In a recent speech by PM Prayut, the bombshell of deciding to reopen Thailand completely would be achieved in 120 days marking the 14 Th October as the reopening date. He also added that the scheduled reopening will proceed regardless if a large enough numbers of the population has even received the 2nd vaccination shots and told provincial governments to step up vaccination shots.
Entering into contracts with six primary vaccine producers, it is estimated to plan for 10 million people to be vaccinated a month and the PM lauded the efforts to step-up vaccination efforts.
He also mentioned the Phuket Sandbox as a model to follow and to learn from the experience, stating that eventually Thailand will have to learn to live with the Covid19 virus and that the country would have to take some risks as the virus cannot be fully eradicated. He has also told district and provincial leaders to up their efforts to prepare for the reopening of the country stating that soon many foreign countries will be reopening their borders to travel and that much of the travel restrictions and quarantine that makes traveling difficult should be removed so that tourists and even Thai nationals can travel to and fro freely after the reopening. He also mentioned that tourism establishments should prepare for the reopening to receive tourists and the tourism related services.
However, there is also the hint of a back peddling situation that states that should the situation whereby a Thailand is now one of the safest countries in terms of Covid control should get out of hand, the reopening could be reviewed or revoked in lieu of the situation. While many would welcome the reopening of Thailand’s-birders to tourism for that much needed tourism dollars, would it yet be just another “idea in the works”? How will this impact the country when there is inadequate vaccination of the population especially when all safety barriers are lifted?