Thailand's Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) has said it will allow more categories of foreigners to enter the country from October.

Visitors take pictures in front of sculptures made of white sand imitating ice in the "Frost Magical Ice of Siam" park outside Pattaya on 2 Sept, 2020. (Photo: AFP)

According to a statement of the CCSA, the agency has agreed to allow foreign athletes to enter Thailand for tournaments in a supervised area.

The first group will be international cyclists participating in the royal marathon cycling event, the centre said.

Non-immigrant visa holders, such as businesspeople who do not have any type of work permit, are now also allowed, but they must show that they have savings of at least 500,000 THB (15,782 USD) in the past six months, it stated.

The CCSA said Prime Minister  Prayut  Chan-o-cha had also given the green light to the Special Tourist VISA (STV) scheme, which primarily targets foreign visitors with the intention to stay in Thailand on a long-term basis for nine months, to go ahead.

According to the centre, from October 8 onwards, around 150 verified foreigners would start arriving at Suvarnabhumi Airport or Phuket Airport.

Separately, a group of 150 tourists from the Chinese city of Guangzhou will land in Phuket on 8 October, before another group of 126 fly to Bangkok on 25 October.

Also, 120 tourists from Scandinavia and other European countries on 1 November will arrive in Bangkok on a Thai Airways flight.

The CCSA said that these tourists will spend their first 14 days in Thailand at alternative state quarantine sites before they are allowed to travel on their own.

The Thai government previously decided to extend a grace period for visa renewals for foreigners stranded in Thailand until 31 October due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Source: VNA