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Thailand’s government is aiming to remove the remaining travel restrictions and travel pass requirements by the end of July in a bid to further boost tourism, a source in the health ministry told Thai Enquirer on Monday.
The government has removed PCR test requirements for vaccinated travelers and lowered the number of quarantine days to five for unvaccinated travelers at the beginning of May.
In has, however, kept the much criticized Thailand pass system to ensure that vaccinated travelers upload their vaccine records. The controversial system requires travelers to apply for a Thailand pass through an official website.
Now, according to a senior source within the Ministry of Public Health, the government is planning on removing all remaining restrictions including mandatory quarantine and the Thailand pass by the end of July at the latest.
”The government wants to treat this virus as endemic and Omicron’s spread means that there is no point trying to stop international spread anyway,” the source told Thai Enquirer by phone.
The only possible caveat, according to the source, is if there is a new and deadlier mutation that crops up, then the government would have to reevaluate its policies.
”It is unlikely however as senior epidemiologists have advised the government that future mutations will likely make the virus even milder until the virus becomes something akin to a severe cold,” the source said.
Nearly 240,000 people have registered with Thailand Pass since entry regulations were relaxed at the beginning of May, the CCSA reported on Friday. The government hopes to welcome 7-10 million visitors in 2022, and 20 million in 2023.