BANGKOK, Feb 23 — Thailand will further relax COVID-19 travel requirements for international visitors starting next month to make travel more affordable and easier despite the surge of coronavirus cases in the kingdom.
Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) spokesperson Dr. Taweesin Visanuyothin said the vaccinated visitors do not need to do mandatory RT-PCR on the fifth day of the arrival and will be replaced with self rapid antigen test, starting March 1.
Besides that, he said visitors do not need to book a hotel for the test.
“The medical insurance coverage for visitors is also reduced from US$50,000 to US$20,000,” he said at the COVID-19 daily briefing, here, today.
The announcement came after the CCSA meeting chaired by Prime Minister Prayuth Chan o-cha today.
At present, under the Test & Go programme, fully vaccinated travellers have to apply for a Thailand Pass before entering the kingdom, where they need to purchase a medical insurance with a minimum coverage of US$50,000 (RM209,375) and RT-PCR COVID-19 test result 72 hours before travelling.
Besides that, travellers have to pre-book SHA Extra certified hotel and RT-PCR COVID-19 tests for Day 1 and Day 5.
Thailand had opened its doors to fully vaccinated visitors from 63 countries and territories via the ‘Test & Go’ effective November 2021, where travellers are allowed to visit other provinces once they are tested negative upon arrival. However, the programme was suspended in late December over concerns about the spread of the Omicron variant.
Starting Feb 1, Thailand has resumed the ‘Test & Go’ for vaccinated travellers in bid to revive its tourism sector, and about 302,000 visitors had entered Thailand since then.
Over the last 24 hours, Thailand recorded 21,232 new COVID-19 cases and 39 deaths, bringing the total infections in the kingdom to 2,770,793 and 22,730 fatalities.
