Thailand reduces quarantine for international arrivals from 1 April 2021

Bangkok, 01 April, 2021 – The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is pleased to announce that the Royal Thai Government has endorsed issuing a COVID-19 vaccination certificate in the kingdom, while approving shorter quarantine periods for international arrivals. Both measures take effect from today until further notice.

Published in the Royal Thai Government Gazette on 31 March, 2021, Thailand’s National Communicable Disease Committee has announced terms and conditions on issuing a COVID-19 vaccination certificate, in paper or electronic form, for people who have received two required doses of COVID-19 vaccine in Thailand. However, the vaccine must be approved and registered with the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH), Thailand, or approved by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to be eligible for issuance of the vaccination certificate.

Also, published in the Royal Thai Government Gazette on 31 March, 2021, Thailand’s Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) has announced the latest guidelines on COVID-19 prevention measures and quarantine requirements for international arrivals involving the *11 groups of people currently permitted to enter Thailand.

Quarantine will be reduced to 7 days for international arrivals who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 with a vaccine, approved, and registered with the MoPH or approved by the WHO, no less than 14 days before the travelling date. However, they must be from countries with no mutated strain of SAR-CoV-2 virus as announced and constantly updated by the MoPH.

The following vaccines are accepted (as of 31 March, 2021): ARS-CoV-2 Vaccine (CoronaVac) by Sinovac (2 doses needed); AZD1222 by AstraZeneca/Oxford (2 doses needed); AZD1222 by SK BIOSCIENCE – AstraZeneca/Oxford (2 doses needed); BNT162b2/CORMIRNATY – Tozinameran (INN) by Pfizer/BioNTech (2 doses needed); Covishield (ChAdOx1_nCoV19) by the Serum Institute of India (2 doses needed); Ad26.COV2.S by the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson (1 dose needed), and mRNA-1273 by Moderna (2 doses needed).

Vaccinated international arrivals who are unable to present a valid vaccine certificate, an original paper or a print-out of an online vaccine certificate, to the International Port Health Control at the port of arrival, will be subjected to no less than a 10-day quarantine.

The quarantine period will be reduced from 14 days (15 nights) to 10 days (11 nights) for international arrivals from countries with no mutated strain of SAR-CoV-2 virus who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19 or have not completed the full vaccination.

The current 14-day quarantine period remains in place for people arriving from the 11 countries with SAR-CoV-2 virus mutations and variants as announced by the MoPH (as of 31 March, 2021); namely, Botswana; Cameroon; Congo; Ghana; Kenya; Mozambique; Rwanda; South Africa; Tanzania; Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

In order to be eligible to enter in Thailand, international arrivals still need to have all of their advance arrangements in good order for arrival and entry. These include a Certificate of Entry (COE) issued by the Royal Thai Embassy or Consulate; a COVID-19 health insurance policy with a minimum coverage of US$100,000; confirmation of Alternative State Quarantine (ASQ) hotel booking, and a medical certificate with a RT-PCR laboratory result indicating that COVID-19 is not detected issued no more than 72 hours before departure. Travellers are recommended to enquire at the Royal Thai Embassy or Consulate in their home country for more details.

During quarantine in Thailand, foreigners are required to undergo an RT-PCR test on Days 5-6 for those under a 7-day quarantine. For a 10-day quarantine, two tests are required on Days 3-5 and Days 9-10. For a 14-day quarantine, three tests are required on the day of arrival, Days 6-7, and Days 12-13.

All arrivals are subject to be traced by a tracking system for a specified period.

*The *11 groups of people currently permitted to enter Thailand.

(1) Thai nationals.

(2) Persons with exemption or persons being considered, permitted or invited by the Prime Minister, or the head of responsible persons accountable for resolving state of emergency issues to enter the Kingdom, pertaining to necessity. Such consideration, permission, or invitation may be subject to specific conditions and time limits.

(3) Persons on diplomatic or consular missions or under International organisations, or representatives of foreign governments performing their duties in the Kingdom, or persons of other international agencies as permitted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs pertaining to necessity, including their spouse, parents, or children.

(4) Carriers of necessary goods, subject to immediate return after completion.

(5) Crew members who are required to travel into the Kingdom on a mission, and have a specific date and time for return.

(6) Non-Thai nationals who are spouses, parents, or children of Thai nationals.

(7) Non-Thai nationals who hold a Certificate of Residence, including their spouses and children.

(8) Non-Thai nationals who have a work permit or have been granted permission to work in the Kingdom in accordance with the Thai laws, including their spouses and children, or foreign workers who have been granted exemption from the government to temporarily stay in the Kingdom and permitted to work through their employers or licensees who are permitted to bring in foreign workers to work in the Kingdom.

(9) Non-Thai nationals who are students of educational institutions approved by Thai authorities, including their parents or guardians, excluding students of non-formal educational institutions in accordance with the law on private schools, and of other similar private educational institutions.

(10) Non-Thai nationals who are in need of medical treatment in Thailand, and their accompanying persons. However, this shall not include medical treatment for COVID–19.

(11) Non-Thai nationals who have been granted permission to enter into the Kingdom under special arrangements between Thai government agencies and other countries, or persons or groups of persons who have been granted permission by the Prime Minister upon the submission for consider after the examination and review by the Ad Hoc Committee for the Consideration of the Relaxation of the Enforcement of Measures to Present and Suppress the Spread of the Communicable Disease Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19), and shall comply with disease prevention measures determined by the Ad Hoc Committee.

TAT is constantly providing updates on the tourism-related COVID-19 situation in Thailand at the TAT Newsroom (www.tatnews.org); Facebook (tatnews.org); and Twitter (Tatnews_Org).

For additional information and assistance relating to Thailand’s tourism, contact the TAT Contact Centre 1672 or Tourist Police 1155.