General Reports

[Berrys66]

The new and deadly strain from south Africa could be a problem in future and may not have a vaccine possible to handle it.

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world...a-young-adults

[EihTooms]

Wow. Just checked. 576 new cases in 1 day. Total cases up until yesterday was 4,331. Thailand has done 1.2 million tests for 69 million people. Compare this to some countries with similar population. UK 60 million tests. France 30 million tests. Italy 24 million tests.

Then a question arises regarding the reason for 24-60 times more testing in those other countries. Was it because 24-60 times more of those people were exhibiting symptoms, sick enough to visit a doctor or go to a hospital where they would then be given a test?

These lastest Thai tests appear to have been routine tests for migrant workers in the food industry, primarily from Burma, 90% of whom exhibited no symptoms.

[Banana Boi]

With the 500 reported new cases yesterday, they may rethink that one.

Wow. Just checked. 576 new cases in 1 day. Total cases up until yesterday was 4,331. Thailand has done 1.2 million tests for 69 million people. Compare this to some countries with similar population. UK 60 million tests. France 30 million tests. Italy 24 million tests.

[Kerrstar]

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand...es-to-be-named

This would make quaratine more bearable.

[EihTooms]

With the 500 reported new cases yesterday, they may rethink that one.

Yes. A lot of dating site girls come from that Bangkok metropolitan area.

Thailand reports daily COVID record of more than 500 cases.
A sharp rise in cases mostly linked to shrimp market in Samut Sakhon, bringing Thailand's infections to more than 4,800.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/...than-500-cases

[NicFrenchy]

government officials said they are considering lowering the quarantine days to 10 and will make a decision around mid January.

With the 500 reported new cases yesterday, they may rethink that one.

[YetAnotherGuy]

Your information is dated. Just yesterday in Bangkok Post, government officials said they are considering lowering the quarantine days to 10 and will make a decision around mid January. ... 10 days or 14 days, it's still too much for me. The expense for this ASQ stay plus the prison like circumstances is just too much at least for this hombre.

True, though there's a lot of pushback on the quarantine reduction proposal. I'll be surprised if they do it, though I've been surprised a lot of times, so who knows? I've been thinking the same thing about the expense, though I do really miss Thailand.

[Tomasb]

Your information is dated. Just yesterday in Bangkok Post, government officials said they are considering lowering the quarantine days to 10 and will make a decision around mid January. They already have decided to allow low risk countries (including the US) to enter Thailand with an automatic 45 days, instead of the usual visa on arrival of 30 days. This is intended to compensate for the current 14 day quarantine, which is actually 16 days because your first day at the designated ASQ hotel is considered day zero, then 14 days in Quarantine and you check out the 16th day.

It still possible to ask for a longer stay by requesting a 60 day visa, which you can extend after that expiration up to 270 days. 10 days or 14 days, it's still too much for me. The expense for this ASQ stay plus the prison like circumstances is just too much at least for this hombre.

My guess (definitely only a guess), from following Thai news, is that they'll continue to require a 14 day quarantine long into 2021, even for vaccinated tourists. There's widespread popular support in Thailand for taking this conservative approach, and they may smart to do so, since we probably won't know whether vaccinated people can transmit the disease for quite a while. That said, it might be worth suffering through a 14 day quarantine.

[YetAnotherGuy]

This is a critical point. It means that virgin countries like LOS with quarantine measures in place are going to be very reluctant to open their borders even to vaccinated travelers until a significant percentage of their own population has been inoculated. This may postpone travel to Thailand for most of 2021. I sincerely hope I am wrong.

My guess (definitely only a guess), from following Thai news, is that they'll continue to require a 14 day quarantine long into 2021, even for vaccinated tourists. There's widespread popular support in Thailand for taking this conservative approach, and they may smart to do so, since we probably won't know whether vaccinated people can transmit the disease for quite a while. That said, it might be worth suffering through a 14 day quarantine.

