Thailand Ministry of Health reports 25,456 new COVID-19 cases and an additional 77 deaths since yesterday. The ministry also announced an additional 22,217 recovered patients.
The government plans to allow tourists to enter the kingdom without an RT-PCR test prior to boarding a flight. The Test & Go scheme will be modified and will lower the required insurance. The government will only require an RT-PCR test on arrival and an ATK test on the 5th day. This is in line with the plan to downgrade the status to endemic by July.
Permanent secretary for Public Health, Dr. Kiattiphum Wongrajit, said the ministry is proposing to ease travel requirements. They are set to present it to the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) on Friday.
“Under the proposed entry rules, travelers under the Test & Go scheme would no longer be required to show negative RT-PCR test results up to 72 hours before departure to the kingdom,” he said on Wednesday.
In addition, they will lower the insurance requirement from $50,000 t0 $10,000.
He will also present plans to lower the status of COVID-19 from pandemic to endemic. The actual announcement may vary depending on the World Health Organization.
Among the changes is proposed that the emergency decree will be replaced by a Communicable Disease Act. The plan is essentially divided into four phases which will be a step-by-step process towards the endemic status. This is provided that there are no new mutations that would appear.
CCSA is also considering allowing night entertainment to resume which is welcomed by business operators. Many of them have been asking for the government to let them resume their normal operating hours but to no avail. Since the pandemic began, night venues have been shut and have caused many businesses to close.