut could not sack Anutin because he leads the major Party that joined with Prauts Party for form Govt and make Prayut PM.  Their 'dispute' goes back a while, but when Covid blew up earlier this year and Prayut 'took over' from Anutin, things have gone bad ever since then. 

My read is that Anutin is winning more support than the PM inside those Parties that form the 'coalition'. I say that because it seems Anutin gets what he wants (example - Test/Go stopped) more often that Prayut does. 

[AussieBob]

9 hours ago, Shark said:

I was talking about The Netherlands in the sentence.

Thailand Officially still has no bar life, however Good for him. Funnily this still isn't the news that the YouTube of Buzzin Pattaya spreads. It is still illegal bars that is.

Yes mate - and they arrest the tourists too - not just the owners, for breaking the rules.  Wait people wait. 

[Marc26]

13 hours ago, AussieBob said:

What are you saying - that it is OK for thousands of Thais to test positive every day, but a few 'dirty farangs' are unacceptable and must be stopped at all costs.  They are not testing Thais who travel between Provinces, and they cannot catch/test all the illegals walking in from the neighbouring countries, and Thais try to avoid being tested because it means enforced quarantine if positive. The number of infected people in Thailand massively outnumber the small number of tourists testing positive. But you attack the 'dirty farangs'?   Me thinks you listen to the Thai Health Minister much too much - and have become Xenophobic. 

And people wonder why the local Expats in Thailand avoid the apologists.

What I am saying is if your objection is to be tested

Then stay the fcuk home if it is such a bother 

 

Your opinion of testing, means fcuk all 

[Marc26]

2 hours ago, AussieBob said:

And that is exactly the point he misses.  Here we are required to isolate when testing positive - we do not have to undergo hospital 'treatment' - nor stay in a 'special' hotel for 10-14 days undergoing more tests, because we sat next to someone who tested positive.

I haven't read further yet - but what bet this apologist has not rescinded his xenophobic comments.

I am not missing anything 

We've heard you go on and on for months about your objections to Thailand's requirements 

 

Your objections don't matter, not even one bit 

 

Their country, their rules

 

But I'm sure you will keep going on and on for the next 6 months about them 

[Marc26]

12 hours ago, Jayce said:

I was going to respond to you @Marc26 but in scrolling down noticed that @AussieBob took the words right out of my mouth.

I'll add this though: best to drop the holier than though routine by claiming Thais would be any different under the same circumstances. I'm more likely to catch Covid from them than they would from me at this point. Yet I'd be put in hospital even after getting it from them whereas they'd still be walking around infecting others the next day. But somehow in your mind, if they would miss out on catching me and I end up walking the same streets again the next day as that Thai person who infected me the night before (so to speak), somehow that makes me the bad guy?? Surely you're having a laugh? Surely you can see the error in your twisted way of thinking?

That doesn't mean to say that, if I started showing some symptoms that I'd start spreading as much Covid around as I possibly could like Christmas cheer as you are inferring by your post which tries to portray me as some Covid serial infector with vicious intent. Just that I'm not a particular fan of losing $$$$ in hotel bookings and forced hospitalisation while asymptomatic when I could very safely self-isolate in my villa and have grabfood and fresh sheets delivered to my door which I can pick up once the people who deliver it are gone.....

So, not to inconvenience your holiday, you are perfectly fine walking around asymptomatic(yet contagious)

 

That's my point....  

 

I will act holier than thou

Because I wouldn't have an issue with being tested if it helps the community of a whole and know I haven't done anything to spread it

 

But hey, as long as you have fresh sheets delivered I guess we are sort of of the same moral ground 

[Jayce]

6 minutes ago, Marc26 said:

So, not to inconvenience your holiday, you are perfectly fine walking around asymptomatic(yet contagious)

That's my point....  

I will act holier than thou

Because I wouldn't have an issue with being tested if it helps the community of a whole and know I haven't done anything to spread it

But hey, as long as you have fresh sheets delivered I guess we are sort of of the same moral ground 

So I'm sure you're getting tested on a daily basis then if you insist on being holier than thou?

You may want to look up the defnition of being asymptomatic.... Not showing symptoms means you don't know you're sick and don't know you would test positive so unless you test daily you wouldn't know. So unless you're getting tested daily I would suggest you be careful not to fall off your high horse there buddy ;)

You may have been running around spreading Covid unknowingly all this time while pointing fingers at 'dirty farang'... people in glass houses hey.

