Thailand Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has announced a plan to permit fully vaccinated visitors from "low risk" countries and regions to visit the Southeast Asian nation without having to quarantine from November.

In a televised address late Monday night, Prayut said  - "I have instructed the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) and the Ministry of Public Health to urgently consider within this week to allow, as of November 1, international visitors to enter Thailand without any requirement for quarantine if they are fully vaccinated and arrive by air from low-risk countries. He said that visitors from countries and regions not on the list can still enter, but will have to undergo quarantine. The low-risk and quarantine-free list will be extended by December 1 and moved to "a very extensive list" by January 1, 2022, he added.

Before the pandemic, Thailand attracted a peak of nearly 40 million tourists in 2019, with tourism sector accounting for about one-fifth of its economy. The list will initially include at least 10 countries and regions, such as the UK, Singapore, Germany, China and the US, Prayut said.

Covid-19 has compelled Thailand to implement strict border control and left the economy battered, recording its worst performance in more than two decades last year. The number of tourist arrivals plunged to 6.7 million in 2020.

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