BANGKOK: Thailand will reinstate its mandatory COVID-19 quarantine for foreign visitors and remove a quarantine exemption from today (Dec 21) until Jan 4, 2022, a government spokeswoman said, due to concerns about the spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

The decision to stop Thailand’s “Test & Go” exemption means visitors will have to undergo a hotel quarantine, ranging from seven to 10 days.

The Center for COVID-19 Situation Administration will reevaluate pandemic conditions on Jan. 4 to decide whether to resume accepting applications for quarantine-free arrivals.

Omicron makes Thailand cancel quarantine-free inbound travel https://t.co/Iof6h639Z8

— Masayuki Yuda (@yuda_Nikkei) December 21, 2021

Meanwhile, the “sandbox” scheme, which requires visitors to stay in a specific location but allows them to move freely outside their accommodation, will also be suspended everywhere except on the resort island of Phuket.

“After December 21, there will be no new registrations for ‘Test & Go’, only quarantine or sandbox Phuket,” said deputy government spokeswoman Rachada Dhanadirek. The “Test and Go program” is for those travelers who will not undergo quarantine.

Yesterday, the country reported its first case of local transmission of the Omicron variant.

Thailand had reopened to foreign visitors in November, ending nearly 18 months of strict entry policies that contributed to the collapse of tourism, a key industry and economic engine that attracted 40 million visitors in 2019.

-Thailand News (TN)