[Jayce]

19 minutes ago, Marc26 said:

So, not to inconvenience your holiday, you are perfectly fine walking around asymptomatic(yet contagious)

That's my point....  

I will act holier than thou

Because I wouldn't have an issue with being tested if it helps the community of a whole and know I haven't done anything to spread it

But hey, as long as you have fresh sheets delivered I guess we are sort of of the same moral ground 

And if you intended this to mean that I would be asymptomatic while knowingly positive, then what's your definition of walking around?? Being isolated in a villa where I don't come into any contact with anybody not good enough for you? You insist it needs to be a hospital or an ASQ facility? Why??? I'm sure that in your daily tests you will jump at the chance to turn yourself in and go to hospital when asymptomatic right Or do you perhaps have your own home in Thailand where you will 'do the right thing' and feel like that is somehow different from a tourist staying in a villa?

I explicitely called out the isolating in a villa part with grabfood and sheets so that you would know I would do everything I could within reason to not infect anyone but you've somehow interpreted that to mean that I would be 'walking around' spreading Covid in exactly the way I had anticipated you wanted to portray.

Maybe address the points myself and Aussiebob made about the discrepancy between infected Thai who are out and about and not getting tested or turning themselves in and farang first before you try to get back in the saddle.

Edited December 22, 2021 by Jayce

[HolyCowCm]

18 hours ago, TimothyN said:

Not confusing. Read the article. If you have been approved for a Thailand Pass on the Test & Go program, you can still enter.

I wouldn't count on that being amended to be under more scrutiny. In essence it should be scrapped for all if they are that worried about it as covid never has a deadline or ending date.

[HolyCowCm]

The reality is that Covid is already alive and well in Thailand and let's not be foolish as the new variant is inside and already here.  A week and a half ago there was an alert posted on Thai social that some Thai was quarantined in their home here in CM in a housing area outside the city which is not so far from where I am. So is this one isolated incident? You tell me but no way in heck if you ask me. So reality is the powers that be have done a fine job in allowing the spread to happen from within by pushing and feeding for domestic travel. Will tourists on the planes arriving have Delta or the new variant? Inevitably yes and if anyone thinks otherwise then one would probably need to have their head examined because quite frankly saying zero travelers having it is impossible. Just look at the 25 Thai Muslims that just came back from Mecca. All popsitive with Omicron. Going to be more than that if had more people on the plane or at the airports they were at.

So, maybe it is best to do a Sand Box for 7 days but even that will not help to not spread Omicron.

So what is the answer? The potato head powers that be have been consitently dropping the ball and it is truly amazing how these people are able to put their shoes on each day. There is no real answer except to impose restrictions like in a sand box, but not restrained. Honestly, it is all people traveling around who are spreading Covid not just the foreingers traveling in. I am sure glad my family here is vaccinated now.

[longwood50]

The absolute worst thing is to create doubt and mistrust.  This doesn't just impact the tourists who are planning on coming over the next few months.  Tourists considering planning a vacation to Thailand will see the constant changing of rules and say they can't plan.  They will have the uncertainty that after making all the necessary plans for the trip and the expense of the trip, that the regulations to allow them into the country will change and they will be left swinging in the wind. 

The last thing this government should be creating is uncertainty.  It would be immensely better if they never started letting tourists back in then starting and stopping.  

I have said this repeatedly.  Covid is here to stay.  Just like TB, Malaria, HIV, Dengue Fever, and many other diseases.  This notion that you can lock down against it is ludicrous.  The world has to learn how to co-exist with it.  That means reasonable precautions, and responsive treatment to the disease. 

You don't shut the country down because a group of people traveling on a plane to Thailand tested positive for TB.  If they continue this policy of shutting down after each new variant, they might as well just shut it down for good because it is guaranteed after Omicron will be Pi

 

[JustaGuy]

34 minutes ago, longwood50 said:

The absolute worst thing is to create doubt and mistrust.  This doesn't just impact the tourists who are planning on coming over the next few months.  Tourists considering planning a vacation to Thailand will see the constant changing of rules and say they can't plan.  They will have the uncertainty that after making all the necessary plans for the trip and the expense of the trip, that the regulations to allow them into the country will change and they will be left swinging in the wind. 

