Push to end quarantine as shots rolled out
Package that bans choke holds, law to lower voting barriers cleared
AS one of the most tourismdependent countries in the world, Thailand is eyeing plans for vaccine passports and quarantine waivers as the global Covid-19 inoculation drive gathers pace.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha this week ordered officials to look into vaccine certificates for international travel after signalling the nation is open to scrapping the two-week quarantine for inoculated visitors.
The local tourism industry wants mandatory quarantines to be lifted from as early as July 1 so it can open to potentially millions of vaccinated tourists.
A successful reopening by Thailand could spur other tourismreliant nations to follow suit, as countries like the United Kingdom set out ambitious timelines for easing restrictions on their populations and resuming international travel.
While the World Health Organisation warned this week about the risks of loosening up too fast, places like Thailand are seeing long-lasting damage to their economies with global travel paralysed and borders closed a year into the pandemic.
“A gradual reopening, with the appropriate cautionary steps taken,
will undoubtedly save businesses, jobs and bolster the economy,” said John Blanco, general manager at hotel Capella Bangkok, in the capital.
“Given the building global momentum of vaccination, it would make sense to begin planning for the necessary steps.”
Thailand’s central bank says tourism, which accounted for about a fifth of the country’s gross domestic product pre-pandemic, is key to returning its economy to growth.
Thailand’s GDP contracted 6.1% in 2020, the most this century.
Despite a flare-up in infections earlier this year, Thailand has largely contained Covid-19, with just 85 deaths over the course of the pandemic.
The country needs to balance keeping the virus out and protecting the local population with countering the economic hit.
WASHINGTON: A sweeping police reform package that bans choke holds and combats racial profiling cleared the US House of Representatives, five days before the trial of a white officer charged with murdering black American George Floyd.
The Bill is named after Floyd, who died last May 25 at age 46 when then-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee on the victim’s neck for more than eight minutes.
The shocking killing was caught on video and sparked mass protests across the nation.
The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act cleared the House last year but was blocked in the Republican-led Senate.
With President Joe Biden in office since January, and the Senate narrowly controlled by Democrats, the Bill was reintroduced last week and it passed Wednesday along party lines, 220 to 212.
“Nearly one year ago, George Floyd gasped his last words, ‘I can’t breathe,’ and ignited a nationwide reckoning on racial injustice and police brutality,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said before the vote.
“This legislation will not erase centuries of systemic racism and excessive policing in America,” but it takes a “tremendous step” towards stopping the violence and improving relations between law enforcement and communities they serve, she added.
Later on Wednesday the House also passed a Bill aimed at lowering voting barriers nationwide, a top Democratic priority.
The For the People Act would expand no-excuse voting by mail, make voter registration automatic, outlaw partisan redistricting and impose new requirements on so-called dark money donations to political groups.
The measure largely mirrors a House Bill passed two years ago.
This one carries added significance amid efforts by several Republican-controlled state legislatures to curtail voting access in response to Donald Trump’s election loss and his repeated false claims of election fraud.