CCSA English briefing on Wednesday, 1 December 2021 (Unofficial translation)
1. Update on Thailand Pass and measures for travelers entering the country
1.1 As of 9 am today, we have logged a total of 337,988 applications on the Thailand Pass system.
Of that number, a total of 268,799 have been approved, of which 138,375 were auto approved.
1.2 During 1-30 November 2021, 133,061 travelers entered Thailand. Of this number, the majority, or 106,211 travelers entered via the Test and Go, or Quarantine Exemption Scheme. 21,438 entered via the Sandbox scheme, and 5,412 entered with quarantine.
1.3 The majority of international travelers come from these top ten countries of origin, namely, the US, Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, Russia, Japan, France, the Republic of Korea, the UAE and Israel.
1.4 The cabinet has approved that the on-arrival RT-PCR Covid test is still required for all people entering the country as preventive measure to cope with the new COVID-19 variants.
1.5 Therefore, the newly adjusted measures for travelers entering Thailand on 3 schemes starting from 16 December onwards are as follows;
- Upon arrival in Thailand, travelers on Test & Go scheme are required to take RT-PCR test as usual,
- Travelers entering Thailand via Sandbox scheme are required to stay within the Sandbox zone for only 5 days, instead of 7 days. The only adjustment is the quarantine period while other measures remain unchanged,
- The shortened quarantine period is also applied to travelers on Alternative Quarantine (AQ). Fully- vaccinated travelers are required to spend 5 days in quarantine and those who are not fully vaccinated are required to spend 10 days in quarantine.
* The aforementioned measures are NOT applied to travelers from Africa
2. Vaccination Progress
2.1 Yesterday, Thailand administered 573,073 doses of vaccines, increasing the accumulated number of vaccinations to more than 93 million doses.
2.2. Approximately 67.1 percent of Thailand's population have now received their first dose, and 57.6 percent (or more than 41 million people) have now received their second dose.
3. General Situation
3.1 The number of new cases is 4,886 cases with 6,326 new recoveries. The number of accumulated cases stands at 2,120,758 cases. There are 43 new fatalities, with the accumulated total at 20,814 cases.
3.2 The current top ten provinces with most COVID-19 cases per day are Bangkok (794), Songkhla (270), Surat Thani (240), Nakhon Si Thammarat (204), Chonburi (198), Chiang Mai (171), Samut Prakarn (140), Pattani (119), Prachuap Khiri Khan (117) and Chumphon (100).
4. Bangkok's Measures Adjustment
4.1 In Bangkok, 9,196 restaurants, facilities and establishments in service sector are qualified according to SHA Standard (Amazing Thailand Safety and Health Administration - SHA). For SHA plus standard requiring the vaccination for employees, there are 1,679 establishments qualified.
4.2 However, there remain some establishments need to improve their services and other related activities in order to reach SHA or SHA plus standard. Especially establishments selling alcohol are seriously required to have SHA standard in the future.
4.3 The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) announced that from 1 December onwards, drinking alcohol at restaurants will be allowed to continue until 23.00 hrs. However, the entertainment venues will remain close until 31 December 2021 or any further notice.
4.4 Restaurants and establishments which sell alcohol have to be qualified under SHA standard.
4.5 Games, competition and other activities can now resume but the organizer needs to receive a permission from the Ministry of Public Health before any activities can be held.
5. Update on the Omicron Variant
5.1 Due to the public concern about the effectiveness of the RT-PCR test to detect the new COVID-19 variant "Omicron", the public health authorities have now confirmed that the RT-PCR method is still capable of detecting the new variant and the method is still in use globally.
5.2 As of today, the Department of Medical Sciences has not yet discovered the Omicron variant from the samples collected since Thailand's reopening to international visitors on November 1.
5.3 In the case of the spread of the Omicron variant in Thailand, it will be quickly detected and dealt with because of 15 medical sciences centres under the Department of Medical Sciences are ready to better focus on the Omicron variant now.
5.4 The Deputy Public Health Minister urged the public not to panic and emphasized that the prime minister has ordered security agencies to intensify border surveillance to prevent illegal border crossings to help keep the virus at bay.
5.5 Also, the government has instructed relevant agencies to monitor the situation closely. Measures will be reviewed based on new information coming in and tougher measures will be quickly considered if there is any urgent case.
Full CCSA English briefing can be viewed here >>> https://www.facebook.com/thailandprd/videos/357630166129474
Source: CCSA, MOPH and Department of Information, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA)