Thailand COVID February 23. Thailand Ministry of Health reports 21,232 new COVID-19 cases and an additional 39 deaths since yesterday. The ministry also announced an additional 16,662 recovered patients.
Deputy Prime Minister and Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul will hold a meeting to assess the test and go package. The government is weighing the option to replace the second PCR Test requirement with an ATK test kit instead. The Department of Disease Control and Emergency Operation Centre will present proposals for the scheme.
The current Test and Go package require fully vaccinated tourists to take a PCR test on the first and fifth day. The reason for looking into the second test is that the virus is already on community spread. The infections are mostly local and not imported.
The country is currently facing new challenges as the cases continue to surge. The government announced the increase of the alert level to 4. This does not mean that a lockdown will be implemented however inter-provincial travel is discouraged.
The announcement of alert level 4 has worried many tourism operators. They said that this decision could affect the economy and those ailing businesses. They cited examples like Maldives and Europe for allowing people to love the virus. This new alert will cause anxiety to potential customers and could cancel plans to travel.
The inconsistent opening and closing of tourism-related businesses could cause worrisome situations for the sector. They ask the government to come up with a decisive action to address tourism at the same time keeping the public safe.
They ask to see how other countries are coping with the virus and still continue to stimulate their economies. This is in the hopes to balance the pandemic and the economic stability of the country.