According to the latest statistics from the Ministry of Health of Thailand, in the period from 1 to 31 January, PCR tests gave a positive result in 3.68% of foreign tourists on holiday in the kingdom. This is ten times more than at the end of last year: in November the figure was 0.13%, in December – 0.45%.
Among vaccinated tourists who arrived under the Sandbox program (“Sandbox”) and take the test twice – on the 1st and 5th day of rest, a positive test for kovid in January in 4.19% in November – in 0.21% , in December – 0.37%).
Probably, the multiple growth is due to the spread of a new omicron strain of coronavirus. The vast majority of cases – mild or asymptomatic, which, on the one hand, does not cause too much damage to the health of tourists, on the other – forces them to pay for quarantine, as insurance for those traveling abroad covers only hospital treatment.
Note that the observation belongs not only to the most infected, but also to those who lived with them on vacation, together or left the airport to the hotel by one transfer. Many people travel with their families, which means that the actual number of those quarantined in Thailand in January is clearly more than 4 out of every hundred tourists.
One week ago, it was reported that the Thai government was discussing with the Kingdom’s Insurance Commission (OIC) insurance options for foreign tourists to cover quarantine costs in mild and asymptomatic cases of covid. January 31, the day before the resumption of the Sandbox and Test & amp; Go, another briefing was held by the CCSA, the Thai COVID-19 Situation Management Center, but no decisions on the possibility of insuring the cost of the observation have been made public yet.