The Covid-19 situation in Thailand is beginning to stabilise and if cases continue to decrease, the Ministry of Health will consider completely cancelling the Thailand Pass, according to Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul.
In an interview today, Anutin said the Covid-19 situation in the kingdom is improving. He said the total number of infections, hospitalisations and deaths are all decreasing, as well as the daily use of antiviral drugs. If Thailand continues on this trajectory, Anutin said he will propose for the Thailand Pass to be completely cancelled and would also scrap the suggestion for incoming travellers to take an ATK test.
Anutin said the Ministry of Health expected a much higher surge in cases following the Songkran holidays, which ended 10 days ago. He said the Ministry of Health would continue to monitor cases over the next 1 – 2 weeks, and if they remain low, then they will consider scrapping the Thailand Pass for good.
The Health Minister also said he wants Covid-19 to be declared an endemic disease simultaneously across the nation, instead of province by province. He said if Covid-19 is endemic in some provinces and not others, it would be too chaotic.
He thanked the nation for their cooperation in avoiding a post-Songkran Covid-19 surge, and said the country is nearly ready to move towards declaring the disease as endemic…
“Elderly people are the only group left who must change their minds. If the country is to be completely safe, you need to have a booster shot, so everything can go back to normal. We try not to follow other nations. We hope that the World Health Organisation will look to Thailand as an example of how to cope with Covid-19 in other countries.”
Anutin said that 90% of deaths from Covid-19 are from unvaccinated people. He said that three Covid-19 vaccinations is good, but four is even better.
On Tuesday, Anutin said that internationally recognised vaccine passports are likely to replace the Thailand Pass. However, from May 1, unvaccinated travellers will be allowed to enter the kingdom without quarantine so long as they have evidence of a negative RT-PCR test taken within 72 hours prior to entering the country.
SOURCE: KhaoSod