Starting in April, Thailand will reduce the mandatory quarantine from 14 to 7 days for foreigners arriving in the country and who have been vaccinated against coronavirus, the Thai health minister said on Monday (March 8th).
Those who have not yet been vaccinated but have a negative certificate on the COVID-19 test will be quarantined for 10 days, he said.
"Foreigners traveling to Thailand with vaccination certificates in accordance with the requirements of each brand will have to make a quarantine for only seven days"Anutin said, referring to the doses needed to be effective.
Thailand's flight restrictions, strict entry requirements and mandatory quarantine for all arrivals were key to its success in limiting the spread of the virus to just over 26.000 cases and 85 deaths.
These measures have destroyed the tourism sector, causing large-scale job losses, the closure of tourism businesses and contributing to the country's worst economic collapse in two decades.
The new measures do not apply to those traveling from Africa, who are subject to a 14-day quarantine due to new variants of coronavirus.
Vaccinated Thai citizens without a certificate that they do not have a coronavirus should spend a week in quarantine after two negative tests in the country.
Only in October, if Thailand manages to vaccinate 70 percent of medical staff and at-risk groups, could these lifting measures be lifted, Anutin said, adding that it is possible to phase out quarantine altogether.
Thailand has so far vaccinated 27.497 people, most of them medical workers. Sinovac Biotech vaccine is used. Thailand has ordered 61 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine for mass vaccination, which will begin in June.
Anutin said the country may have to order another 10 to 20 million doses, which it could receive from other manufacturers.