Thailand authorities reportedly recommend against travel to SG

Following the global spread of COVID-19, Thailand's Ministry of Public Health has reportedly placed Singapore in the list of countries to avoid amidst the COVID-19 outbreak, according to The Straits Times (ST). The article added that a spokesman from the ministry has "recommended against" its citizens to travel to countries such as Singapore, Japan, France and Germany. 

ST cited deputy director-general of the disease control department Thanarak Phaliphat, who said there is a higher risk of imported COVID-19 cases as more countries are hit by the outbreak, adding that the ministry is tweaking its measures to handle the higher risk involved.

Last Thursday, the Tourism of Authority of Thailand (TAT) listed countries People’s Republic of China (which includes Hong Kong and Macau), South Korea, Italy, and Iran as “Disease Infected Zones of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak". TAT recommended travellers from these countries to consider postponing their travels to another period and await further advice from Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health regarding the health measures involved. TAT also said Thailand’s ongoing strict surveillance aims to safeguard public health and allow health authorities to effectively prevent and control the COVID-19 outbreak. Marketing has reached out to TAT for comments.

Last week, there was confusion caused regarding whether visitors from Singapore need to go through self-quarantine upon their arrival in Thailand. The Bangkok Post reported on 3 March that Thailand's public health minister Anutin Charnvirakul posted an announcement signed by him which stated that visitors travelling from nine countries (Japan, Germany, South Korea, China, Taiwan, France, Singapore, Italy and Iran) will have to self-quarantine for two weeks with no exceptions. The article added that the Facebook post was deleted "minutes later without explanations". Bangkok Post updated a day later that the Thai embassy has clarified that healthy visitors from Singapore will not need to go through self-quarantine.

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