BANGKOK (Xinhua) — Thailand planned to provide the so-called wellness quarantine for foreign visitors under the anti-pandemic measures at hotels alongside massage and spa parlors, confirmed a senior government official on Tuesday.
Health Service Support Department Director General Tares Krassanairawiwong said foreign tourists will be provided the 14-day wellness quarantine at the hotels where they will stay and concurrently visit massage and spa parlors in their neighborhood.
Nevertheless, all foreigners visiting the massage and spa parlors will be strictly separated from Thai customers under social distancing and anti-pandemic measures, the director general said.
That will be part of the government’s Medical and Wellness Program for foreign tourists, who will be obliged to carry a health insurance package upon arrival to Thailand, Tares said.
Many foreign tourists are expected to use the massage and spa services, such as those in southern coastal provinces of Thailand, and may be given a Special Tourist Visa for a long stay allowing a maximum of nine-month stay in this country, he said.
However, the government-run Center for the COVID-19 Situation Administration and the cabinet of ministers are yet to approve the Wellness Quarantine plan for foreigners.
Boy Infected While Traveling From Myanmar
A two-year-old Myanmar boy, who has tested positive for COVID-19 in Myanmar, was believed to have contracted the disease while traveling from Thailand to Myanmar earlier this month, according to an official report released on Sunday.
The report from the Disease Control Department of Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health said the Myanmar boy was likely infected with the virus during the time when he was taken across the Thai-Myanmar border by his parents through a natural path in Mae Sot district of Tak province in western Thailand.
His parents managed to slip out of the Thai border area with apparent intent to evade anti-pandemic measures at Mae Sot border checkpoint.
The toddler was suspected to have contracted COVID-19 between Sept. 4 and Sept. 10 after his parents had quit jobs in Ayutthaya province last month, according to the department’s report.
The reports said the boy was not suspected to have been infected while living in Thailand since a total of 146 people, reported to have been in contact with him at migrant workers camps in Ayutthaya province and those in Nakhon Ratchasima province, have tested negative.
Another 2,635 people in Mae Sot district, including Myanmar migrants, have also tested negative.