Reporingt First Local Transmission Of The Omicron Variant, Thailand Plans To Re-mandatory Quarantine

Illustration of COVID-19 vaccination at Srinakharinwirot University Bangkok, Thailand. (Wikimedia Commons/Chainwit)

JAKARTA - Thailand is considering re-imposing mandatory quarantine for foreign arrivals, due to concerns over the spread of the Omicron variant, when the Ministry of Health reported its first case stemming from local transmission of the virus variant on Monday.

The public health ministry will propose removing the quarantine waiver for vaccinated visitors, reintroducing hotel quarantines and a "sandbox" program, which allows free movement in certain locations, Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said.

The proposal was prompted by concerns over the spread of Omicron, Anutin told the television show Inside Thailand, adding that the proposal would soon be made to the government's COVID-19 task force.

The minister's remarks came after Thailand reopened to foreign visitors in November, ending nearly 18 months of strict entry policies that contributed to the collapse of tourism, a key industry and economic driver that attracted 40 million visitors in 2019.

Thailand has detected 63 people infected with the Omicron variant so far, Anutin said, with one case of local transmission and the rest imported cases.

The first locally transmitted case was found in a Thai woman who tested positive for Omicron after contracting the virus from her husband, a Colombian who returned to Thailand from Nigeria in late November, a health ministry official told a daily briefing.

"She is potentially the first person in Thailand to get Omicron from an overseas traveler, her husband, and the first case of local transmission," said Chakrarat Pittayawonganon, an official with the Department of Disease Control, citing Reuters on December 20.

Both husband and wife have received two complete doses of the COVID-19 vaccine using the AstraZeneca vaccine, he continued.

"The couple had one high-risk contact, a taxi driver, who is in quarantine and awaiting a second coronavirus test on Wednesday," Chakrarat said.