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Thailand considers adopting new reopening policy to boost tourism

Thailand is rethinking its reopening model as it will adopt the "One SOP, One System" (OSOS) policy, with a hope to lift both mandatory quarantine and sealed routes for all pilot areas within this year and cut COVID-19 test costs by half.
Thailand considers adopting new reopening policy to boost tourism ảnh 1Illustrative image (Source: Xinhua/VNA)
Bangkok (VNA) - Thailand is rethinking its reopening model as itwill adopt the "One SOP, One System" (OSOS) policy, with a hope to liftboth mandatory quarantine and sealed routes for all pilot areas within thisyear and cut COVID-19 test costs by half.

Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) YuthasakSupasorn said the reopening plans for Pattaya, Chiang Mai, Hua Hin, Cha-am andBangkok will be submitted to the Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration(CCSA) next week, seeking to receive inoculated tourists from October 1, while“Samui Plus” will pivot to a quarantine-free destination.

Under this plan, every province will apply the same standardoperating procedure (SOP), which will enable tourists to travel freely withindesignated areas in each province. Tourists are required to follow theguidelines, such as activating the Mor Chana app and being checked daily by anSHA Plus manager, instead of being kept in quarantine or only travelling undera tour programme.

The TAT has also discussed with health authorities areduction in the price, to around 8,000 THB, for three RT-PCR tests, which isconsidered an obstacle for the reopening programme in both “Phuket Sandbox” and“Samui Plus”. The package price should be universally applied to every provincefrom October, including the “Phuket Sandbox”.

The Labour Ministry of Thailand said that it will permit businessesto import migrant workers once again, but at a steep cost associated with COVID-19surveillance.

Employment of Myanmar, Lao and Cambodian nationals will besecured under a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed with the respectivecountries as part of an effort to fill the void created in the labour sector byworkers returning home en masse as the situation worsened.

On September 14 morning, Thailand announced additional11,786 new COVID-19 infections and 136 fatalities, raising the national countsto over 1.4 million and 14,631, respectively./.
VNA
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