The emergency decree to prevent the spread of Covid-19 will be lifted on September 30 and the Center for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) will be dissolved by then, the government decided. |
The move came after the government is preparing to downgrade Covid-19 from its designation as a "dangerous communicable disease" down to "communicable disease under surveillance" by October 1 which was already announced in the Royal Gazette.
The disease will also be removed from a list of prohibited diseases for foreigners entering or having residency in Thailand.
"The meeting today decided to lift the state of emergency in all districts of the Kingdom which came into effect on March 25, 2020," said Dr Taweesin Visanuyothin, CCSA's spokesman.
"This will come into effect from September 30 onwards," he said.
After the decree is lifted and the CCSA is dissolved, all of their orders will be canceled, including all the domestic restrictions and entry regulations that were ordered by the CCSA.
This means no more requirements for the Covid-19 vaccine certificate and ATK test result before entering the country and there will be no more random checks for them.
There will also be no more mandatory self-quarantine for people who tested positive for Covid.
The Ministry of Public Health said infected people who are asymptomatic or have minimal symptoms will be asked to wear a facemask for 5 days and to strictly overserved Covid prevention measures (Distancing, Mask Wearing, hand Washing and Testing or DMHT) instead.
People eligible for universal healthcare programs such as the Universal Coverage for Emergency Patients (UCEP) will continue to receive free treatment like any other disease.
The National Communicable Disease Committee (NSDC), which was recently established, and the Communicable Disease Act will be used to manage the Covid-19 situation in Thailand instead.
The CCSA said the domestic outbreak situation has been improving with less severe cases and related deaths. They also said there are already enough Covid treatment medicines and vaccines in the country to cope with the current situation.
CCSA adviser Dr Udom Kachinthorn said before its meeting that there are still around 30,000-40,000 new Covid cases per day in Thailand but most of them are not severe cases.
He said the high number of new daily Covid cases is one of the reasons why the disease might not be declared an endemic disease until next year.
Thailand's official number for daily Covid-19 cases was 752 on Friday. However, only Covid patients that have been admitted to hospitals were being counted.
This brings the total number of counted cases to 4.67 million since the pandemic began in 2020.
A total of 8,235 Covid patients were being treated at hospitals on Friday, including 523 patients with pneumonitis. Only 8.3% of hospital beds that are being reserved for Covid patients were occupied nationwide, down from 10.9% in August.
Nine people died from Covid yesterday, bringing the total number of people who died from Covid in Thailand to 32,692.
More than 143.21 million Covid-19 vaccine doses were administered in Thailand between February 28, 2020, and September 21, 2022.
At least 57.31 million people received their first dose as of September 22, accounting for 82.4% of the eligible population.
At least 32.1 million people received their third dose, or 46.1% of the eligible population.
Dr Udom said the government is still aiming to increase the number of people who received their 3rd booster shots to 70% of the population but he did not provide the timeline.
The CCSA was also informed that more than 5.25 million foreign tourists visited Thailand between January 1 and September 21 which generated more than 211 billion Baht worth of income.
The top visitors by air were India (528,753), Singapore (285,303) and Malaysia (258,789). By land, the tops visitors were Malaysia (634,693), Laos (234,849) and Cambodia (122,575).
As for domestic travelers, there were 98.7 million Thai tourists who were traveling around the country between January 1 and September 21 and the most visited destinations were Bangkok, Chonburi, Kanchanaburi, Prachuap Khiri Khan and Phetchaburi.
Thai tourists generated income worth more than 432 Billion baht during this period of time.
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