Thailand reinstates the quarantine for travelers for fear of the omicron variant and stops the reopening of tourism

Thailand this Tuesday reinstated a mandatory quarantine for all travelers due to the risk of spreading the omicron variant of coronavirus covid-19announced the government, putting a brake on the reopening of tourism, a vital sector for the Southeast Asian country.

From now on, vaccinated travelers will have to spend 10 days in quarantine in a hotel or take advantage of the special mechanism in Phuket (south), which allows them to move freely on that island for seven days before being able to travel to the rest of the country.

These changes, in effect until January 4, will not affect the 200,000 travelers who have already submitted their request to enter the country in the coming weeks, said Tanakorn Wangboonkongchana, a government spokesman.

“This group can enter Thailand as planned, but there will be reinforced measures, for example a second PCR test,” he told reporters.

After 18 months closed, Thailand reopened its borders in early November to vaccinated tourists from more than 60 countries under the presentation of a simple negative PCR test.

The Southeast Asian country, emerging from a strong wave of the variant dela, has so far registered 64 cases of the omicron variant in its territory.

Before the pandemic, Thailand received almost 40 million visitors annually who came in search of its beaches, its street food and its nightlife.

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