Rants, Stupid Shit and Coronavirus in Thailand

[Member #4753]

Summary of todays CCSA meeting:

Test & Go suspened indefinitely.

All holders of Thai Passes (Test and Go + Sandboxes) that were lodged before December 22 cut off must enter before Jan 15.

.

Phuket Sandbox to continue.

The following destinations are added to the sandbox scheme however the commencing date yet to be announced.

Koh Samui, Koh Tao and Koh Phangan.

Krabi and Phangnga.

.

Alcohol to be suspended at restaurants in all provinces except the following tourist provinces.

These provinces can serve alcohol until 9 pm.

Bangkok.

Chon Buri.

Kanchanaburi.

Krabi.

Nonthaburi.

Pathum Thani.

Phangnga.

Phuket.

The above announcement need to be published in the Royal Gazette to become official. However any changes will most likely be very minor.

[Locamotive]

It's a given that it will continue to be suspended till further notice. The situation here this week is much more worse than when it first got suspended. Daily infections have almost doubled within 2 days. 2 of my contacts here got covid in the past 1 week. I got infected myself too. Private hospitals are overwhelmed with patients queuing for admission, even testing alone has waiting time of 12 hours.

I waited my ambulance for 10 hours. That was 4 days ago. I was not the only patient in the ambulance. It has to be shared.

That's how bad it is here this week.

Yes. But infected with what? Is this regular COVID or Delta or the Omicron variant. I think everyone needs to calm down or we will never get back to normal. A neighbor she tested positive for Omicron, people are crazy here lining up for tests. She goes to hospital, nurse tells her you have no symptoms. I know but I tested positive OMG! I'm going to die. Lady calm down, if you get sick come back, but you're probably fine. Oh and she had both jabs. They need to take this crap off the news and these countries open and get back to normal. The general public is insane.

[Explorer8939]

Those cheap ATK kits are pretty useless for detecting Omicron. If you are symptomatic, try to get an RT-PCR test.

[ThaiGoodTimes]

The impact in Phuket of the new wave is just starting to become very visible now.

Everybody now knows multiple people that are sick, tho most are very mildly so, and as such are isolating at home.

And definitely not recorded in the official numbers.

Sadly, myself included most likely.

I had a positive ATK test at a clinic yesterday morning.

So I then took a PCR test in the afternoon that I'm now awaiting test results on.

Running a diving business here and having been on a registered tourist vessel (dive boat), there are "advice" protocols that the boat (and I) have to follow.

Hence the PCR confirm or clear Covid test.

And from there, if I am positive, I just hope to stay clear of the expensive "hospitel" protocols and isolate at home.

[LookingLooking]

Yes it is much worse than the numbers suggest here in Thailand. They seem to go up by 50% per day over the last 3 days. I know of a bunch of girls in Pattaya and Phuket that have tested positive. Strangely I don't personally know of anyone in Bangkok yet.

Where were you located when you tested positive. ?

Hope you have no or little symptons and get out of Hospital soon.

I was in Bangkok for 3 weeks before getting infected. Mostly stayed in the Sukhumvit stretch.

I have recovered from symptoms now. But still not even half way through my 10 day mandatory quarantine period.

[Member #4753]

Please name numerous sources.

Usually it's Noi from Buriam or Nip from Kalasin. Get my point.

The sources I were referring to were News Outlets. Bangkok Post, Thaiger, Pattay & Phuket local news. The "Test & Go" scheme as well as corona virus dominates expat news. Hence there are several articles per day relating to these topics on the news outlets who quote various Official Thai Government Ministers - to whom which the ulimate decision will come.

Feel free to read them to develope your own take / opinion on what is expected to happen.

[Member #4753]

It's a given that it will continue to be suspended till further notice. The situation here this week is much more worse than when it first got suspended. Daily infections have almost doubled within 2 days. 2 of my contacts here got covid in the past 1 week. I got infected myself too. Private hospitals are overwhelmed with patients queuing for admission, even testing alone has waiting time of 12 hours.

