Bangkok’s nightlife venues may officially reopen June 1, alcohol may flow until midnight at all venues again, and remaining travel restrictions will be lifted for citizens.
Some of the final public health measures will be lifted next month, the COVID task force announced today, 26 months after the pandemic plunged Bangkok into uncertainty, devastating many businesses long after the partial lockdown was lifted.
Pubs, bars, night clubs, and massage parlors may again serve alcohol until midnight, the task force said, as venues with restaurant licenses have been allowed since the start of May.
Additionally, all Thai nationals on June 1 will be able to enter without a so-called Thailand Pass.
Unvaccinated noncitizen travelers will no longer need to pass costly PCR tests but must upload evidence of a negative ATK to Thailand Pass within 72 hours of arrival.
However, foreigners will still be required to download a “streamlined” Thailand Pass to enter the country.
“Starting June 1st, Thai nationals will no longer be required to register for Thailand Pass,” the Foreign Ministry’s Maratee Nalita Andamo said. “Thailand Pass, effectively will function next month as a pre-arrival registration for our foreign friends. It is not an approval system, let me underline that.”
In some provinces still designated high-risk — and of low interest to tourists — are still not allowed to reopen nightlife venues.
Despite the good news, the March 2020 emergency decree – which has seen as much use prosecuting anti-government protesters as protecting public health – was extended to two more months, until the end of July.
Earlier this year, Thailand expects to downgrade COVID-19 to endemic status. However, public health secretary Kiatiphum Wongrajit announced that the endemic status could come two weeks earlier sometime in mid-June.
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