[EihTooms]

Which is the dumbest shit ever. I arrive at the airport and put all that information on my form. Then when I get to Pattaya, because I have a place there, I have to go down to the local immigration office within a certain time frame and fill out a form with the same information that was on the one I gave them at the airport. What is the purpose of filling the damn thing out at the airport if you have to self report or the place you are staying has to report you? Waste of paper and time.

Isn't there an app to submit the TM30 form now? When I renewed my retirement visa in May the Bangkok Immigration Officer didn't mention that form and I'd heard they stopped bothering with it. Not that they officially dropped it. Just that they stopped bothering with it for now and the near future.

That was not the case the previous year I renewed. They were going nuts hassling everyone about that form in 2019.

And even though the onus to submit the TM30 form or pay a fine is on the owner or manager of the rental unit, not on the tenant, when the Immigration Officer tells you on the day you are trying to renew your visa that your landlord fucked up, didn't submit it and you'll need to go get the 800 baht or whatever fine from him before you can renew, the solution is YOU pay that 800 baht fine right then and there so you can finish everything that day and deal with your landlord about it later.

[HorseTrader]

As I understand it neither Pfizer nor Moderna vaccines while reducing the odds do not prevent Covid infection. More relevant the data is not yet clear whether a vaccinated person who becomes infected can be a transmitter. Consequently its possible vaccines will not change requirements to quarantine. We may have to wait for herd immunity for that.

Saw some good news today related to the Moderna vaccine. Preliminary results show it's better at preventing COVID disease (94.1% but also has substantial effect on preventing COVID infection (60%-70% Results based on swab testing of vaccine test participants versus placebo test participants). Pfizer expected to produce same kind of data in about February.

[Banana Boi]

Which is the dumbest shit ever. I arrive at the airport and put all that information on my form. Then when I get to Pattaya, because I have a place there, I have to go down to the local immigration office within a certain time frame and fill out a form with the same information that was on the one I gave them at the airport. What is the purpose of filling the damn thing out at the airport if you have to self report or the place you are staying has to report you? Waste of paper and time.

What actually happens if we don't go to Jomtien to report that we have arrived back to our Pattaya condo after a 3 month visit to Japan or a 1 night visit to Bangkok? Unless a guy reads Thai Visa how do people know to even do this? Not like they explain it to us when we get our Visa, at Immigration when we arrive, or rent/buy our condo.

Agree. No idea why we fill out the Arrival Card at the airport then have to go duplicate the information in Jomtien when we arrive in Pattaya.

[IHeartIpa]

Does anyone else know? Aren't the usual "To visit friends", "To visit historic sites", "To tour the country" or "To research business opportunities" acceptable on these itineraries as they have been in the past?

A mate of mine that has done a ton of traveling gave me the advice that when filling out an immigration card for any country list "tourist" as what you're doing there and "Grand hotel" as where you're staying. Works in every country because there's always a grand hotel.

BTW I definitely do not think they will turn anyone down just because they only want to visit Pattaya.

[HorseTrader]

...As I understand it neither Pfizer nor Moderna vaccines while reducing the odds do not prevent Covid infection. More relevant the data is not yet clear whether a vaccinated person who becomes infected can be a transmitter

I understand the same thing. That bad part is vaccinated people won't know they are infected and they could become the super spreaders of late 2021.

People should understand that COVID is the disease that is caused by a certain virus. Preventing someone from getting the disease does not necessarily stop the virus. We hope it does, but at this point in time we really don’t know.

[Mr Enternational]

Hotels have a legal obligation to inform Immigration that you are staying there. Thai Immigration will always know where you are. One of the reasons Thailand is against AirBNB because an AirBNB owner is not going to go to the Immigration office to file a TM30 for someone staying at their condo for 1 day.

Which is the dumbest shit ever. I arrive at the airport and put all that information on my form. Then when I get to Pattaya, because I have a place there, I have to go down to the local immigration office within a certain time frame and fill out a form with the same information that was on the one I gave them at the airport. What is the purpose of filling the damn thing out at the airport if you have to self report or the place you are staying has to report you? Waste of paper and time.