The COVID-2019 Thread

[misskit]

Tourism Ministry Proposes Free Covid-19 Booster Shots for Tourists

BANGKOK (NNT) - The Ministry of Tourism and Sports is proposing to provide free Covid-19 booster shots to tourists as well as making preparations for the return of Chinese tourists in 2023.


According to Tourism and Sports Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn, the ministry will hold a meeting with the Ministry of Public Health and the Ministry of Transport on January 5 to discuss the lifting of Beijing’s “zero-Covid” policy.


One of the Tourism and Sports Ministry’s proposals is for the Public Health Ministry to provide free Covid-19 booster shots to tourists from all countries that wish to receive Covid vaccination in Thailand.


Given that each tourist is expected to spend 40,000 baht in Thailand per trip, Phiphat believes that providing free covid vaccine to these visitors is financially viable for the country’s tourism industry as well as the overall healthcare situation.


The tourism minister will also recommend that the Public Health Ministry use the remaining Covid vaccines in stock to provide booster shots to tourism personnel, while also accelerating its public relations campaign to encourage workers to receive booster shots before the surge in tourist arrivals in 2023.

Tourism Ministry Proposes Free Covid-19 Booster Shots for Tourists

[misskit]

India to Require Negative Covid Test from Thai Visitors

BANGKOK (NNT) - Beginning January 1, Thai tourists visiting India will be required to produce a negative Covid-19 test result.


According to Mansukh Mandaviya, India’s health minister, this is being done in light of the evolving Covid-19 situation around the world, particularly in certain countries. The test is required to be completed and uploaded to the government’s Air Suvidha website within 72 hours of travel to India.


Mandaviya stated that the new Covid test requirement would be in addition to the random tests currently performed on 2% of all international passengers arriving in India.


India has also joined the United States, Japan, Italy, and Taiwan in requiring Covid tests among visitors from China, following the lifting of Beijing’s strict "zero-Covid" rules.


Top European Union health officials convened a meeting on Thursday (Dec 29) to coordinate plans to respond to China’s decision to lift its “Zero-Covid” policy amid a new wave of infections in the country.

India to Require Negative Covid Test from Thai Visitors

[misskit]

Testing Chinese poop not people: Malaysia spurns Covid plans of Japan, India for China’s reopening, vows to screen waste water on inbound flights

Testing Chinese poop not people: Malaysia spurns Covid plans of Japan, India for China’s reopening, vows to screen waste water on inbound flights | South China Morning Post

[harrybarracuda]

UK, Spain, and France have joined other countries imposing new controls on travellers from China as Covid-19 cases surge after Beijing scrapped pandemic restrictions.Nations including the US, Japan, India and Italy had already announced compulsory Covid testing on visitors from China as concern grew about new strains — although EU officials have resisted Italian calls for bloc-wide restrictions.Scientific advisers in the British government had previously downplayed the need for new testing measures given the lack of evidence of any new variants emanating from China.But millions of people are contracting infections in China each day following the abrupt abandoning of its draconian zero-Covid policy.

Subscribe to read | Financial Times

[harrybarracuda]

And if you want to know how comical the chinky bullshit is, and how stupid people have to be to swallow it.... For obvious reasons the wankers don't have a comments section:

With the vision of building a global community of health for all, China has proven itself a friend in need by sharing treatment experiences, offering medical supplies, and promoting cooperation in vaccines amid the global anti-virus fight.

https://english.news.cn/20221231/1c6...bcb47c9/c.html

[HuangLao]

Stay Home if You Can: A Street Smart Take on The State of Things

[DrWilly]

Scientific advisers in the British government had previously downplayed the need for new testing measures given the lack of evidence of any new variants emanating from China.

Thats because China refuses to release the DNA results that are used to determine if any new variants have formed. THe lack of evidence is a deliberate tactic!

^ P.S. FOJ

[harrybarracuda]

Where have you been Jeff?

In one of those reeducation camps?

You appear to have turned into a hoohoo and sabang-style chinky brown noser.

[Shutree]

However, despite its rapid spread, there’s little indication XBB.1.5 causes more severe illness or poses any greater danger to those infected compared previous strains, Mahon said.

New COVID variant XBB.1.5 rapidly spreading in US: CDC

[harrybarracuda]

However, despite its rapid spread, there’s little indication XBB.1.5 causes more severe illness or poses any greater danger to those infected compared previous strains, Mahon said.

New COVID variant XBB.1.5 rapidly spreading in US: CDC

It's only a threat where large numbers of people haven't been vaccinated and have little or no immunity.

(i.e. had the chinky vaccines or none at all).

