Thailand Visitors Must Provide Personal Information & Contact Details In Immigration Form Before Entry
Amid the Covid-19 outbreak, countries are stepping up measures curb further infections.
After reporting its first death and more new cases, Thailand has been implementing more stringent health monitoring at checkpoints.
Thus, it’s not surprising that from Thursday (12 Mar), all visitors to the Land of Smiles must provide their personal and contact information at immigration, reported the Bangkok Post.
Visitors can provide information at Thailand checkpoints or via an app
Those entering Thailand can furnish their information via an immigration form at checkpoints or through an app that’ll be launched on Thursday.
The info that visitors will have to supply will include contact details like mobile phone numbers and email addresses, as well as personal information.
To use the app, tourists can use either use their own SIM card if they have roaming, or purchase a prepaid SIM card with unlimited mobile data. Having an Internet connection is important, as the government may need to contact them in case of an outbreak.
Immigration officers at checkpoints will check whether the data is complete, before allowing travellers into the kingdom.
Those who don’t declare their contact information won’t be able to enter Thailand, reported the Bangkok Post.
Authorities will only keep info for 14 days & use them in time of crisis
Authorities only announced these measures on Wednesday (11 Mar) after an urgent meeting on Tuesday (10 Mar) involving ministers, immigration police and the Department of Disease Control (DDC).
Digital Economy and Society Minister Buddhipongse Punnakanta explained that they will only use the info if there’s a crisis. The Bangkok Post quoted him as saying:
Please do not call this a tracking system because the state will track them only when critical situations arise, when they need to be monitored to handle the outbreak.
Further, he pointed out that the government is not stockpiling this data — they will only keep it in the system for 14 days from the time of the visitor’s arrival.
So you need not worry about protecting your personal data.
Make sure you have a working SIM card with data if visiting Thailand
Regular travellers probably already know this, but it’s best that you get data roaming or a prepaid SIM card with mobile data when travelling in Thailand.
This is so that you can be contactable by the local authorities throughout your stay in case of emergencies.
With Covid-19 being as serious as it is, the measures in place also have to be serious.
Thailand seems to have learnt from Singapore’s contact tracing supremacy, and their measures means it’s now easier for the Thai authorities to identify the contacts of people who test positive for Covid-19 — including tourists.
Featured image adapted from Mapio.net.
