Thailand News - Corona - By Ola J. - Palmtree

Double pricing is nothing new to foreigners in Thailand, but 3,000 baht for a 35-baht coronavirus antigen test kit is extreme, by even Siamese standards.

Yet that's apparently the going rate for an ATK if you're a migrant worker trying to enter Thailand to work in Chiang Mai.

Rights activists are accusing Thai authorities of price gouging on ATKs in what they say is a clear case of profiteering and discrimination.

Migrants who wish to work in Thailand or continue doing so are required by law to undertake a Covid-19 test, but the price of the test in the northern province, a hub of migrants from Myanmar, has been set at 3,000 baht.

In addition, migrants are required to pay for health exams, insurance and various other fees involved in obtaining an identification card and work permit.

These additional expenses amount to more than 9,000 baht, which is well beyond the means of migrants working for the minimum wage of 300 baht or less a day, rights advocates say.

Migrants with children are further required to another 3,000 baht per child for mandatory coronavirus tests in addition to other administrative fees.

"When I went to immigration to extend my visa, they said I needed to have a Covid-19 medical certificate [without which] I couldn't extend my visa," an ethnic Shan migrant worker from Myanmar said.

"[My Thai] broker said I didn't need to test and if I paid 3,500 baht they would extend my visa. I gave in and paid the 3,500 baht," she added.

Up to 5 million migrant workers, the vast majority of them from Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia, work in Thailand, but since the beginning of the pandemic in early 2020 many have fallen on hard times with long spells of unemployment.

As a result, these migrants have suffered financially and faced various forms of discrimination in Thailand, rights advocates say.

"It seems to me that the government's policymakers treat workers as if they were a problem, a group that needs to be tightly regulated and forced to obey," Sai Tip Awan, who works with the Human Rights and Development Foundation in Chiang Mai, told a Thai online newspaper dedicated to rights issues.

"And to stay here, migrant workers have to pay two to three times what tourists and foreign nationals holding Non-O or Non-B visas do," he added, referring to expatriates with special visas.

Among migrant workers, the most economically disadvantaged are unable to pay 3,000 baht for a Covid-19 test to allow them to resume working legally, according to the Migrant Working Group.

"There is this person bedridden from a car accident. He has no money to pay a broker. His wife is not working either and they have two children," a staffer at the group said, citing a specific case.

"He can't extend his visa because he needs to get a Covid-19 test at the hospital and he doesn't have any money."

Complicating matters for migrants is that brokers who find jobs for them often take advantage of impoverished people desperate for work by charging them large amounts.

The sums tend to range from 17,000 baht to 25,000 baht, which often causes migrants to become heavily indebted before they have even started working and receiving salaries.

Highlights:

• 460 new confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Chonburi today

• 325 positive ATK tests were reported but all require a second confirmed PCR test before being counted as official cases. The ATK positive tests are just "possible" cases until confirmed by PCR.

• 311 people recovered and were released from medical care

• No new deaths

The Chonburi Department of Public Health announced 460 new and confirmed cases of Covid-19 today with no new death, February 4th, 2022.

This makes a total of 18,967 cases of Covid-19 in the current round of infections, with 4,062 people still under medical care/supervision, and with a total of 24 recorded deaths in Chonburi since the start of this recent round of infections at the beginning of this year, January 2022.

Additionally, 311 people were also released and recovered yesterday in Chonburi. 14,811 people in total have now been released from medical care and recovered in Chonburi since this current wave of Covid-19 began at the beginning of this year, January 2022.

The details on the cases are as follows:

1. Work and stayed in Rayong, transferred from other provinces for medical care, 48 cases
2. Cluster, Sanghirun Wood Product company in Panat Nikhom, 10 cases
3. Cluster, Fujitsu General company in Si Racha, 5 cases
4. Cluster, Bridgestone Tire Manufacturing company in Phan Thong, 7 cases
5. Risky occupations meeting many people, 22 cases
6. 6 medical personnel
7. 10 back from other provinces from Rayong (4), Bangkok (3), Ayutthaya (1), Ratchaburi (1), and Uthai Thani (1)
8. Close contacts from previously confirmed cases in families – 103 cases, in workplaces –58 cases, close personal contacts – 24 cases, and joined a party – 9 cases
9. Close contacts of a confirmed patient (under investigation), 7 cases
10. 151 cases close contacts of a confirmed patient (under investigation)

Phuket is asking the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) to improve Covid-19 screening measures for international visitors, following an alarming number of tourists testing positive on arrival.

This is suspected to have largely stemmed from fake negative results from pre-departure testing or inaccurate testing that's only been detected after travellers arrive.

The call was made by Pichet Panapong, Phuket's deputy governor, during Thursday's teleconference between Phuket Covid-19 control organisations and the CCSA's operations centre.

He said the rising number of infections among arriving tourists is likely to increase the burden for the province in arranging hospitels and hotel isolation for visitors.

This number is expected to rise given the many tourists applying to enter the resort island under the government's quarantine-free Test & Go scheme that resumed on Tuesday. "False Covid-19 RT-PCR test results are assumed to have something to do with the sharp rise in the number of post-arrival positive tests among tourists,'' he said.

A number of other travellers simply used the result of a rapid antigen test even though they were actually required to show the result of RT-PCR tests before leaving for Thailand, he said. "These problems are something beyond Phuket's authority to deal with and help is needed from the CCSA's operations centre,'' he said.

Phuket also wants the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand to warn airlines bringing international travellers to Thailand about the need for them to strictly verify passengers' RT-PCR documents prior to departure, he said.

As for post-arrival Covid-19 testing, Phuket is working hard to ensure the testing area at the airport won't be overcrowded, especially whenever a large number of passengers arrives at the same time due to flight delays, Mr Pichet said.

The airport currently handles around 3,000 RT-PCR tests per day, while its capacity can be maximised to 10,000 a day if needed, he said.

The infection rate of about 3% after the first tests are conducted on arriving passengers is alarming, he said. Currently, the Covid-19 sitution among international tourists arriving in Phuket is still under control, said Dr Veerasak Lorthongkham, director of Vachira Phuket Hospital.

However, if the infection rate surpasses 5%, the province's hospitel and hotel isolation system will be overwhelmed as all hotels receiving international visitors are now required to reserve about 5% of their rooms for this purpose, he explained.

Despite promising to find measures to help curb rising Covid-19 infections among arriving tourists, the CCSA's operation centres on Thursday foresaw an even greater burden on Phuket as up to 40% of the 20,000 international tourists registering to enter Thailand under the Test & Go scheme on Monday chose to arrive in the island.

On Monday and Tuesday, a total of 7,742 travellers arrived in Thailand, 344 of whom tested positive for Covid upon arrival.