OPINION
A loopy day in The Thaiger workplace as we pushed out all the latest Test & Go Thailand Pass data as fast as we may, translated and checked. I forgot a selection of necessary meetings as we knew people wished to know what was taking place with the Thailand Pass. We wanted to know too as we’re also instantly affected by the peaks and troughs of the Covid rollercoaster.
It was irritating, very sad and sort of surreal. We’d been eagerly posting optimistic tales for the previous month because it appeared the Land of Smiles was, indeed, getting its ‘smile’ back on and there was hope in the air, even with some bars beginning to open up again, whether or not they were legally meant to or not.
But this latest edict from the Thai Government, through the CCSA, was a surprise. Even we didn’t assume they’d shelve the Test & Go and Sandbox packages. But they did.
“Registration is closing at present for travellers wishing to enter Thailand beneath the Test & Go quarantine exemption program, and the Sandbox entry scheme, excluding Phuket. In an pressing assembly this afternoon, chaired by PM Prayut Chan-o-cha, the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration determined to cease accepting new vacationers beneath the entry schemes beginning at midnight. The government will review the scenario after the holidays on January four.”
Read extra HERE.
This information, based mostly around fears of a wave of the new Omicron Covid-19 variant sweeping via Thailand, will be a knockout blow for some companies – the ones which are left and have been clinging on by a thread of hope that the worst could also be over. But, once more, we’re wanting down the barrel of an extended time without plenty of worldwide vacationers.
As it was, the uptake of the Thailand Pass programs since November 1 had been lukewarm, at best. The precise arrivals of tourists had been well beneath the predictions of the TAT and throw any predictions for 2022 into full disarray.
The query for Thailand’s authorities now is… what next?
After a short second of celebration for Christmas and new Year (then again, possibly we’re being overly optimistic that we’ll even get to New Year with out extra restrictions), there shall be some sort of reckoning in regards to the real-world impression of Omicron, in Thailand and all over the place else.
We already know that the variant is roughly 7 times extra contagious, but we still don’t know the lengthy run signs as it’s relatively new and Omicron continues to be incubating in many 1000’s of individuals.
Early anecdotal accounts say that Omicron seems to be less dangerous. But the sheer weight of numbers may still result in a selection of hospitalisations (or even deaths) that governments find unacceptable.
Let’s hope that these early observations are backed up with information to assist a hopeful prognosis for these becoming infected. As to the keyboard warriors that diss Omicron out of hand, with little more than their misinformed drivel that “it’s just a bad cold”, you don’t know… even the world’s main scientists don’t know presently. But we hope like hell you’re correct.
But even in the most effective case scenario, we’re heading into one other period of global uncertainty surrounding Omicron and the evolution of the Covid pandemic.
There are also, looming, a number of complex geo-political and financial events that are teetering. In no explicit order, the fallout of the Evergrande/Sinic Holdings/China Properties Group/Fantasia defaults, the viagra-fuelled US inventory market, critical shortages and world provide chain issues, and nations staggering underneath growing inflation with their economies flagging.
Omicron, or more specifically, the response of governments to Omicron, is going to push some, or all, of those points to Def Con 1. Some of those might become real black swan events that can have an result on hundreds of thousands of individuals and gradual the global restoration for years, or decades. Except that they’re not likely black swans… we’ve seen many of those coming for no less than the last 2 years.
For Thailand, the early months of 2022 might be very difficult. There merely won’t be many international travellers. Even if Thailand all of a sudden reopened its borders and removed all restrictions, who’s coming at this time?
Thailand could have all the most effective intentions in the world but the vacationers have to come back from somewhere and, given what’s occurred since November 1 this year, it’s troublesome to imagine the place the following wave of spending vacationers will be arriving from.
On ติดตั้งโซล่าเซลล์Huawei , as I looked around our office as we had been posting this dreadful information, I was comforted by the reality that all of us had been wholesome, working, committed and safe. But we are also desperately sad for the 1000’s who had been coming to go to the nation we love and enjoy what we are lucky sufficient to call home daily.
The Thaiger will deliver you all the most recent, confirmed information, accurately and in a well timed method..