Thailand has decided to immediately reimpose a mandatory quarantine for visitors and suspend a “test-and-go” scheme for fully vaccinated arrivals as concerns grow over the spread of the Omicron variant of coronavirus.
The decision is a blow to efforts to revive the country’s battered tourism sector ahead of the peak holiday season.
Government spokesman Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana also announced the suspension of “sandbox” programmes that allow visitors to remain and move around specific locations, except for the resort island of Phuket, where he said it will stay in effect.
“This is not to shut off tourists but to temporarily suspend arrivals,” he said. He added that the decision would be reviewed on January 4.
He said about 200,000 people who have registered for the “test-and-go” scheme, known as Thailand Pass, but have not yet entered Thailand will be allowed to come.
They will be subject to a coronavirus test on arrival and a second test seven days later at the expense of the government.
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said Thailand will not accept any new applications for the “test-and-go” programme.
“Today we no longer accept more applications for travellers. No new applications,” he told reporters.
“We have about 200,000 travellers who already registered. No other restrictions apply for these people, but we will have to track them.”
He added: “From now, we are back to the old system of quarantine when entering.”
The decision came after Thailand recorded its first case of domestic transmission of the Omicron variant last week, when a returning resident tested negative on arrival but later tested positive and infected members of his family.
The few other positive cases were all caught after testing on arrival and quarantined.
Thailand and other countries in south-east Asia eased entry restrictions for fully vaccinated travellers in November in an effort to kickstart tourism, a major revenue earner that collapsed with the start of the pandemic.
But with the exception of Thailand, few have attracted the return of many foreign visitors due to complex entry requirements.
Starting in November, Thailand began reopening to fully vaccinated visitors without quarantine, easing a lockdown that caused massive job losses and hardship. Tourism accounted for 20% of the economy before the pandemic.
With the onset of Omicron, Thailand and other countries in Asia moved swiftly to block entry from an initial group of African nations, but Thailand kept its “test-and-go” programme active for fully vaccinated travellers from more than 60 countries.
Under the scheme, fully vaccinated visitors had to show negative results from PCR tests before flying, and on arrival had a second PCR test.
They had to spend their first night in a government-approved hotel awaiting test results. If the results were negative, they could travel anywhere in Thailand.
Thailand had by far the most ambitious programme in the region to allow travellers to enter and move around the country.
It eased restrictions after a successful vaccination programme that has seen 100 million doses administered to its population of about 60 million people. Booster programmes are already under way.
Covid-19 cases have steadily been dropping, with 2,476 new cases and 32 deaths reported on Tuesday.
Thailand has recorded 2,196,529 cases and 21,346 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
