Bangkok, 30 July, 2021 – The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) would like to provide an update on Phuket’s newest round of COVID-19 control measures, including the upgraded screening measures for domestic travel into the island and the tightened rules for business and activities prone to the spread of disease.
However, international arrivals under the “Phuket Sandbox” programme can still enter and exit Phuket per the existing rules and regulations.
Phuket Provincial Order No. 4202/2564: Screening for domestic arrivals
This Order takes effect from 3 to 16 August, 2021, and continues the previous Order No. 4157/2564 (Heightened screening measures announced for domestic travel to/from Phuket), which took effect from 25 July to 2 August, 2021.
- People and drivers of all kinds of vehicles are banned from entering Phuket via the Tha Chatchai mainland gateway, by water via every marina and pier, and by domestic air travel via Phuket International Airport, except for;
- Medical emergency vehicles carrying patient and medical personnel, or volunteers;
- Vehicles transporting medical supplies;
- Vehicles transporting consumable goods, agricultural products, livestock, and animal feed;
- Vehicles transporting cooking gas fuel;
- Banking and finance vehicles;
- Logistics vehicles for post and newspapers;
- People with an international air ticket out of Phuket on the actual date of travelling only;
- Personnel officially assigned in charge of communicable disease control;
- Any government officials with the necessity to travel to and from Phuket;
- People who are required to appear in courts;
- Vehicles transporting construction materials, for emergency projects of government agencies or state enterprises only;
- Any other cases with substantial reasons to enter Phuket, upon consideration of the officials at Phuket’s checkpoints.
*People and vehicles mentioned above will only be allowed to enter Phuket under the conditions that they must:
– Have received 2 doses of the Sinovac or Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine at least 14 days before arrival,
OR
– Have received 1 dose of AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna, or Johnson & Johnson vaccine at least 14 days before arrival,
OR
– Have recovered from COVID-19 for less than 90 days,
AND
– Have received a negative test by an RT-PCR or Rapid Antigen test no more than 72 hours before travelling.
- Students under 18 years old who are unable to be vaccinated but need to commute in and out of Phuket for education must have an identification card as proof. They are required to contact the Phuket Provincial Public Health Office for a COVID-19 test by an RT-PCR method. The certificate for the test result can be used up to 1 month from the test date.
- People with a valid appointment certificate for the 2nd dose of inoculation in Phuket, but they must have received a negative test by an RT-PCR or Rapid Antigen test no more than 72 hours before arrival.
- All arrivals into Phuket must download and install the ‘Mor Chana’ application and turn on the share location function at all times.
- All arrivals into Phuket must be able to provide proof to the above-mentioned requirements to officials at the point of entry to Phuket.
- Travelling by land transport through the Tha Chatchai checkpoint CANNOT be done during the hours of 23.00-04.00 Hrs.
Phuket Provincial Order No. 4203/2564: COVID-19 Measures in Phuket
This Order takes effect from today (30 July, 2021) to 12 August, 2021, and replaces the Order No. 4023/2564 (Heightened screening measures announced for domestic travel to/from Phuket), which was previously in place until 2 August, 2021.
Closure of businesses and venues prone to the spread of disease
- Snooker and billiard venues.
- Game stations, and games and Internet shops.
- Boxing stadiums, boxing gyms, and martial art gyms.
- Public and private swimming pools or other similar locations and all types of pools.
- Places with snooker, billiard, and pool tables,
Integrated control measures for businesses and venues prone to the spread of disease
- All kinds of outdoor sports venues can open until 21.00 Hrs., but are not allowed to conduct any kind of sport with physical contact. Audiences and gatherings are also banned.
- All kinds of indoor sports venues, i.e., gym, fitness, yoga or aerobics can open until 21.00 Hrs., but the number of attendees will be limited as per the size of the venue. People who join these activities must have been fully vaccinated and are asked to continue abiding by the health and safety measures as well as DMHTTA.
TAT would like to remind all travellers to continue with the D-M-H-T-T-A precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19: D – Distancing, M – Mask wearing, H – Handwashing, T – Temperature check, T – Testing for COVID-19, and A – alert application.
For regular updates on the tourism-related COVID-19 situation in Thailand, visit the TAT Newsroom via 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.
