THAILAND is gearing up to reopen the Test & Go entry procedure on Feb. 1 with Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha confident that all systems, particularly public health, are ready to handle the increased inflow of foreign tourists, Naewna newspaper said today (Jan. 28).
Mr. Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana, spokesman for the Prime Minister’s Office, said the reopening of this entry scheme after suspension at the end of last year when the Omicron variant of coronavirus started spreading here will lead to total tourist arrivals this year reaching at least 8 million, generating 480 billion baht in revenue.
The spokesman also mentioned that as illegal migrant workers continue to cross over to Thailand officials in provinces bordering neighbouring countries or have natural channels linking to them have been told to strictly monitor all crossing points including natural ones.
First Army Area units arrested 365 Myanmar people who illegally came to Thailand with 135 caught in Prachuap Kriri Khan province and 230 in Kanchanaburi. They all go through Covid screening even while held by the police.
Meanwhile there were 8,450 cases and 28 deaths over the past 24 hours to this morning taking the cumulative confirmed total since Jan. 1 to 192,037.
Of this batch of cases 8,239 were domestic while 211 foreign arrivals tested positive.
Another 7,484 patients were cured taking total recoveries since Jan. 1 to 141,154 while 83,698 patients are still undergoing treatment.
So far 115,105,878 doses of vaccines have been administered with 52,206,701 people having received their first dose, 48,450,590 their second dose, 13,524,676 their third dose and 923,911 their fourth dose.
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Top: Suvarnabhumi Airport. Photo: Mikhail Esteves (CC BY 2.0)
Top: Flight back to Phuket. Photo: Phuket@photographer.net (CC BY 2.0)
Also read: Test & Go entry procedure suspended immediately
Move to extend Test & Go suspension till Jan. 31 amid Omicron spike
New 300 baht tourist entry fee to generate B1.5 billion this year
Phuket expanding hotel isotation facilities as Covid cases rise