I waited my ambulance for 10 hours. That was 4 days ago. I was not the only patient in the ambulance. It has to be shared.

That's how bad it is here this week.

Yes it is much worse than the numbers suggest here in Thailand. They seem to go up by 50% per day over the last 3 days. I know of a bunch of girls in Pattaya and Phuket that have tested positive. Strangely I don't personally know of anyone in Bangkok yet.

Where were you located when you tested positive. ?

Hope you have no or little symptons and get out of Hospital soon.

[Explorer8939]

700+ cases in Pattaya today.

The authorities are probably going to shut the bars today. I will let you guys debate whether a restaurant serving alcohol is a bar.

It's going to be a sad January, maybe Omicron will pass quickly. I am leaving town if I test negative for Covid19.

[LookingLooking]

There is still no official announcement in regards to the current suspension of "Test and Go" and "Sandbox schemes" etc.

Numerous sources have stated that the "test and go" suspension will continue, however the delay in the official announcement suggests there is still wrangling in the fine details.

There is a Friday CCSA meeting where the final details will probably be announced.

It's a given that it will continue to be suspended till further notice. The situation here this week is much more worse than when it first got suspended. Daily infections have almost doubled within 2 days. 2 of my contacts here got covid in the past 1 week. I got infected myself too. Private hospitals are overwhelmed with patients queuing for admission, even testing alone has waiting time of 12 hours.

I waited my ambulance for 10 hours. That was 4 days ago. I was not the only patient in the ambulance. It has to be shared.

That's how bad it is here this week.

[Explorer8939]

The number of ladies in Pattaya who have Covid is astounding. I can only think of a few ladies who don't have Covid-19. Slim pickings at the moment.

The official positivity rate is 25%, but that doesn't count unofficial tests, where, if positive, the test remains hidden.

[Chimpo Chinn]

There is still no official announcement in regards to the current suspension of "Test and Go" and "Sandbox schemes" etc.

Numerous sources have stated that the "test and go" suspension will continue, however the delay in the official announcement suggests there is still wrangling in the fine details.

There is a Friday CCSA meeting where the final details will probably be announced.

Please name numerous sources.

Usually it's Noi from Buriam or Nip from Kalasin. Get my point.

[Chop]

Ignore what I said about the airbnb, residency etc. That was just to show how I got their LINE ID. I am on a 60 day tourist visa and this visa agent knows that. So on the LINE chat I said I'll be coming by to do my 30 day visa extension. And they replied 'you can now extend 60 days due to covid'. I then made sure they understood I was already on a 60 day visa and they said 'yes, you can now extend another 60 days'. A 30 day extension using the visa agent services is 4000 baht, saves you from waiting in line. They take your passport and all the paperwork and get it stamped without you needing to be there. Now the 60 day extension will cost 6000 baht, my bet is the same 2100 fee plus two 1900 visa extension fee's at immigration. Or might the 60 day extension only cost 1900 baht and the visa agent is trying to collect 4100?

Now on a different subject, just love the photo in this article below. Nothing says social distancing like putting sick people into an open area with fans blowing all of the covid all over the place.

https://thethaiger.com/news/bangkok/...ovid-19-uptick

OK, I misread your original post as you'd get the 30 day extension for 500 baht. Impossible at that price. That's what I was trying to get at. My misread, my bad.

The 60 day extension is a special exception they made "temporarily" for Covid. Temporary is going on two years now. The fee at the Immigration office for it is 1900 baht, same as all the other extensions, including the regular 30 day that everyone used to do in the before times. So yeah, your agent is clipping you for double (ish) the price. 6000 baht for a 60 day extension is pretty steep, but not completely outrageous. To be fair, the 60 day-er requires two trips to the office (although still, you only pay the 1900 baht fee on the first trip I. E, once. LOL at Thai bureaucracy), and if that pic you linked makes you uncomfortable about covid protocols, or lack thereof, you'd absolutely shart yourself walking into the immigration office. Might be worth it for that alone. I'd still take the deal, especially if you're pressed for time.

