Thailand Ministry of Health reports 9,909 new COVID-19 cases and an additional 22 deaths since yesterday. The ministry also announced an additional 7,827 recovered patients.
Phuket issues an alert regarding an alarming number of arrivals testing positive. The local government asks the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) for stricter measures. The request was to better screen pre-departure documents.
The local government suspects that some of the documents submitted during the application were inaccurate. As a result, when they are tested on arrival, they show as positive. Phuket Deputy Governor Pichet Panapong made the call.
Due to the rising number of arrivals testing positive, it falls on the government to find hospitels for them. There will be a massive demand for isolation centers which the island did not anticipate. This number is due to the rise in Test and Go applications. “False Covid-19 RT-PCR test results are assumed to have something to do with the sharp rise in the number of post-arrival positive tests among tourists,” he stated.
Some travelers might have used a rapid antigen test to meet the requirement. It is widely noted that the results of the antigen test are not as accurate as of the RT PCR test. The local government also asked air carriers to properly verify the test results prior to departure.
Phuket has the capacity to test 3,000 tourists a day and can increase to 10,000 if needed. As of the moment, over 40,000 tourists are applying under the Test and Go scheme. 40 % of the applications chose Phuket.
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