Pattaya Mayor Hopes To Cancel Mandatory Quarantine For Vaccinated Tourists By October

BANGKOK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 27th May, 2021) Sontaya Kunplome, the mayor of Thailand's city of Pattaya, expressed hope that the city could wave mandatory quarantine for foreign tourists if they are vaccinated by October, newspaper Bangkok Post reported on Thursday.

On Wednesday, during a meeting with the regional administration chiefs, the mayor presented a plan, called "Pattaya, Move on," on the vaccination of 70% tourist and city service workers to create collective immunity by October.

"Under the project, foreign tourists who have received two vaccine doses will be allowed to enter Pattaya without the need to quarantine for 14 days, though they must stay in Bang Lamung and Sattahip districts for seven days before being allowed to travel elsewhere," the mayor said as quoted by the Thai newspaper.

According to him, the rules will apply to tourists from countries with a low infection risk rate. In addition, they must be vaccinated no more than one year before traveling to Pattaya. As for children aged under 12, they only must be negatively tested for COVID-19 72 hours before a journey.

The mayor added that the plan is supposed to attract tourists from many countries, including Russia and Germany, whose citizens constituted the majority of tourists in Pattaya.

Thailand will launch the mass vaccination campaign in June-July 2021 after receiving the first batch of the homemade AstraZeneca vaccine variant. Currently, the country inoculates medical workers, volunteers, other people who are in charge of combating the spread of COVID-19 and those who belong to high-risk health groups.