[harrybarracuda]

The chinkies may see this as being a bit ungrateful

Qatar will from Tuesday require travelers arriving from China to provide a negative COVID-19 test result taken within 48 hours of departure, Qatar's state news agency QNA said on Monday.
The testing requirement is imposed on all travelers regardless of vaccination status, the agency added.

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/qatar-require-all-travelers-china-have-covid-test-qna-2023-01-02/?utm_source=reddit.com

[misskit]

I understand why countries are concerned. Look at how all this covid shit began. Read the first post on this thread.


Morocco becomes first country to ban China arrivals as concerns grow over Covid-19 surge

Anyone arriving from China to be denied entry from January 3, regardless of nationality, Moroccan foreign ministry says


North African nation is first in the world to prohibit China arrivals outright while most of the others require pre-departure tests
Morocco has banned all arrivals from China, becoming the first African country to introduce restrictions amid growing alarm over a Covid-19 surge in the aftermath of Beijing's abrupt relaxation of pandemic measures.

The decision comes close on the heels of Canada and Australia mandating preflight Covid-19 tests for travellers from China, including Hong Kong and Macau.


The United States, Britain, Israel, Spain, France, Japan, South Korea and India had already taken similar measures.

MORE Morocco becomes first country to ban China arrivals as concerns grow over Covid-19 surge

[harrybarracuda]

I understand why countries are concerned. Look at how all this covid shit began. Read the first post on this thread.


Morocco becomes first country to ban China arrivals as concerns grow over Covid-19 surge

Anyone arriving from China to be denied entry from January 3, regardless of nationality, Moroccan foreign ministry says


North African nation is first in the world to prohibit China arrivals outright while most of the others require pre-departure tests
Morocco has banned all arrivals from China, becoming the first African country to introduce restrictions amid growing alarm over a Covid-19 surge in the aftermath of Beijing's abrupt relaxation of pandemic measures.

The decision comes close on the heels of Canada and Australia mandating preflight Covid-19 tests for travellers from China, including Hong Kong and Macau.


The United States, Britain, Israel, Spain, France, Japan, South Korea and India had already taken similar measures.

MORE Morocco becomes first country to ban China arrivals as concerns grow over Covid-19 surge

TBH that's what everyone should be doing.

Well done Morocco.

[misskit]

Thai health experts urge public to stop fearing Covid

Many Thai medical experts are trying to reassure the public that the new strains of coronavirus in China are not as much of a concern as the current dominant strain in Thailand.


According to several Thai media outlets, many Thais are worrying that Chinese tourists will import a new strain of the coronavirus into Thailand after Beijing reopens its borders on Sunday.


To allay concerns, medical experts, including Anan Jongkaewwattana, a virologist at the National Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, came out to voice his opinion on Facebook, saying “We are concerned that the strains in China [BA.5.2] may be imported into Thailand.”

However, he added, “But BA.5.2 in China is nothing new in Thailand because we already experienced it. It is already starting to fade away [as it is being taken over by BA.2.75].”


Currently, China is struggling with the BA.5.2 and BF.7 strains, which are the descendants of the BA.5 Omicron variant and are very transmissible.

Nonetheless, according to Anan, “The BA.2.75 subvariant in Thailand is more worrisome.”


Meanwhile, another health expert Dr. Manoon Leechawengwongs, a pulmonologist at Vichaiyut Hospital, posted on Facebook that, “We should treat and welcome Chinese travelers as our guests in the same way we do to visitors from other countries.”


He added that, “Mutations of the virus can occur anywhere in the world, and we should not worry that Chinese tourists will bring it into the country. We should stop fearing Covid because we have to co-exist with it and receive regular booster shots of vaccines like we get an influenza vaccine.”

The pulmonologist also urges the public to maintain regular Covid-19 precautions, such as keeping their mask on in crowded areas, maintaining social distancing, and washing their hands regularly.

Thai health experts urge public to stop fearing Covid - The Pattaya News

[harrybarracuda]

Meanwhile, another health expert Dr. Manoon Leechawengwongs, a pulmonologist at Vichaiyut Hospital, posted on Facebook that, “We should treat and welcome infected Chinese travelers as our guests in the same way we do to infected visitors from other countries.”

FTFY.

[misskit]

There for a minute, I thought you had fixed Dr. Manoon’s name to something more comical. Nope. That is really his name. Dr. Leechawengwongs.

[HuangLao]

However, despite its rapid spread, there’s little indication XBB.1.5 causes more severe illness or poses any greater danger to those infected compared previous strains, Mahon said.

New COVID variant XBB.1.5 rapidly spreading in US: CDC

Yet, if check the phony baloney numbers [cases/deaths] worldwide - there hasn't been a significant decrease for at least a year.
Within some camps, been declared conquered.
What's up with that?

