'Phuket Sandbox' on the back burner as the B117 variant spreads in Thailand
Island Wrap #35: Health & Tourism edition for March 27 to April 9, 2021
Thailand appears to be facing its biggest pandemic challenge to date. Many cases of the coronavirus surfaced in upscale areas of Bangkok last week, and within days the outbreak reached dozens of other provinces. This wrap covers the country’s fast-developing Covid-19 situation, including containment measures, vaccine worries and effects on tourism over the Songkran holidays and beyond.
(Sounds too disconcerting for now? Start with the mostly good news in yesterday’s travel and environment edition of the Island Wrap.)
The Thong Lor outbreak
The first sign of trouble came earlier this month when 31 Covid-19 cases were traced to Ekkamai and Thong Lor, two of the wealthiest parts of Bangkok. Case numbers spiked earlier this week, and by Thursday it became clear that the virus was spreading far and wide. More than 1,000 cases in 45 provinces are thought to be linked to the outbreak so far. The true number is surely a lot higher.
The more transmissible ‘UK variant’ of the virus is spreading for the first time in Thailand. Public Health officials are “uncertain” how it slipped in.
Metro Bangkok is the worst affected area with close to 700 known cases from the new outbreak as of Friday afternoon. Around 100 cases were found when more than 2,000 people crowded into a free testing site in Thong Lor on Thursday. If you’re wondering what’s been happening to those who test positive in Bangkok, Pontus (an expat) and Ton (a Thai) are sharing insights from their isolation rooms.
On Thursday and Friday, nearly 80 cases surfaced in Chonburi, more than 200 in Chiang Mai, and at least 50 in Prachuap Khiri Khan (mostly in Hua Hin). Most other coastal provinces beyond metro Bangkok look safe, but Phuket has at least 26 cases linked to parties and concerts held there earlier this month. Expect Thailand’s case numbers to jump in the coming days, as more people are tested.
An additional outbreak hit a prison in Narathiwat in the Deep South, with several hundred cases reported there over the past five days. Three inmates died from the virus over this past week, and a field hospital has been set up.
Several high-profile people are infected, including the Transport Minister, the State Railway governor, the Japanese ambassador and at least eight celebrities, including several musicians. Nearly a third of the government Cabinet are quarantining, among them the ministers of Public Health and Tourism. It’s been dubbed the “affluent outbreak” thanks to the lofty status of some of the infected.
A high-society wedding, government meetings, a business conference and 24 expensive nightclubs are on the list of suspected super-spreading venues. One former politician “said high-level officials including government ministers and police and military brass frequent the same nightlife venues where the virus has been spreading,” reports Coconuts Bangkok. Many people are angry that the Transport Minister, among others, was slow to release a timeline of his recent whereabouts.
At least 42 Bangkok police officers also tested positive. As a result, many members of the force have been ordered to work from home.
At least 11 medical staff at Rajavithi Hospital near Victory Monument are infected. Some of Bangkok’s most esteemed hospitals — including Samitivej, Bangkok and Chaophya — are unable to provide any more tests or beds until further notice.
Authorities are organizing 10 field hospitals with a combined 3,000-bed capacity around the capital, with another being thrown together up in Chiang Mai. The hope is to maintain Thailand’s long-standing policy of keeping everyone who tests positive for the virus isolated in medical facilities rather than their homes, even if they’re asymptomatic or have only minor symptoms.
As of yesterday afternoon, Thailand’s numbers since the start of the pandemic stood at 30,869 cases with 96 deaths and thousands receiving medical care.
Containment measures
With the Songkran holidays approaching on April 13th to 15th, the timing of this outbreak could not be worse. Songkran is one of the busiest domestic travel weeks of the year, and the uncertainty is “causing chaos” for travelers and a loss of income that struggling tourism business owners were counting on.
The Prime Minister is leaving domestic travel restrictions up to the 77 provincial governors, creating a shifting puzzle of different measures.
After arriving at airports for their flights, several residents of Bangkok were notified of the need to be tested for Covid-19 or submit to a 14-day quarantine before boarding flights to Ko Samui and Trang yesterday. One woman said she wasn’t informed of the requirement until arriving at her hotel on Ko Samui. The State Railway and some airlines have announced easy refunds due to the outbreak, but a lot of murkiness remains about the millions of hotel bookings made for Songkran.
For those visiting Ko Samui, quarantine or a negative test result are reportedly required only for residents of Bang Khae, Wattana and Klong Toei districts in Bangkok, which is absurd given that most Bangkokians visit many different parts of the city over the course of a day or week. The policy does not apply to other parts of Surat Thani province, including Ko Phangan and Ko Tao, for now.
According to the official line, residents of Bangkok and four neighboring provinces must be tested or submit to 14 days of ‘home quarantine’ to gain entry to several provinces (see list above). I expect more provinces to enact restrictions soon, although the situation on the ground does not always match the decrees. Thai social media is filled with conflicting accounts, rumors and frustration.
People who are not coming from those metro Bangkok provinces can still travel the country freely. This could change in the coming days as provinces like Chiang Mai report growing outbreaks. Public transport is operating as normal.
All pubs and other ‘entertainment venues’ are being forced to close for at least two weeks in 41 provinces. Songkran festivities have been canceled in Bangkok and several other provinces. Restaurants in the capital and the four surrounding provinces must close by 9:00 P.M. Many international schools closed earlier this week in metro Bangkok, where authorities are asking people to work from home.
