Thread: No Delta variant in Phuket, health office insists

Health authorities in Phuket on Wednesday dismissed rumours that 10 local residents had picked up the Delta variant of the Covid-19 virus.


The Delta variant was first found in India and, as of last week, has infected 822 people in Thailand.


Social-media posts said five cases of the Delta variant in Phuket were detected on Tuesday and another five on Wednesday.


The provincial health office, however, confirmed that there were indeed 10 confirmed Covid-19 cases in Phuket, but none were of the Delta variant.


As of Tuesday, Phuket had logged 728 Covid-19 cases in the third wave, which was sparked in April.

No Delta variant in Phuket, health office insists

No Delta variant in Phuket, health office hopes

FTFY.

Overall I doubt the island of Phuket can avoid whatever happens in the surrounding areas with people sneaking onto and off the island by boat. So there maybe a backflip in the coming days.

And in view of the fact no-one in the health office had their head fall off, the veracity of its claim remains untested.

ahhhhh....he's lying.

Well for what it's worth...

The Phuket sandbox experienced regulatory chaos in the days leading up to its reopening on Thursday after an endorsement of the plan was published in the Royal Gazette published on Tuesday night.

Tourism operators have said that the scheme is not inclusive for all stakeholders, particularly small operators.

The long-awaited official announcement on Tuesday night came a bit too late as some tourists who had booked flights for today decided to cancel or postpone their trip as they were not confident whether approval of the certificate of entry (COE) would be done in time, said a tourism source who requested anonymity.

Even though the Foreign Ministry sped up the process and quickly granted COEs to a number of tourists after the official announcement was made, some tourists who had not obtained a COE before departure decided to cancel their trip.

Yuthasak Supasorn, Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) governor, said that every inoculated tourist who applies for a COE will not have to stay in a local quarantine facility unless they registered for a COE before the Foreign Ministry opened the process.

He said the Foreign Ministry had prepared in advance by opening the registration process on Monday, however, approvals could not be made until an announcement was published in the Royal Gazette.

"We reassured travellers that their certificates would be approved and flights to Phuket were confirmed," Mr Yuthasak said.

He said moving forward, Phuket is ready to welcome international tourists with no additional obstacles and that the COE process may take three to five days.

At least 300 tourists from five airlines will form the first batch to enter the island today. Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha will be at the airport to welcome vaccinated international tourists, mostly from Europe, the US and the Middle East.

Meanwhile, hotel bookings have also picked up after the reopening scheme was made official.

At least 24,972 room nights have been booked for July 1-15, up from 11,000 room nights reported on Monday.
Thaneth Tantipiriyakij, president of the Phuket Tourism Council, said foreign guests alone are not enough to save the tourism industry.

"Most tourism benefits are likely to go to big players and will leave small and medium operators behind," he said.
Mr Thaneth added that Phuket still needs a boost from domestic tourists as this group is an important market for small operators.

Regulatory chaos spoils Phuket's reopening