This is called the “Phuket Sandbox”, or “Phuket sandbox”: the possibility for vaccinated people coming from abroad to enjoy the beaches of the famous island, located in the west of the country in the sea. ‘Andaman, and restaurants, while staying in a designated, prepaid hotel, but without the strict fortnight imposed in the rest of the country.
Launched on 1er July, after several months of preparation to vaccinate the population of the island as a priority, the Sandbox has so far proved its worth at the health level, to the point that the Thai government has reduced since the 1er October to seven days instead of fourteen mandatory stay time on Phuket before traveling to the mainland. He also began to simplify procedures, opened the island to mainland Thais who were vaccinated and to all foreign nationalities.
Phuket largely untouched by the Delta variant
Pressed to position Thailand for the peak winter tourist season, Thailand’s prime minister, former coup leader Prayuth Chan-o-cha, also proposed a date, 1er November, for the opening of the rest of the country to vaccines from ten low-risk countries. “I know this decision carries some risk. It is almost certain that we will see a temporary increase in severe cases when we relax these restrictions ”, he said on October 11.
The island of Phuket, a 543 square kilometer spur attached by a bridge to the Thai part of the Malacca Peninsula, is an exception in Thailand: 77% of its 547,000 inhabitants received two doses, and 44% three. doses.
The country as a whole only displays a rate of 36% of vaccinated, a poor performance that continues to fuel a wave of criticism against the unfortunate choices of the head of government to favor the Chinese vaccine Sinovac, and a the only Thai laboratory, owned by the king, for the production of AstraZeneca.
In Phuket as in the rest of the country, the vaccines used are therefore not the most effective, even if the health authorities now authorize cocktails with Pfizer, in particular for the third dose.
10,000 new cases and 80 deaths on average every day for the whole country
However, the Delta variant which ignited the epidemic in Thailand from April 2021 – the number of deaths has since risen from a hundred to 18,205 – seems to have spared Phuket: several clusters have appeared, especially among migrant workers Burmese, were contained with strict lockdowns – and as little publicity as possible. The number of contaminations is around 160 new cases per day on the island, including 154 Sandbox participants since 1er July (out of 42,000), against still 10,000 new cases and 80 deaths on average each day for the whole country.
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