Quarantine and lockdown measures eased September 27, 2021 The mandatory quarantine period will be shortened, the curfew will be cut, more businesses will be reopened and the emergency decree will be extended, the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) decided on Monday. Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha presided over the CCSA meeting, which approved these measures. The cabinet meeting will consider the measures on Tuesday. Thai Enquirer

Quarantine and lockdown measures eased

September 27, 2021

The mandatory quarantine period will be shortened, the curfew will be cut, more businesses will be reopened and the emergency decree will be extended, the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) decided on Monday.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha presided over the CCSA meeting, which approved these measures. The cabinet meeting will consider the measures on Tuesday.

If approved by the cabinet and announced in the Royal Gazette, the new measures will come into effect on October 1.

The state of emergency decree, which has been in effect since March 2020, has been extended for the 14th time, from the end of September to the end of November.

Mandatory quarantine period

The mandatory quarantine period for fully vaccinated visitors with vaccine certificates in all quarantine facilities and tourism sandboxes (such as the Phuket Sandbox) will be shortened from 14 days down to seven days.

For air and sea passengers without a vaccine certificate or air and sea passengers who have yet to be fully vaccinated, the quarantine period will be ten days.

For land passengers without a vaccine certificate or land passengers who have yet to be fully vaccinated, the quarantine period will continue to be 14 days.

All visitors will be subjects to two RT-PCR tests during the quarantine period.

The measures for people in alternate quarantine (AQ) facilities have also been relaxed where they will be allowed to exercise in an open-air facility, swim, riding bikes on designated routes, order food and other products online and conduct short meetings.

For people in state quarantine (SQ) and organization quarantine (OQ), they will only be able to exercise in an open-air facility and order food and other products online.

Twenty-nine highly controlled and restricted provinces

The curfew, which is now in effect in 29 highly-controlled and restricted provinces, including Bangkok, will be shortened from 9 pm – 4 am to 10 pm – 4 am.

Gatherings are still capped at 25 people.

The temporarily closed businesses in the highly-controlled and restricted provinces that will be allowed to reopen include:

• Children daycares (based on permission and regulations from related agencies)
• Tutorial schools (based on permission and regulations from related agencies)
• Libraries (social distancing of four square meters, no more than 75 per capacity, mask on and no food)
• Museums and historical sites (social distancing of four square meters, no more than 75 per capacity, mask on and no food)
• Education, science, culture and art center sites (social distancing of four square meters, no more than 75 per capacity, mask on and no food)
• Beauty and nail parlors (advance booking)
• Tattoo parlors (advance booking)
• Massage parlors and spas (advance booking, customers must be fully vaccinated or tested negative for Covid within 72 hours prior to service and no more than two hours service per person)
• Cinemas (closing time 9 pm, no more than 50 per capacity, social distancing between seats for a single customer and people can sit together if they come together, mask on and no food)
• Restaurants with live bands (no more than five musicians per band, singers do not have to wear mask when performing, other musicians must wear mask all the time, musicians cannot mingle with customers, 50 per cent capacity limit for air-conditioned venues, 75 per cent capacity limit for outdoor venues and no alcohol sales)
• Malls (closing time 9 pm but some venues are still close including sit-and-play gaming shops, arcades, fun parks, water parks and ballrooms)
• Convenience stores (closing time 9 pm)
• All open-air exercising venues and sports stadiums (closing time 9 pm with limitation on the number of people based on the size of the venue and the type of sport and can have vaccinated audiences or spectators that have tested negative for Covid 72 hours prior to the match but no more than 25 per cent capacity)
• All indoor exercising venues and sports stadiums (closing time 9 pm but no spectators)

Exhibition and meeting halls are also still closed.

Reopening the country

The plan to reopen 10 provinces, including Bangkok, Krabi (entire province), Phang Nga (entire province), Prachuap Khiri Khan, Phetchaburi, Chonburi, Ranong, Chiang Mai, Loei and Buriram, has been pushed from October 1 to November 1.