“I am furious.” That is how Danish Journalist and Chief Editor of Danish media “Ekstra Bladet”, Henrik Qvortrup, describes his mood after it has been decided that he and his girlfriend must be admitted to a Thai hospital after he tested positive on a covid-test upon arrival at the airport.
Qvortrup went to Thailand with his girlfriend to spend Christmas and New Year’s but after he tested positive, they initially had to quarantine at their hotel room. This quarantine stay was well underway but now the couple has been ordered by the Thai authorities to be admitted to a Covid ward in a local hospital.
“Apparently panic has struck the Thais. I am Covid-19 positive, but I haven’t had the slightest symptom. We are sitting in a bungalow in the middle of the mountains and people show up in spacesuits to give us food, so in that way, they got it under complete control,” Qvortrup explains but then goes on to say.
“But now the governor of the tourist Mecca has decided that everyone with a positive Covid-test, including their partners, have to be admitted to the local hospital. So, what was supposed to be a nice Christmas and New Year’s vacation is now going to be 12 days in a hospital,” Henrik Qvortrup says to Ekstra Bladet over the phone.
Henrik Qvortrup believes that himself and his girlfriend were less of a hazard when they were isolated in their hotel room than they are going to be in a hospital where he, according to himself, is a threat to other patients. This, together with the ruined vacation plans, has made Qvortrup very frustrated with the Thai system.
“I just got to say, that if this is the way you run the show in Thailand, I can understand why it’s difficult to lure the tourist back into the country,” he says.
Oh, there are many ways why Thailand is a declining tourist-goal, not just their handling of Covid-incarcerations.
While Thailand used to be “fair and square” with visitors from all countries, we have seen that TAT during the last 20,years have been favouring certain nationalities (Chinese, Russians), to the detriment of European and American visitors.
It’s probably not visible to the outsider, but I’ve observed it over the years.
Thailand is now much more expensive also, with double the prices for drink and accommodation, compared to Vietnam and Cambodia.
I’m not going to go into the strange domestic politics of Thailand here, but I know what I think about those….
His derogatory comments about how Thailand is handling the covid crisis is shamefull.