Quarantine extended for visitors; dining in banned

Thailand yesterday reimposed a 14-day quarantine on visitors and banned dining in restaurants in Bangkok and five other provinces to battle a deadly Covid-19 wave now threatening the recovery of its vital tourism sector.

From tomorrow, all new arrivals must be quarantined for two weeks, regardless of their vaccination status. Earlier, the quarantine period had been reduced to seven days for vaccinated visitors and 10 days for others.

Residents in Bangkok, Nonthaburi, Chonburi, Chiang Mai, Pathum Thani and Samut Prakan - the six most afflicted provinces - may not gather in groups of more than 20, and mask wearing is mandatory nationwide.

These residents should also avoid travelling unless it is necessary, said the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration's spokesman Taweesin Visanuyothin at a press briefing yesterday.

"This is not a curfew. It is cooperation that we ask for," he said.

Thailand has also widened its choice of vaccines under growing pressure from the private sector eager to secure its own supply to speed up the inoculation process.

Asean's second-largest economy yesterday recorded 1,871 new infections and 10 new deaths from Covid-19. It was a decrease from the more than 2,000 cases logged daily for much of the past week.

But 59 people have died since Sunday, taking the total to 188 so far, and the Thai authorities are scrambling to isolate patients in field hospitals set up nationwide.

The current outbreak has exposed flaws in Thailand's vaccination strategy. Its original plan was to start the bulk of the inoculation in June, when locally produced batches of vaccine licensed by AstraZeneca would be available.

In the meantime, it vaccinated mostly front-line health workers, using smaller batches of imported AstraZeneca and Sinovac shots. More than one million people have received their first dose and about 280,000 are fully vaccinated.

The outbreak threatens to delay plans to reopen key tourism hubs like Phuket.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha is now fronting the Covid-19 strategy, having temporarily assumed sweeping powers. On Wednesday, he met key leaders from the corporate sector who have clamoured to import vaccines for their own staff.

Hurdles preventing such direct vaccine purchases appear to have been removed in recent days.

Dr Boon Vanasin, chairman of Thonburi Healthcare Group, which runs 11 hospitals, told The Straits Times he expects to receive supplies of Moderna's vaccine within the coming week.

"We spent seven months talking to vaccine suppliers and producers, but the process was stuck because they asked for a government guarantee and we could not provide it," he said, referring to paperwork needed to import vaccines.

"But in recent days the Prime Minister allowed a more open vaccine policy, and that allowed us to confirm our orders."

Private organisations in Phuket yesterday also demanded that the government allow them "an express lane" to buy their own vaccines.

Vaccinated foreign tourists would be able to holiday on the island without quarantine from July 1 if at least 70 per cent of the island's residents are inoculated. But only a quarter of the residents have been vaccinated so far, Phuket Tourist Association president Bhummikitti Ruktaengam told ST.