With the recent rapid emergence and spread of the new Covid 19 variant Omicron, visitors to Thailand must now quarantine in a hotel for a period ranging from 7-10 days.
The “Sandbox” programme, which requires visitors to remain in a specific location but allows free movement outside of their accommodation, will also be suspended in all places except Phuket.
Rachada Dhanadirek, the Thai government spokeswoman, said `;
“After December 21, there will be no new registrations for ‘Test and Go’, only quarantine or the Phuket sandbox”.
Thailand has always been a popular holiday destination and in 2019 alone attracted 40 million visitors. Covid-19 forced the country to close its border, and after a long 18 months, the borders finally reopened in November.
So far, there have been 63 cases of Omicron detected, 62 of which were imported cases. The measures, according to government spokesman Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana are in place to “temporarily suspend arrivals.”
A review will take place on January 4th.
Other Asian countries, including Malaysia and Singapore, have followed suit and tightened travel restrictions amid the global surge of the omicron variant.