Thailand allows quarantine-free entry to vaccinated travelers from 63 countries

Thailand will allow fully vaccinated tourists from 63 low-risk countries to enter the country without quarantine from Monday, the media reported.

On October 21, the government announced that from November 1, fully vaccinated travelers from 47 countries and territories will be allowed to enter Thailand without quarantine, provided that they pass a COVID-19 test upon their arrival, later adding 17 more countries to the list.

"I'm confident the reopening will greatly benefit the country, especially in the tourism high season that normally lasts into early next year. TAT [Tourism Authority of Thailand] is now expecting over 1 million tourists to come in the next six months, or about 300,000 per month," the authority's governor, Yuthasak Supasorn, said, as cited by the Bangkok Post.

The governor of TAT also added that these numbers amount to about 10% of the pre-pandemic level recorded in 2019.

The original list included 46 low-risk countries exempt from quarantine: Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Bhutan, Brunei, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, China, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

As of Monday, the government added 17 more countries to the list, including Croatia, India, Indonesia, Kuwait, Laos, Luxembourg, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Oman, the Philippines, Romania, Slovakia, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, and Vietnam, according to the media.

At the same time, the country still faces COVID-19 restrictions, as it is registering about 10,000 COVID-19 infections a day. As of October 29, there have been almost 1.9 million confirmed cases and over 19,000 deaths reported in the country, according to the World Health Organization. The infection rate has halved since August, when the highest daily average of more than 20,000 new cases was reported.