[harrybarracuda]

Yet, if check the phony baloney numbers [cases/deaths] worldwide - there hasn't been a significant decrease for at least a year.
Within some camps, been declared conquered.
What's up with that?

Did you have a lobotomy while you were away?

[misskit]

Shanghai hospitals filled to the brim in COVID outbreak

Hospitals in Shanghai were overwhelmed by visitors on Wednesday (January 5) as international health experts predict at least one million deaths in China this year, but Beijing has reported five or fewer deaths a day since the policy u-turn.


At least seven hearses were seen in the parking lot of Shanghai’s Tongji hospital as workers carried at least 18 yellow bags used to move bodies.


Global health officials tried to determine the facts of China’s raging COVID-19 outbreak and how to prevent a further spread. World Health Organisation is expected to release information about talks with a group of Chinese scientists amid concern over the accuracy of China’s data on the spread and evolution of its outbreak.


China’s axing of its stringent virus curbs last month has unleashed COVID on a 1.4 billion population that has little natural immunity having been shielded from the virus since it emerged in the central city of Wuhan three years ago.

Shanghai hospitals filled to the brim in COVID outbreak | Thai PBS World : The latest Thai news in English, News Headlines, World News and News Broadcasts in both Thai and English. We bring Thailand to the world

[misskit]

Beijing threatens response to ‘unacceptable’ virus measures

The Chinese government sharply criticized COVID-19 testing requirements imposed on visitors from China and threatened countermeasures against countries involved, which include the U.S. and several European nations.


“We believe that the entry restrictions adopted by some countries targeting China lack scientific basis, and some excessive practices are even more unacceptable,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a daily briefing Tuesday.


“We are firmly opposed to attempts to manipulate the COVID measures for political purposes and will take countermeasures based on the principle of reciprocity,” she said. Mao did not specify what steps China might take.


The comments were China’s sharpest to date on the issue. Australia and Canada this week joined a growing list of countries requiring travelers from China to take a COVID-19 test prior to boarding their flight, as China battles a nationwide outbreak of the coronavirus after abruptly easing restrictions that were in place for much of the pandemic.


Other countries including the U.S., India, Japan, South Korea and several European nations have announced tougher COVID-19 measures on travelers from China amid concerns over a lack of data on infections in China and fears that new variants may emerge.


China has had some of the toughest entry requirements for people arriving from abroad. It is about to drop a mandatory five-day quarantine for all arrivals but will still require a negative COVID-19 test within 48 hours of the flight.


White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said “there’s no cause for retaliation” by Beijing for countries “taking prudent health measures to protect their citizens” with COVID-related restrictions on travelers coming from China. She added that restrictions were “based on public health and science.”


“This is something that all of us, (and) other countries are doing to make sure that we are protecting our citizens here,” Jean-Pierre said.


French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne defended the tests. Starting Wednesday, anyone flying from China to France will have to present a negative virus test taken within the previous 48 hours and be subject to random testing on arrival.


“We are in our role, my government is in its role, protecting the French,” Borne said Tuesday on France-Info radio.


The U.K. will require that passengers from China take a COVID test before boarding the plane from Thursday. Transport Secretary Mark Harper said the requirement is for “collecting information” because Beijing isn’t sharing coronavirus data.


Health officials will test a sample of passengers when they arrive in the U.K., but no quarantine is required for those who test positive, he said.


“The policy for arrivals from China is primarily about collecting information that the Chinese government is not sharing with the international community,” Harper told the LBC radio station on Tuesday.


Sweden’s Public Health Agency said Tuesday that it had urged the government to require travelers from China to present a recent negative COVID-19 test.


The statement from the agency comes as Sweden, which has taken over EU’s rotating presidency, has called a meeting of the EU’s crisis management mechanism for Wednesday to try to agree on a common European line.


The Swedish government “is preparing to be able to introduce travel restrictions. At the same time, we are conducting a dialogue with our European colleagues to get the same rules as possible in the EU,” Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer said in a statement.


Austria, too, plans to test the wastewater of all planes arriving from China for new variants of the coronavirus, the Austria Press Agency reported Tuesday, following a similar announcement by Belgium a day earlier.


Chinese health officials said last week that they had submitted data to GISAID, a global platform for sharing coronavirus data.


The versions of the virus fueling infections in China “closely resemble” those that have been seen in different parts of the world between July and December, GISAID said Monday.


Dr. Gagandeep Kang, who studies viruses in the Christian Medical College of Vellore in India, said that the information from China, albeit limited, seemed to suggest that “the pattern was holding” and that there wasn’t any sign of a worrisome variant emerging.


Mi Feng, the spokesperson for China’s National Health Commission, said Tuesday that authorities maintain an open and transparent attitude. He noted that they had held two technical exchange meetings with the WHO last month on the overall situation, medical treatment, vaccination and other issues.