The last thing this government should be creating is uncertainty.  It would be immensely better if they never started letting tourists back in then starting and stopping.  

I have said this repeatedly.  Covid is here to stay.  Just like TB, Malaria, HIV, Dengue Fever, and many other diseases.  This notion that you can lock down against it is ludicrous.  The world has to learn how to co-exist with it.  That means reasonable precautions, and responsive treatment to the disease. 

You don't shut the country down because a group of people traveling on a plane to Thailand tested positive for TB.  If they continue this policy of shutting down after each new variant, they might as well just shut it down for good because it is guaranteed after Omicron will be Pi

 

Honestly the whole world is like that now, not just thailand. Singapore just announced the suspension of all non-quarantine flights. Netherlands went into hard lockdown. Denmark and UK to follow.

It’s simply a risk all of us hv to take while travelling during a pandemic.

 

[gundam0315]

2 hours ago, Cait said:

To clarify the January 10th cut off date for those who have already registered under the Test & Go scheme, the Thai government released a graphic and post announcing the date. 

https://www.facebook.com/ThaigovSpokesman/posts/282239257272146

can you please clarify what this means?  We don't read thai.  I tried to translate on the link, i still don't understand anything regarding the january 10 deadline

[Shark]

12 minutes ago, gundam0315 said:

can you please clarify what this means?  We don't read thai.  I tried to translate on the link, i still don't understand anything regarding the january 10 deadline

The problem is what it means can be released on January the 10th.
Thailand is military controlled, just accept this and know that what can be in the morning can be gone in the afternoon...

The problem is Thailand states many different forms of news (again it's a military country) which are all released simultaneously and can often cause confusion. If you have the ability to reschedule your ticket that would be the bet I would be taking unless you have very urgent reason to be here and are willing to pay for a quarantine hotel which they might force you upon taking on arrival.

[JohninDublin]

9 hours ago, Beasley said:

More details on suspension of Test & Go (from Richard Barrow's letters)

Richard Barrow's Letters from Thailand

@richardbarrow

This is an urgent dispatch with official updates about Test and Go as sent to me by the Consular Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

As you probably have heard by now, the prime minister announced this afternoon the suspension of the Test and Go scheme. Unfortunately, there has been a lot of misinformation about this which has led to much confusion. A senior official at the Consular Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs just called me to set the record straight about what is really happening. But first I will paste below their official announcement. Then I will add my own notes from the telephone call.

Announcement

Thailand Pass will be closed for all new Test and Go and Sandbox applications (except Phuket Sandbox), starting from 00.00 hrs. on 22 December 2021 until further notice.

New measures apply for all applicants on Thailand Pass, as follows;

1. Applicants who have received their Thailand Pass QR Code can enter Thailand under the scheme they have registered.

2. Applicants who have registered, but have not received their QR Code must wait for their Thailand Pass to be considered / approved. Once approved, they can enter Thailand under the scheme they have registered.

3. New applicants will not be able to register for Test and Go and Sandbox measures (except Phuket Sandbox). Thailand Pass will only accept new applicants seeking to enter Thailand under Alternative Quarantine (AQ) or Phuket Sandbox only.

4. Passengers who will arrive in Thailand under Test and Go and Sandbox Programme must undergo their 2nd COVID-19 test using the RT-PCR technique (not ATK self-test) at government-designated facilities (no additional cost).

Do Not Panic!

To be clear, this is NOT a closure of the borders. It is just a suspension of the Test & Go and the Blue Zone Sandbox (except for Phuket Sandbox) schemes. Everything else will continue as normal.

First the good news, if you are one of 22,000 people who have already applied for a Thailand Pass for Test & Go, Sandbox and Alternative Quarantine, your application is still being processed. If your application is approved, you will be able to come under the original conditions. This means, for Test & Go people, you only need to wait for the results for the first test and then you are free to go. No 7-day quarantine like some media outlets were saying. But you will need to do a second RT-PCR test on Day 7. More on that in a moment.

The bad news is that if your application is rejected after midnight, then you are out of luck. You will need to enter via the Phuket Sandbox or hotel quarantine schemes.

