Quarantine limbo time is about to get slashed by a third for those riding out the symptom-window in Thailand.
Health officials have agreed to cut four days and adopt a 10-day quarantine period for those lucky souls entering or returning to the kingdom, Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul told reporters today.
He cited the nation’s low risk level and sparse local infections to make the move, adding that the health system has become more experienced in handling the disease effectively since it emerged 10 months ago. Thailand’s tourism-reliant economy is buckling under the strain and the public is split on reopening the nation.
Update: Backtracking, Thailand cuts quarantine time for only 6 nationalities
“The Disease Control Department has been ready for quarantine reduction for a long time now, but the case of the French woman made us withdraw the subject from the task force,” he said, referring to a French woman who last week tested positive on Koh Samui after completing two weeks of quarantine. “But when we investigated deeper, it wasn’t an issue with quarantine measures, and we could control the disease in a narrow circle.”
However, the get-out-quarantine-sooner card may come with stricter rules, such as daily health reporting to the authorities, dense public areas being off-limits, or tracking devices. Anutin said that the details will be confirmed later by the department after it is approved by the COVID-19 task force.
