'You joking?': Woman's Thailand holiday turns to quarantine horror
A UK woman's trip to Thailand turned into a holiday nightmare after she returned a positive coronavirus test and was immediately whisked away to hotel quarantine.
TikTok user Megan Meeke and her partner Dyl Murray arrived in Bangkok the day before New Year's Eve, doing a PCR test on arrival.
"[We] were told our PCR on arrival were inconclusive then positive but no one speaks English," she said in the TikTok.
"We were in an ambulance [and] now have to quarantine for 10 days... what is happening?"
Unsure how much it will cost
Ms Meeke, who documents her travels on Instagram and TikTok, has been detailing her hotel stay, admitting she's not sure how much their quarantine will cost.
"I've asked them a couple of times how much [hotel quarantine] is going to cost and they just laugh and walk away," Ms Meeke said in an Instagram story.
"We're trying to get in touch with our insurance and the embassy."
She also said when they needed more water they had to pay in cash and it couldn't be added to the bill.
"We literally got taken from the plane to the situation right here," she said. "I have no cash."
In a comment, Ms Meeks said they had been approved to visit Thailand before the trip.
"I was negative leading up to this trip but it's the risk you take I guess," she said.
Ms Meeks and her partner are scheduled to leave hotel quarantine on January 10.
Thailand reintroduces hotel quarantine
Thailand reinstated hotel quarantine for international travellers on December 21, suspending their Exemption from Quarantine (Test and Go) entry scheme for tourists.
The Sandbox program — which allows vaccinated visitors to travel to Thailand provided they stay within a designated area — has also been paused in all destinations except for Phuket.
“After December 21, there will be no new registrations for ‘Test and Go’, only quarantine or Phuket sandbox,” deputy government spokeswoman Rachada Dhanadirek said, adding the decision will be reviewed on January 4.
Reuters reported the new quarantine rule does not apply to anyone who has already signed up to the Test and Go tourism plan or Sandbox program.
According to the Bangkok Post, by December 21 when the exemptions were suspended, about 200,000 visitors had applied to visit Thailand through the Test-and-Go and Sandbox programs and about 110,000 of them had already arrived.
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