Phuket ups tests on foreign visitors

[reader]

From Bangkok Post

Prompted by large numbers of tourists testing positive for Covid-19 upon arrival, Phuket on Wednesday switched to imposing a repeat RT-PCR Covid-19 test on international tourists arriving under the quarantine-free Test & Go scheme.

Phuket has now issued a new order requiring all Test & Go tourists to undergo a repeat RT-PCR Covid-19 test on the fifth day of their stay in Thailand, in addition to the first test upon arrival, said provincial chief health officer Dr Koosak Kookiatkul on Wednesday.

"This means Test & Go tourists coming to Phuket will have to pay for their two Covid-19 tests and book their hotel rooms on the first and fifth days in advance," Dr Koosak said.

"In case they test negative for Covid-19 in the first test, they may undergo the second test and stay in a hotel while waiting for the test result of the repeat test," he added.

The infection rate for the first test found in international tourists arriving in Phuket was 2%, while the result of a repeat test showed the infection rate had climbed as high as 4-5%, which were mostly cases of the highly transmissible Omicron variant, he said.

On Tuesday, the first day Thailand resumed its Test & Go scheme, Phuket welcomed 17 Test & Go tourists and 2,439 others via its tourism sandbox programme, according to the province's immigration office. The province recorded 493 new Covid-19 infections, 387 of which were local cases, two in the Test & Go scheme and the other 104 were in the Phuket Sandbox programme, said Dr Koosak.

The province was concerned that the high infection rate among visitors from Russia and Kazakhstan would badly hit the tourism industry, said Phuket governor Narong Woonciew.

Of the about 300 new Covid-19 infections recorded daily, about 100 were foreign visitors arriving mainly from those two nations, he said. "Russian tourists account for a vast majority of international tourists arriving in Thailand through Phuket," the governor said.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2257883/phuket-ups-tests-on-foreign-visitors

[PeterRS]

1 hour ago, reader said:

"Russian tourists account for a vast majority of international tourists arriving in Thailand through Phuket," the governor said.

A good enough reason for banning Russian tourists until they get an effective vaccine programme with an effective vaccine!

[Guest]

I think Russians were not eligible for the previous Test and Go regime, hence they choose the Phuket Sandbox.

 

[vaughn]

49 minutes ago, PeterRS said:

A good enough reason for banning Russian tourists until they get an effective vaccine programme with an effective vaccine!

I wouldn't want to start that precedent, 2-4% is a very low number, we might not like the result if we start looking at a country by country arrival positive test rate.

[macaroni21]

Am I missing something? I thought the Test & Go scheme had already required a PCR test on Day 1 and Day 5 -- we have discussions on other threads about this -- and yet this news article seems to say that it's being newly imposed on such tourists in Phuket.

Then this other part is also baffling: 

3 hours ago, reader said:

On Tuesday, the first day Thailand resumed its Test & Go scheme, Phuket welcomed 17 Test & Go tourists and 2,439 others via its tourism sandbox programme, according to the province's immigration office. The province recorded 493 new Covid-19 infections, 387 of which were local cases, two in the Test & Go scheme and the other 104 were in the Phuket Sandbox programme, said Dr Koosak.

Bearing in mind that the sample size is small, two out of 17 Test & Go tourists tested positive -- that's 11.8%. From the Sandbox programme the ratio is 104 out of 2,439 -- that's 4.3%. Both percentages seem rather high considering that both schemes require pre-departure PCR negative tests.

[reader]

From Bangkok Post

Phuket issues alert on infected arrivals

Phuket is asking the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) to improve Covid-19 screening measures for international visitors, following an alarming number of tourists testing positive on arrival.

This is suspected to have largely stemmed from fake negative results from pre-departure testing or inaccurate testing that's only been detected after travellers arrive.

The call was made by Pichet Panapong, Phuket's vice governor, during Thursday's teleconference between Phuket Covid-19 control organisations and the CCSA's operations centre.

This number is expected to rise given the many tourists applying to enter the resort island under the government's quarantine-free Test & Go scheme that resumed on Tuesday. "False Covid-19 RT-PCR test results are assumed to have something to do with the sharp rise in the number of post-arrival positive tests among tourists,'' he said.

On Monday and Tuesday, a total of 7,742 travellers arrived in Thailand, 344 of whom tested positive for Covid upon arrival.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/2258347/phuket-issues-alert-on-infected-arrivals

[Guest]

The authorities blame fake certificates.

Yet at times in the last 2 months, the infection rates for inbound tourists have been far higher than we would expect from the underlying infection rates in the countries the tourists have just left. 

Have the authorities considered that hospitals who profit from incarceration have an incentive to produce enough positive results to fill their COVID treatment facilities ?  Methods of achieving this could vary from adjusting the test process to outright fraud.

On the Sawatdee forum, Moses described a case where  friend failed the Thai hospital test, twice.  Yet he passed an independent Thai test, twice.

[reader]

Battling politicians are more keyed in to using the changing daily numbers of test results to burnish their image than trying to get the country back on its feet.

Every day they get a new opportunity for another photo op, leaving the public bewildered and agitated.

When you couple this with developing doubts about the efficacy of the testing system itself, and the potential to approach it more as a profit center than a diagnostic tool, the greater the prospect for confusion about tourism rules going forward.

[vinapu]

On 2/2/2022 at 10:10 PM, macaroni21 said:

Both percentages seem rather high considering that both schemes require pre-departure PCR negative tests.

as others commented, in corrupt countries it may be easy to obtain  negative result certificate or , if business need to dictate, positive result.

In meantime in non-corrupt countries nonsense has it's day too.

Today I  travelled between two decent countries. Got tested ( PRC ) in the morning in one at cost of 150 USD, received negative result , boarded  plane  , on the same day later arrived home and despite showing negative result  from test  done perhaps 10 hrs earlier I was ' randomly" selected to undergo another PRC test , this time free. I'm locked until another negative result will come which may take  up to 48 hrs. I guess intense lobbying by testing  industry replaces corruption in non-corrupt countries