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  • Coronavirus: Thailand, Japan cut quarantine for vaccinated travellers | South China Morning Post
    https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/3150247/australian-pm-plans-border-reopening-new-south-wales-seeks

    Coronavirus: Thailand, Japan cut quarantine for vaccinated travellers
    Thailand will halve its quarantine to seven days as it seeks to revive its tourism-dependent economy, while Japan will cut it from 14 to 10 days
    Thailand agreed to halve its mandatory quarantine to seven days for fully vaccinated visitors starting next month, and will remove any isolation period for such travellers in 10 key provinces including Bangkok in November to help revive its tourism-dependent economy. The country’s main Covid-19 task force also approved the reopening of a variety of businesses and services, including theatres, sports venues and nail salons, as of October 1, when a nightly curfew in many parts of the country will be cut by one hour, according to spokesman Taweesilp Visanuyothin. The new curfew hours will be from 10pm to 4am. The Southeast Asian nation previously delayed and adjusted its tourism-reopening programme several times due to low vaccination rates and concerns that the easing of rules would enable infections and hospitalisation to surge again. The programme began in July in the resort island of Phuket, after a high number of vaccine doses were delivered and administered.The latest decisions by the virus panel, chaired by Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, are part of its “living with Covid” strategy to restart the economy, while maintaining infections at a level that does not overwhelm Thailand’s health care system. The moves come after the pace of inoculations have been ramped up to major population and economic centres, with as many as 1 million doses administered daily in the past week. Before the pandemic in 2019, Thailand’s tourism sector attracted nearly 40 million visitors annually and generated about US$60 billion per year. Various plans to ease restrictions on both domestic and international travel, as well as an array of businesses have been hampered by vaccine shortages and clusters of infections in markets and factories.
    Quarantine days for unvaccinated air travellers cut to 10 days from 14
    Japan to shorten quarantine for vaccinated travellers. The Japanese government also said on Monday it will ease quarantine rules for people vaccinated against Covid-19 entering the country starting October 1, shortening the required period for self-isolating at home from 14 days to 10 days as it looks to restart international travel.
    People who have been fully vaccinated will be able to go outside as long as they test negative for the virus after 10 days following their arrival, Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato told a press conference. Only shots developed by Pfizer, Moderna or AstraZeneca are eligible. People travelling from any of 45 countries including Britain, India and the Philippines had been required to spend three of the 14 days in a government-designated facility, but will no longer be required to do so if they are fully vaccinated.
    Meanwhile, Japan plans to lift its Covid-19 state of emergency, which covers 19 prefectures, in all of the regions at the end of September, broadcaster NHK reported on Monday.Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said he discussed easing measures with relevant ministers on Monday, and would seek the views of a government panel of advisers on Tuesday.“We will make a final decision on the matter based on the advice and discussions we have with the government expert panel tomorrow,” he told reporters on Monday evening.If approved, Japan would be free of such emergency restrictions for the first time in nearly six months. Current measures require restaurants to close early and refrain from serving alcohol. People have been asked to avoid non-urgent outings and refrain from crossing prefectural borders.
    Japan saw a spike in cases over the summer as it struggled to contain the contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus, reaching a record high of 25,000 new daily infections. However, that number has dropped in recent weeks, and the country recorded just over 2,000 cases on Sunday. Over 57 per cent of the population is now fully vaccinated.

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