Monday, April 19, 2021
Thailand might have to postpone Phuket’s reopening schedule to vaccinated travelers only. Proposed for July 2021, Thailand expected to reopen its borders to tourists as a part of its pilot scheme. With constantly rising cases along with dearth in vaccines, now the government has planned to push back the reopening date.
The tourism ministry of Thailand has given signs that it is looking to postpone the prescheduled date of tourism reopening of Phuket. On July 1st, the island was all prepared to reopen to vaccinated tourists as a part of a “sandbox” pilot program. But since then, this Southeast Asian country has been hit with a double whammy.
Of late, the country has seen cases soaring to their highest ever mark, with over 1,500 cases daily. For Thailand, it’s a dramatic reversal after the country’s success in restricting virus’s local transmission during much of 2020 and battling two waves successfully. The rising number of cases signifies that the government must reconsider its plans related to reopening. Currently, Thailand has 42,352 cases and 101 deaths.
By international standards, the cases might seem low, but it has been a major concern in Thailand. Besides, vaccine rollout in the country has been quite slow as well. While Thailand had originally focused to supply vaccine to Phuket and vaccinate 70% of the population of the province by June, rising number of cases show that limited vaccine supply must go to other provinces as well.
Understandably, Thailand is trying to recover the reopening of Phuket instead of an indefinite delay. In a statement, Tourism and Sports Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said,
“We are concerned about the reopening timeline. We still need to discuss the vaccine administration plan. If the herd immunity goal cannot be achieved, we may have to consider opening only certain areas in Phuket.”
Wednesday, May 1, 2024
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