Mi Feng, the spokesperson for China’s National Health Commission, said authorities have been open and transparent since the start of the pandemic three years ago. China held technical exchange meetings twice with the WHO last month on the overall situation, medical treatment, vaccination and other issues, he said Tuesday.


A senior Hong Kong official also criticized the steps taken by some other countries. Some have applied the requirements to passengers from Hong Kong and Macao, both semiautonomous Chinese territories, as well as mainland China.


Hong Kong Chief Secretary Eric Chan said in a Facebook post that the government had written to various consulates on Monday to express its concerns over the “unnecessary and inappropriate” rules.


Some experts have questioned the effectiveness of the testing. Kerry Bowman, assistant professor at the University of Toronto’s Temerty Faculty of Medicine, said that people can test positive long after entering the country.


The requirement is “not based on science at this point,” he said after Canada announced measures last weekend.


China, which for most of the pandemic adopted a “zero-COVID” strategy that imposed harsh restrictions aimed at stamping out the virus, abruptly eased those measures in December.


Chinese authorities previously said that from Jan. 8, overseas travelers would no longer need to quarantine upon arriving in China, paving the way for Chinese residents to travel.


Beijing threatens response to 'unacceptable' virus measures | Thai PBS World : The latest Thai news in English, News Headlines, World News and News Broadcasts in both Thai and English. We bring Thailand to the world

[harrybarracuda]

Beijing threatens response to ‘unacceptable’ virus measures=

Go ahead, ban their citizens from visiting chinkystan. No-one fucking cares.

[misskit]

Four measures to be applied to foreign tourists, including those from China

Thailand’s Public Health Ministry has adopted four measures to be applied to all tourists visiting Thailand, including those from China after the Chinese Government eases travel restrictions on their citizens on January 8th.


The measures are:


All visitors must have received at least two doses of COVID-19 vaccine before their arrival
All visitors should take out health insurance coverage, which includes COVID-19, before their departure for Thailand
All visitors should wear face masks while travelling on public transport in Thailand and in public places and take rapid antigen tests if they develop COVID-like symptoms.
Visitors should postpone their visits to Thailand if they develop a respiratory disease.
The measures were proposed by a technical sub-committee of the National Communicable Disease Committee and were approved today (Thursday) at a joint meeting between the Public Health, Transport, Foreign Affairs and Tourism and Sports ministries, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration and the Office of the Insurance Commission.


Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, who chaired the meeting, said that he is confident that Thailand is fully prepared to cope with the mass arrival of tourists from China and to take care of them.


He assured that all foreign tourists, including the Chinese, will be treated equally, without discrimination.


Since the COVID variants spreading in China resemble the variants detected in Thailand, the public health minister said that COVID-19 should not be used as a pretext to discriminate against any nationality, including the Chinese, when visiting Thailand.


He said that the Ministry of Public Health, in its capacity as the enforcer of the Communicable Disease Act, is ready to make adjustment to the existing measures, to deal with any emergent situation in the future.


Anutin also said that tourists who want to get vaccinated while in Thailand can do so, but at their cost, adding that the Thai Government has no policy to provide free vaccinations to tourists.


Deputy Government Spokesperson Traisuree Traisoranakul, meanwhile, said that the Ministry of Tourism and Sports has put in place measures to help foreign tourists who become infected while in Thailand, adding that they can call the tourist police on 1155, the Tourism Authority of Thailand on 1672 or tourist assistance centres on 02 134 4077 to seek help or advice.


For tourists who want to continue their journey to other countries, where tourists are required to be screened for COVID infection, she recommended that they stay at “SHA Plus” hotels, where there are screening services certified by the Thai Medical Science Department.

https://www.thaipbsworld.com/four-me...se-from-china/

[harrybarracuda]

Massive wave of chinkies and covid incoming.

[Shutree]

China has had some of the toughest entry requirements for people arriving from abroad. It is about to drop a mandatory five-day quarantine for all arrivals but will still require a negative COVID-19 test within 48 hours of the flight.

They have some arrogance to whine about this. China has been closed tighter than a duck's arse for 3 years and now they have decided that their nationals must be free to travel everywhere at just the same time as their infection rate is soaring?

In terms of 'reciprocity' is it not the case that some countries will ask Chinese arrivals for a negative Covid test, same as what China will require, starting next week?

It all seems quite fair to me.

[Shutree]

All visitors should take out health insurance coverage, which includes COVID-19, before their departure for Thailand

Serious question: Like others here I have travel plans. When I return to Thailand on my retirement visa am I going to be treated as a visitor and need to show an insurance paper with the word Covid on it somewhere?

I suspect that the airline bringing me in will be the people who demand to see it at checkin. All they'll know is that I don't have a Thai passport.