Tourist sneaks out of Phuket quarantine

People enjoy the evening at almost empty Kata beach as Phuket reopens to overseas tourists on July 1, 2021. (Reuters photo)
People enjoy the evening at almost empty Kata beach as Phuket reopens to overseas tourists on July 1, 2021. (Reuters photo)

A Thai female tourist sneaked out of Phuket during the 14-day quarantine period under the "Phuket sandbox".

Officials said the woman had violated the sandbox rules, as she stayed only nine days in Phuket, before sneaking out of the province by plane to Bangkok and later to Chon Buri.

Chon Buri officials will handle the matter and bring her back to the state quarantine facility in Phuket to serve the rest of her 14-day quarantine period. She was also charged with violation of quarantine regulations.

Phuket also has tightened its border crossings to stop anyone who is not yet vaccinated from entering the island.

The new stricter measures started on Tuesday and will run until Aug 2.

At Phuket's main land entry gateway, the Thachatchai checkpoint, many trucks needed to make a u-turn, as drivers were denied entry to the province, due to lack of a vaccination certificate.

Meanwhile, Hua Hin has failed to meet its 70% vaccination goal and had to postpone its "Hua Hin Recharge" tourism reopening scheme.

The "Hua Hin Recharge" scheme is Hua Hin's version of the Phuket sandbox, which aims to reopen the city to vaccinated international tourists and had a planned start date of Oct 1.

However, a tourism committee member said only 10% of Hua Hin locals were already vaccinated.

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Vocabulary

  • certificate: an official document or record stating that particular facts are true - หนังสือรับรอง
  • committee: a group of people who are chosen, usually by a larger group, to make decisions or to deal with a particular subject - คณะกรรมการ
  • goal: aim; purpose - เป้าหมาย จุดมุ่งหมาย
  • official: someone with an important position in an organisation - เจ้าหน้าที่
  • sneak (verb): (past: snuck) to go somewhere secretly, trying to avoid being seen - เดินหลบ,เดินลับ ๆ ล่อ ๆ
  • strict: very careful and exact - เข้มงวด
  • tighten (verb): to make something tighter, more fixed and secure or stricter - ทำให้แน่น, ทำให้เข้มงวดยิ่งขึ้น, ทำให้แน่นหรือตึงขึ้น, ผูกให้แน่น,
  • violate: to do something that is against the law - ละเมิดกฏหมาย
  • violation: the breaking of a rule or a law - การฝ่าฝืน
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