spoon

Covid: South Africa 'punished' for detecting new Omicron variant South Africa has complained it is being punished - instead of applauded - for discovering Omicron, a concerning new variant of Covid-19. The foreign ministry made the statement as countries around the world restricted travel from southern Africa as details of the spread emerged. A statement by the South African foreign ministry on Saturday strongly criticised the travel bans. "Excellent science should be applauded and not punished," it said. The bans were "akin to punishing South Africa for its advanced genomic sequencing and the ability to detect new variants quicker". The statement added that the reaction had been completely different when new variants were discovered elsewhere in the world. An African Union official told the BBC developed countries were to blame for the emergence of the variant. "What is going on right now is inevitable, it's a result of the world's failure to vaccinate in an equitable, urgent and speedy manner. It is as a result of hoarding [of vaccines] by high-income countries of the world, and quite frankly it is unacceptable," said AU vaccine delivery alliance co-chair Ayoade Alakija. "These travel bans are based in politics, and not in science. It is wrong... Why are we locking away Africa when this virus is already on three continents?" https://www.bbc.com/news/world-59442129

Moderna said they are already developing it while pfizer is doing a study to see how effective is the current vaccine (hopefully including booster) and said they can develop the vaccine within 100days. Still, the gap and logistical nightmare might mean it could be much longer than that before enough of us will get the vaccine. Maybe we should just do this. Even the current vaccine is not foolproof from infection, thus we will always need to be vigilant and wear masks, social distancing and avoid crowded places.

Some repair/renovation on going? Perhaps to make it covid friendly?

Another good news! Up from 9pm, now until 11pm

I see that insurance details were not asked? Im trying to determine whether i should get a separate insurance or ask my current insurance for the policy details if i ever made the leap to travel lol

I meant it will hehe. Doubt itll open sooner than dec 2. Lets just hope they wont delay it

Chi is impressive!

Yeah, thats a bummer indeed. But jupiter is open!

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2222199/ccsa-ends-curfew-eases-more-curbs-to-bolster-tourism Great news indeed.

They have few options, partial refund, full refund in case u would like to stay somewhere else, or allow u to do the pcr on departure instead as some airline/country might require it. Or they can simply ignore and says this bew ruling only apply to new thai pass applicants.

Another potential good news for those still considering travelling to thailand. In summary, proposal to change the requirement from pcr on arrival to antigen rapid test. Lets hope itll pass https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2221647/entering-thailand-may-get-easier-next-month

All hotels that offers the 1 day quarantine will have normal bookings too. Agreed that travellers should read and check, but hotel shouldnt provide misleading details that the traveller can use to apply for the thailand pass. I believe both are definitely at faults, and thai officials also inst exactly blameless too as the requirements set were still too complicated and changed too frequently.

Jupiter announced they will be open dec 2. What will be on offer, only those in bkk can tell.

Since both are already in the sandbox, i dont think u need to worry much. But just in case, when u arrived at the airport, u can always ask at there.

Airasia X are in huge trouble financially. They cant pay their debtor and now malaysia authority are chasing them to refund malaysian customers their money back, instead of just giving credit for future trips. My sympathy to the workers. Locally, airasia is doing ok here, and domestic flights taking off as usual. Though people here do complaint of very limited counter opened for check-in probably due to lack of staff too.

Most from neighboring countries (Asean) are in the visa exempt group. So itll definitely a better choice for us to go to cambodia if thailand current rules are a deal-breaker. For most regular tourists, cambodia definitely looks more attractive now. U do have to purchase their insurance though. I checked and its about usd90 for 20 days.

As long as we passed the dreaded on arrival tests and not amongst those close contact to one who fails, it should be worth the trouble, at least for me. Massage places are open, some boys from bars are freelancing there too. So its definitely worth the trip just for this.

I guess dj station open as a restaurant? I wonder what u can and cannot do since its not opening as a night club

When malaysia did a pilot domestic tourism to Langkawi, rtk was compulsory at the airport. It takes a bit more planning and people were advice to arrived earlier. But it is far from a nightmare. The airport do need to space to keep people around for 15mins though plus the queue. But this was on departure and no test needed for arrival.

Seems like this is a better choice with much less headache for anyone wanted to travel to south east asia. Usd90 insurance (20 days) and only a rapid test on arrival. No sha+ one night quarantine, no cambodia pass.

I dont think we need to worry about noise now that clubs will stay closed until at least 15th January 2022

I wonder if all positive cases among locals in thailand are subjected to quarantine or not?

Massage, visit snake temple, drink at restaurant lol