Bangkok –
The Center for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) will be considering the easing of preventive measures, including the readjustment of international arrivals entry measures, RT-PCR testing cancellation, and provincial rezoning, to be implemented in May at the general meeting on Friday, April 22nd.
Supot Malaniyom, Secretary-General of the National Security Council (NSC), revealed to the Associated Press today, April 21st, that the Ministry of Public Health would propose adjusting measures for international arrivals before entering the Kingdom at the upcoming CCSA meeting tomorrow.
The proposed agendas mainly included the quarantine period for non-vaccinated travelers and the ‘Test&Go’ scheme. The Public Health Ministry suggested that the quarantine period should be reduced for non-vaccinated visitors if they had been through a reliable and state-qualified quarantine previously.
As for the ‘Test&Go’ scheme, the Ministry would propose the CCSA relax and adjust the arrival requirements for both Thai and foreign tourists to arrive in the country more conveniently. The meeting would discuss if the procedure should replace the RT-PCR with the ATK testing, if so, then they should discuss on how to do them properly, or they may cancel all the testing entirely.
Supot said that the government had always acknowledged and listened to the private sectors’ and the public’s demand to cancel the ‘Test&Go’ and ‘Thailand Pass’ programs as soon as possible. However, he stated that they were not bad systems and asked the public to wait for the suitable time to do so.
“We’d like everyone to understand that they, especially Thailand Plus, were not bad systems. Without them being implemented in the past year, we couldn’t imagine what Thailand would be like. But when the situation changed, the systems would also have to be adjusted. The government considered this based on safety principles and always estimated that measures would reasonably provide the most convenience for everyone,” he said.
If the CCSA meeting agreed upon the readjustment, the measures would be announced and implemented on May 1st, according to the initial plan.
Also, the Public Health Ministry would propose the relaxation of color zoning (which controls Covid-19 restrictions) in many provinces based on the number of infections in each area as people and business sectors had strictly complied with the current preventive measures and had adapted themselves to live with the disease better. Therefore, adjusting the color zone in many provinces, especially in the high surveillance areas (orange zones), was likely possible in the upcoming CCSA discussion.
However, these are only proposals to be introduced at the Friday’s CCSA meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O’Cha and the Ministry of Public Health. The Pattaya News/TPN Media will provide updates regarding the CCSA decision tomorrow as soon as possible.
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