Secondly, the Thailand Pass system is still open for Test & Go applications. So, be quick as you could make it before the midnight deadline. After that time, they will no longer take applications for Test & Go and for Sandbox areas outside of Phuket.

One very important piece of information that the Thai media got wrong is the cut-off date for arriving in Thailand. Basically, there isn’t one. Earlier, the media were saying you must arrive before 10th January if you didn’t want to do quarantine. That is not true. You can arrive on the date that was approved on your application. For example, if you said you are arriving on 25th January, then you still can use Test & Go and only wait one night for the test results.

Many people were asking that if they arrived under Test & Go tomorrow, do they have to do the second RT-PCR test on Day 7. The quick answer to that is no. This is because it is not law yet. The prime minister must first sign the papers and then it must be published in the Royal Gazette. So, if it was published in the gazette on Friday, then anyone arriving on Friday onwards, must do the second test on Day 7. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, this will be free. More details on this soon.

So, does this mean there is no Test & Go in the future? No, that is not true as it is just temporarily suspended. In early January, they will re-evaluate the situation and there will be a new announcement.

If I have any further updates, I will post on my social media - Twitter and Facebook. Can I please ask you not to reply to this email with questions. I have already received two hundred emails today and I cannot keep up. Which is why I prefer to answer questions on social media where I can share the answers with everyone. Thanks for your understanding and good luck!

Useful Links:

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/RichardBarrow and https://twitter.com/RichardBarrow

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/richardbarrowthailand

THAILAND PASS: https://tp.consular.go.th/

Did you enjoy this issue? Yes No

Richard Barrow's Letters from Thailand @richardbarrow

Wow!. Clarity in abundance.

[Rangers]

Just entered phuket and I have to say the process couldn't have been any easier, in the hotel now waiting on the pcr result. The system they have introduced at phuket airport is the most thorough and yet most simple I've seen across the world, they are putting Europe to shame. As usual the Thai's are the most helpful and caring people you could meet and therefore the process was quick and efficient, well done Thailand. Hope anyone who has their pass still continues with their plans because its worth it. 

[AussieBob]

On 12/22/2021 at 2:57 AM, Marc26 said:

What I am saying is if your objection is to be tested

Then stay the fcuk home if it is such a bother 

Your opinion of testing, means fcuk all 

9 likes and thanks for just one of my posts.  The majority have spoken and judging by your abusive response - you have lost the plot.  I am staying home mate - how could you possibly not understand that - and I am recommending others do the same until this pandemic is over (or almost over) and a 'new normal' has arrived worldwide. 

[AussieBob]

On 12/22/2021 at 3:03 AM, Marc26 said:

I am not missing anything 

We've heard you go on and on for months about your objections to Thailand's requirements 

Your objections don't matter, not even one bit 

Their country, their rules

But I'm sure you will keep going on and on for the next 6 months about them 

Obviously my objections to the Junta policies and TAT lies and their ever changing policies, does matter to you guys or you would not respond.  Try ignoring me - I am not talking to you. I am expressing my opinions on a public forum about the test/go registration being closed, and previously about the 'hidden trap' awaiting anyone travelling to Thailand for a 2-3 week holiday. 

[longwood50]

3 hours ago, JustaGuy said:

Honestly the whole world is like that now, not just thailand. Singapore just announced the suspension of all non-quarantine flights. Netherlands went into hard lockdown. Denmark and UK to follow.

It’s simply a risk all of us hv to take while travelling during a pandemic.

I agree, however just because your neighboring countries are nuts does not mean you have to join in.  One has to consider what will be the long term benefit from enacting a policy.  In the case of Covid, whatever benefits are derived from imposing the travel limitations are soon erased as soon as the travel restrictions are lifted.  The only thing really accomplished is kicking the problem into the future.  In the meantime real damage is done to those dependent on tourists arriving in Thailand. 

The entire world has to stop thinking that it can put itself in some sort of bubble and isolate itself from Covid.   This virus has all the earmarks of one that will continue mutating.  The world needs to start learning to live with Covid in our daily lives and stop trying to hide from it.  

Take reasonable precautions, stronger precautions if you are a high risk individual.  Get the vaccine shots and boosters when necessary and if you become sick, take one of the new Pfizer or Merck pills that dramatically reduce your likelihood of death or serious illness. 