[Member #4753]

There is still no official announcement in regards to the current suspension of "Test and Go" and "Sandbox schemes" etc.

Numerous sources have stated that the "test and go" suspension will continue, however the delay in the official announcement suggests there is still wrangling in the fine details.

There is a Friday CCSA meeting where the final details will probably be announced.

[Breadman]

I'm no visa agent, so take this with a grain of salt: Whatever residency paperwork you needed for your initial visa should already have been done as part of sandbox / COE / ASQ / T&G, however you made entry (really, just put the name of the hotel in the blank and get your stamp.) Visa *extensions* require a residency doc of some sort. Condos, hotels, and I guess AirBnBs (never personally done one) are happy to make you up a doc. The fee at the Immigration office is 1900 baht, no matter what the visa is. 30 day, 60 day, 1 year, all 1900 baht. The last 2 times I went for the extension there was an officer standing in the doorway to the 30 day office waving everyone upstairs to the 60 day office. They can't be bothered with the 30 day extensions, and they're passing the 60 day ones out like jelly beans here in Phuket. In any case, there's no way you were ever going to get an extension, any extension, for 500 baht. The 1900 baht fee is impossible to avoid.

I think maybe you've misunderstood your agent. They want 500 baht do do the running around and paperwork for you, plus another 1900--rounded up to 2000 and clipping you for another 100 baht--for the fee they'll have to pay at the office. It's a bargain. Take it.

Ignore what I said about the airbnb, residency etc. That was just to show how I got their LINE ID. I am on a 60 day tourist visa and this visa agent knows that. So on the LINE chat I said I'll be coming by to do my 30 day visa extension. And they replied 'you can now extend 60 days due to covid'. I then made sure they understood I was already on a 60 day visa and they said 'yes, you can now extend another 60 days'. A 30 day extension using the visa agent services is 4000 baht, saves you from waiting in line. They take your passport and all the paperwork and get it stamped without you needing to be there. Now the 60 day extension will cost 6000 baht, my bet is the same 2100 fee plus two 1900 visa extension fee's at immigration. Or might the 60 day extension only cost 1900 baht and the visa agent is trying to collect 4100?

Now on a different subject, just love the photo in this article below. Nothing says social distancing like putting sick people into an open area with fans blowing all of the covid all over the place.

https://thethaiger.com/news/bangkok/...ovid-19-uptick

[Chop]

Staying at an airbnb for the first time ever in Thailand and the owner upon me checking in informed me that I had to file paperwork with immigration with my passport showing my current residency. But I recalled reading in the Cambodia forum that travel agents would for a fee go to immigration on your behalf for a fee. So I stopped by a local visa agent and for 500 baht they went and filed the paperwork with my passport, just had to pick it up the next day. Anyway got their LINE ID and said I would be stopping by to do the 30 day extension and was informed I could now increase that to 60 days for an extra 2000 baht. Have plans to go to Cambodia but for 2000 baht this gives me some extra insurance if I am delayed, flight cancelations etc.

I'm no visa agent, so take this with a grain of salt: Whatever residency paperwork you needed for your initial visa should already have been done as part of sandbox / COE / ASQ / T&G, however you made entry (really, just put the name of the hotel in the blank and get your stamp.) Visa *extensions* require a residency doc of some sort. Condos, hotels, and I guess AirBnBs (never personally done one) are happy to make you up a doc. The fee at the Immigration office is 1900 baht, no matter what the visa is. 30 day, 60 day, 1 year, all 1900 baht. The last 2 times I went for the extension there was an officer standing in the doorway to the 30 day office waving everyone upstairs to the 60 day office. They can't be bothered with the 30 day extensions, and they're passing the 60 day ones out like jelly beans here in Phuket. In any case, there's no way you were ever going to get an extension, any extension, for 500 baht. The 1900 baht fee is impossible to avoid.

I think maybe you've misunderstood your agent. They want 500 baht do do the running around and paperwork for you, plus another 1900--rounded up to 2000 and clipping you for another 100 baht--for the fee they'll have to pay at the office. It's a bargain. Take it.