Video corner
If all of this has you feeling a little stressed, treat yourself to 10 minutes of calming nature scenes filmed after “the first rain” on Ko Phayam.
(Source: Muktapa Supawong)
Vaccinations
Lurking in the shadows of the new outbreak is Thailand’s much-criticized vaccination program. Only around 370,000 people have been vaccinated in the country so far, and the vast majority of the vaccines ordered by the government will not be ready until June or later. As tourism and other business leaders call for more urgency, public confidence in the government’s chosen vaccines is weakening.
In a searing opinion piece for Bangkok Post, Atiya Achakulwisut writes that the Health Minister “appeared oblivious” to growing evidence that the AstraZeneca vaccine causes blood clots in a small number of people. Coupled with hesitancy about this vaccine in countries like Germany and Canada, a decision by UK officials to not offer AstraZeneca vaccines to people under 30 years old is terrible news for Thailand, which is counting on tens of millions of AstraZeneca doses.
In a surprise statement first reported by Thai Enquirer’s Erich Parpart yesterday, the Prime Minister “instructed government agencies to facilitate the private sector’s efforts to procure coronavirus vaccines,” potentially opening up options beyond those provided by the government. Though he hinted that private vaccine purchases could begin in a month, he did not reveal when the Thai FDA might approve vaccines other than the AstraZeneca, Sinovac and Johnson & Johnson varieties.
Note that Phuket health officials are no longer accepting ‘walk in’ vaccination appointments. Phuketians will find more info in the first link in the next paragraph.
Public vaccination rollouts are progressing, slowly, in more than 40 Thai provinces. Some 73,000 people have received their first doses of vaccines in Phuket so far, and several thousand people were jabbed each day on Ko Samui over the first week of April, including all staff working on Ko Samui ferries. Foreigners are reportedly able to receive vaccines on Ko Samui, though not yet on Phuket.
While vaccinations are still being arranged locally, the Public Health Ministry is releasing a smartphone app to facilitate registration on May 1st.
In other good news, Thailand is one of four countries developing a “low-cost vaccine” using “a new molecular design that is widely expected to create more potent antibodies than the current generation of vaccines.” Also cited by The New York Times, a growing body of data suggests that it’s extremely rare for those inoculated with the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines to catch or spread the virus. That could prove crucial for Thailand’s hopes of reopening inbound tourism this year.
Remember the sandbox?
The only good confirmed news about inbound tourism is that travelers entering Thailand from most countries now must spend only 10 days in a quarantine hotel if they have a recent negative Covid-19 test result, and only seven days if they’ve been fully inoculated with any of seven approved vaccines (list here).
Officials first said that travelers coming from countries with Covid-19 variants would still face the 14-day quarantine, but they later clarified that this applies only to the 11 African countries listed in the above graphic. The decision left me wondering why Africa is being singled out when similarly problematic variants are also spreading widely in Brazil, Canada, the US and many other countries.
On the question of where vaccinated tourists can go during their seven days in the ‘Sandbox,’ a recent TAT announcement clarifies that “tourists will be restricted to travel activities within designated areas in these destinations for seven days before they are allowed to visit other Thai destinations.” What exactly “designated areas” refers to is an open question. A beach? A town? Half an island?
(Click here to see an excerpt about the uncertainty of how transmissible vaccinated people who catch Covid-19 could be, which Di included with this tweet.)
Many other questions remain. Adam Judd digs into many of them in this article for The Pattaya News, adding that some Pattaya-area business owners are against the city becoming a ‘Sandbox’ destination because they fear newly arrived foreign tourists could drive away domestic travelers. The current plan is to allow vaccinated inbound tourists into Pattaya along with parts of Ko Samui, Phang Nga, Krabi and Chiang Mai on October 1st — if a July 1st reopening of Phuket goes smoothly.
Allen Stewart, a reader from Idaho and Ko Mak, made another good point about just how Thai officials will verify vaccination considering that the US “has no central database for immunizations … Nor is there standard proof of Covid-19 vaccinations like the yellow-fever cards that are required for travel to many countries.” He wonders if “the piece of paper” he received after being vaccinated will qualify.
Comments made by the Prime Minister late last month make it clear that, even before the Thong Lor outbreak, the ‘Sandbox’ plan is far from a done deal. “The point is how can we assure the safety (of this reopening program),” he said.
Meanwhile, the first tourists to fly commercially into Phuket from abroad since early 2020 arrived from Frankfurt on April 3rd. After a week of being allowed to use their quarantine hotel’s facilities, the vaccinated Germans are today free to travel wherever they like. If, that is, no other provinces enact a quarantine requirement for travelers coming from Phuket. I wonder if they’re regretting the trip. 🌴
Hello David,
I would like to thank you for this article. I've been searching acurate informations about provincial restrictions and quarantines since yesterday unable to get some.
Your paper seems to be well-documented. I appreciate that.
As you point it, I wonder why 14-days quarantine will still apply to African countries but doesn't to the most infected countries facing the same trouble. My hypothesis is the following : Thai goverment wants to discourage African citizens or residents to come to Thailand. It is discrimination and worse for sure.
Great article on the NDV-HXP-S vaccine, David. I had not seen that at all. Fingers crossed!