Life is not without its risks, and candidly I fear driving on the roads in Thailand far far more than I do from dying from Covid yet I continue to drive since the benefits outweigh the risk. 
 

[Rain]

1 hour ago, AussieBob said:

9 likes and thanks for just one of my posts - Stonker (fellow apologist) likes yours.  The majority have spoken and judging by your abusive response - you have lost the plot.  I am staying home mate - how could you possibly not understand that - and I am recommending others do the same until this pandemic is over (or almost over) and a 'new normal' has arrived worldwide. 

Of course.

New normal.

Whatever that is.

[Rain]

10 minutes ago, longwood50 said:

The entire world has to stop thinking that it can put itself in some sort of bubble and isolate itself from Covid.   This virus has all the earmarks of one that will continue mutating.  The world needs to start learning to live with Covid in our daily lives and stop trying to hide from it.  


 

The world's population - at least, the intelligent side - needs to get over themselves and lend a cognitive understanding that this pathogen, and it's various offspring, is no more dangerous/deadly than an annual influenza outbreak. 

Clearly, the properties and practices of mass hypnosis has been our bane - and a little added something to our usual doses of Kool-Aid. 

[Alavan]

23 hours ago, Rangers said:

It will change again very soon when they realise how mild omicron is. Even the scaremongering media in the UK are starting to admit it.

Except the last data from the UK state that it is as bad as delta.

[Marc26]

6 hours ago, Jayce said:

And if you intended this to mean that I would be asymptomatic while knowingly positive, then what's your definition of walking around?? Being isolated in a villa where I don't come into any contact with anybody not good enough for you? You insist it needs to be a hospital or an ASQ facility? Why??? I'm sure that in your daily tests you will jump at the chance to turn yourself in and go to hospital when asymptomatic right Or do you perhaps have your own home in Thailand where you will 'do the right thing' and feel like that is somehow different from a tourist staying in a villa?

I explicitely called out the isolating in a villa part with grabfood and sheets so that you would know I would do everything I could within reason to not infect anyone but you've somehow interpreted that to mean that I would be 'walking around' spreading Covid in exactly the way I had anticipated you wanted to portray.

Maybe address the points myself and Aussiebob made about the discrepancy between infected Thai who are out and about and not getting tested or turning themselves in and farang first before you try to get back in the saddle.

I actually agree with you on your isolation plan 

Mexico has that in place

And some hotels even have deals that if you test positive that they will give you a hotel room in their "isolation wing" for free while you isolate

 

But I still believe anyone visiting another country should not be against doing whatever that country deems necessary to mitigate spread

 

I'd prefer to be tested, and yes, it does help the community overall

 

 

[Marc26]

2 hours ago, AussieBob said:

PBS and Stonker - the 3 Amigo Apologists together again for one last show.  How dare anyone say negative things about Thailand and the wonderful way this Junta Govt is managing things. 

Obviously my objections to the Junta policies and TAT lies and their ever changing policies, does matter to you guys or you would not respond.  Try ignoring me - I am not talking to you. I am expressing my opinions on a public forum about the test/go registration being closed, and previously about the 'hidden trap' awaiting anyone travelling to Thailand for a 2-3 week holiday. 

I'm not a "Thai apologist"

I'm a do whatever you are asked to do if visiting a country type

 

I went to Mexico, they have a mask outdoors policy

I don't think you need to wear masks outdoors but it was their policy, so I followed it 

 

Unlike most on here, who just want to bitch and moan

 

Also, I don't know if you may have picked up on this 

But I don't give a fcuk about "likes" 5555

[Alavan]

6 hours ago, Manu said:

Great article.

Would it be cause the UK (and most countries) actions are based on political decisions rather than decisions based on science? Panic rather than science? Incompetent scientists (and some with huge conflicts of interest) becoming political advisers advising governments rather than competent science? Those are certainly pertinent questions.

The situation in SA is not the same as in Europe.
Doctor Coetzee (a G.P.?) may be right about South Africa, but the average age of the population in Europe is not 24 years, but more than double of that. Also the temperature in Europe is a lot lower than in South Africa. Those are 2 factors which will change the result of the studies.
Just now UK scientists announced that omicron is as bad as delta.

[Rain]

47 minutes ago, Alavan said:

Except the last data from the UK state that it is as bad as delta.

Perhaps the transmission, but not the severity.