Thailand promptly “backed off” on the return of covid restrictions: the new rules did not have time to work out even half a day, when the government officially announced their abolition. The obvious reason was massive cancellations – tourists from Germany, Scandinavia, Russia canceled trips by the thousands and tens of thousands (read more about cancellations here). Recognizing all tourists as “vaccinated and recovered” in this case turned out to be the best way out. True, this does not remove the “Chinese problem” that caused the attempt to enter these covid restrictions.
For example, according to a Reuters news release, Thai Health Minister Anuthin Charnvirakul issued a statement on Monday afternoon formally repealing recently introduced rules requiring arriving tourists to show evidence of COVID-19 vaccination. As a reason, he cited a sufficient level of immunization both in China and around the world: it is obvious that most people on the planet have either already had kivid or have been vaccinated against it, which means they have antibodies to Covid-19. “Requiring visitors to show evidence of vaccination is not necessary as there have been enough vaccinations around the world,” he said, adding that unvaccinated tourists would also be allowed entry without restrictions. It is obvious that Thai officials had previously possessed such “secret information” about those who had been ill and vaccinated, therefore this explanation of the minister can only be considered as an “excuse” explaining the cancellation of the previous bad decision to introduce restrictions, which was met with hostility by Thai business: the fact is that on Monday morning Thailand was covered by a tsunami of cancellations from European tourists.
Recall that the previous order to introduce covid restrictions came from the kingdom's aviation authority, which on Saturday announced restrictions that will take effect on Monday, ahead of an expected influx of visitors from China, where the number of cases of COVID-19 has risen sharply. The response to it was massive cancellations of tours to Thailand around the world. As a result, the country's authorities had to quickly “give back.”
Meanwhile, the first flight of Chinese visitors since the start of the pandemic arrived in Thailand on Monday. On the first day alone, 3,465 Chinese holidaymakers are expected in the kingdom, and millions are possible by the Eastern New Year in 10 days. Nobody concealed the fact that the introduction of new anti-COVID measures was announced in Thailand precisely because of the return of Chinese tourists – the Thai media even specified that the extension of this measure to tourists from all countries was only due to fears of a sharp reaction from the Chinese authorities, if only the Chinese would be checked for covid: the Celestial Empire would call it discrimination and could impose sanctions against Thailand.
However, this does not remove the “Chinese problem”: what to do with Chinese tourists is not clear, since in China after long lockdowns, people became sterile in relation to any infection, and as soon as the lockdowns were lifted, a severe covid epidemic began there. As a result, there is a risk that the Chinese will bring “their own” coronavirus, and possibly with new strains, to Thailand, where they will also infect Russian tourists…
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