The Thai island of Phuket is asking the COVID-19 Situation Management Center (CCSA) to improve coronavirus testing for foreign travelers after an alarming number of tourists who tested positive on arrival. Thai authorities, according to local media, are concerned about the speed of detection of positive cases among those who arrive, and warned that infected tourists are already short of places in hotels to quarantine. And the tourist program of entering the country of smiles without quarantine resumed only a few days ago. According to experts, the burden on the hotel sector and health care in the form of covidly positive tourists will increase in the near future. The warning was given by the Ukrainians’ favorite island of Phuket.
By the way, earlier the governor of the resort province said that most of those infected with the code for Phuket come from Russia – read the details at the link.
It is assumed that the current situation is largely due to fake negative pre-departure test results or false-negative indicators that were detected only after the arrival of travelers to the resort island.
According to Phuket Vice Governor Picheta Panapong during a teleconference on February 3, the growing number of infections among tourists is likely to increase the burden on the province to organize hospitals and isolate hotels for guests. Their numbers are expected to increase due to the large number of tourists applying to enter the resort island under the government’s Quarantine-Free Quarantine program, which resumed on Tuesday (February 1st).
“It is assumed that the erroneous PCR test results for COVID-19 have something to do with the sharp increase in the number of positive tests after arrival among tourists,” he said.
The official also accused travelers of using the results of a rapid antigen test instead of a PCR test before entering Thailand. “These issues are beyond the remit of Phuket and need to be assisted by the CCSA Operations Center,” he added.
Phuket also wants the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand to warn airlines operating international flights to Thailand of the need to strictly check the medical records of passengers before departure. As for testing for the code upon arrival, the tropical island authorities said they were making every effort to ensure that the test area at the airport was not overcrowded, especially when a large number of passengers arrived due to flight delays, the official said.
Short-term forecast
After the restart of the quarantine tourist program for vaccinated tourists, the airport processes about 3,000 PCR tests per day, but its capacity can be increased to 10,000 per day if necessary. The head of the province stressed that the level of infection is about 3% after the first tests on arriving passengers – an alarming figure.
Currently, the situation with COVID-19 among foreign tourists arriving in Phuket is under control, said Weerasak Lorthongham, a doctor and director of the island hospital. However, if the level of infection exceeds 5%, the isolation system of hospitals and hotels in the province will be overloaded, as all hotels that receive foreign guests are now required to reserve for this purpose about 5% of their rooms, he explained.
Despite promises to find measures to curb the increase in the incidence of COVID-19 among arriving tourists, CCSA operations centers on Thursday predicted a heavy load on Phuket, as up to 40% of the 20,000 foreign tourists registered to enter Thailand for scheme. On Monday we decided to arrive on the island. A total of 7,742 travelers arrived in Thailand on Monday and Tuesday, 344 of whom tested positive on the spot.
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