Thailand: Travel bans on 8 nations tied to new variant

• Thailand will ban travellers from eight southern African countries where a new Covid-19 strain was found. No cases of the new variant have been detected in Thailand so far, according to the Department of Disease Control.
• The variant has already reached Hong Kong, Belgium and Israel, sparking a global alarm. The Department of Disease Control (DDC) on Saturday announced a travel ban from Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
• Dr Opas Karnkawinpong, chief of DDC, said the ban will take effect on Dec 1. As of Saturday, travellers from the countries cannot register for a Thailand Pass. For those who have arrived, they must be quarantined for 14 days.
• Travellers from other countries in Africa cannot join the Test & Go and Sandbox programmes as of 28 Nov 21. They must be quarantined for 14 days and need to pass three Covid-19 tests during their quarantine, he said. So far, 1,007 travellers from Africa have entered the country since reopening and none of them tested positive, he said.
• Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, meanwhile, gave assurances that the government is closely monitoring updates from around the world about the B.1.1.529 variant and will change travel restrictions if necessary.
• “The Ministry of Public Health keeps me posted as to how Thailand will be affected by the spread of the new variant,” he wrote in a Facebook post. None of the African countries is on the list of 63 countries whose travellers are allowed to enter the kingdom without Covid-19 quarantine, he said.

External Link : https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2222663/travel-ban-on-8-nations-tied-to-new-variant