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Thailand news, politics, business, crime, lifestyle, and tourism—stay updated with breaking news and in-depth analysis from Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pattaya, and beyond.
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New poll shows many have unfavourable feelings toward government’s handling of plastics factory fire
A new poll shows that most respondents have unfavourable feelings over the government’s handling of the fire at the plastics factory in Samut Prakan. The Suan Dusit poll conducted by Suan Dusit Rajabhat University queried 1,266 people in Thailand from July 6 to July 9. Respondents had the option to pick multiple answers. The poll shows: 66.51% – of the…
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Covid UPDATE Sunday: 9,539 new cases, news briefs
Today the public health department reported 9,539 new Covid infections & 86 coronavirus-related deaths. 103 of today’s cases were reported from the Thai prison system. Today’s numbers indicate a flattening of new infections but still much higher than the week before. Provincial totals published just after lunch time. • The ministries of Public Health and Transport have prepared a 5,000-bed…
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Phuket Sandbox woes: 2 more foreign Covid-19 cases, Delta variant
The Phuket Sandbox has hit a few hurdles with the revelation of 2 more international arrivals testing positive with Covid-19, as well as the first cases of the Delta and Beta variants on the island. The news comes in the wake of the Governor ordering most of the islands’ schools to close for 14 days due to the rising risk…
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80 Bangkok roadblocks to curb Covid-19 spread before lockdown
“The law of unintended consequences has come to be used as an adage or idiomatic warning that an intervention in a complex system tends to create unanticipated and often undesirable outcomes. It is commonly used as a wry or humorous warning against the hubristic belief that humans can fully control the world around them.” – Wikipedia The last time the…
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Preparing for Bangkok lockdown measures from today on
The CCSA announced yesterday sweeping new Covid-19 lockdown measures for Bangkok and surrounding provinces, as well as 4 southern provinces, and now people and businesses are scrambling to prepare before provisions go into effect from now until Monday. Airlines have quickly implemented emergency measures for domestic travellers to handle the wave of cancellations and rescheduling due to Bangkok and other…
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All Thai AirAsia July flights cancelled; airlines cope with lockdown
In light of Bangkok’s new Covid-19 lockdown measures, Thai AirAsia has cancelled all their domestic flights in Thailand, while Bangkok Airways, Nok Air, Thai Smile, and Vietjet have introduced emergency measures for flight rescheduling. AirAsia, the popular budget airline based in Malaysia, has suspended all domestic flights operated by Thai AirAsia effective immediately. They hope to resume service on August…
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Covid UPDATE: 9,326 new infections, provincial totals
The provincial breakdown for Saturday which includes all the cases reported over the past 24 hours. Infographics from the NBT… Today the public health department has announced 9,326 new infections and 91 Covid-related deaths. 192 of the cases are from Thai prisons. The number, whilst only slightly higher than yesterday, is a continuation of the upward trend in cases, almost…
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Samui and Phangan reopening: bars open, 5,000 baht Covid tests
Koh Samui and the surrounding islands of Koh Phangan and Koh Tao are preparing for their Samui Plus reopening beginning July 15. The rules for the reopening are more stringent, with 3 full days of quarantine required and then 4 days of being allowed to travel only on sealed routes to specific tourist destinations before finally being allowed to travel…
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Phuket daily Covid-19 hits 10, 3 short of Sandbox threshold
As Covid-19 surges throughout Thailand and the provinces in the south and around Bangkok enact curfews and other lockdown measures, Phuket has been relatively safe with just a trickle of infections. Yesterday for the first time in weeks though, Phuket recorded double-digit new Covid-19 infections, edging closer to the threshold for reconsidering the Sandbox scheme. Phuket Provincial Public Health Office…
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Sandbox tourist forced to stay in ASQ hotel after fellow passenger on her flight tests positive
Stefanie came to Phuket as a kick start to a new adventure and a long term stay in Thailand. The Phuket Sandbox option would allow her to visit around the island for 14 days before heading off to other destinations in Thailand. But it didn’t work out as planned. Now, she’s stuck in a small room for up to 14…
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Covid UPDATE Saturday: 9,326 new infections, news briefs
Today the public health department has announced 9,326 new infections and 91 Covid-related deaths. 192 of the cases are from Thai prisons. The number, whilst only slightly higher than yesterday, is a continuation of the upward trend in cases, almost doubling over the past 2 weeks. The number of deaths reported today is a steep and concerning increase. • Following…
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1 million AstraZeneca vaccines from Japan for elderly in Bangkok
Japan recently donated just over 1 million AstraZeneca vaccines to Thailand in hopes of battling the surging Covid-19 outbreaks hammering the country, and today the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration announce plans to give those vaccines to the elderly in Bangkok. The 1.05 million vaccines that arrived today from Japan will be earmarked for senior citizens, both Thai nationals and…
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Traditional meets modern with Buddhist NFTs CryptoAmulets
Thailand is often a curious mixture of old and new. Ancient style architecture in temples share neighbourhoods with ultra-modern skyscrapers. Modern life is blended with traditions a century old or older. And now, old meets new again with the launch of CryptoAmulets, digital Buddhist amulets that are combining the ancient Thai tradition of carrying Buddhist good luck charms with the…
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Pakistan: Why RSF deems PM Khan a ‘press freedom predator’
Daniel Bastard, Asia-Pacific director at Reporters Without Borders (RSF), told DW that Pakistani authorities are trying to censor and intimidate journalists who dare not to toe the government’s line. SOURCE: DW News
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Is Afghanistan heading toward a civil war?
The Taliban are reportedly sweeping across Afghanistan’s rural areas, bringing more territories under their control. Afghan government forces are finding it increasingly difficult to repel Islamist militants without NATO’s crucial air power. The insurgents now control two-thirds of the Afghan-Tajik border, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Friday, adding that they were also able to capture key economic centers on…
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Vietnam to gain as EU-China investment pact stalls
In geopolitics as in business, one person’s loss is another’s gain. As such, Vietnam could be set to benefit from an increase of investment from EU states after European leaders intimated in early June that their investment pact with China is now off the table. However, recent data suggests that this remains more of an aspiration than reality right now,…
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Sinovac not effective against Delta variant, AstraZeneca is
A new study released today seems to have confirmed what many have feared: the Sinovac vaccine has little effectiveness in stopping the Covid-19 Delta variant. The Delta strain, first identified in India, is particularly dangerous as it has found to be much more contagious and is spreading rapidly throughout Thailand. It has been predicted that the variant will be the…
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Lawyers Association accuse DDC failure over Sinovac
The chairman of the Lawyers Association of Thailand has said the government has failed its duty to protect the health of the Thai people by ordering more Sinovac vaccines instead of pursuing brands more effective against the Delta variant of Covid-19 fast becoming the dominant strain in Thailand. The accusation comes as the Department of Disease Control defends Thailand’s Cabinet’s…
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BREAKING: Stay at home orders, travel restrictions in Bangkok and 9 other provinces
Tight restrictions limiting travel and ordering residents to stay at home are being set in Bangkok and 9 other “dark red” provinces to control the spread of Covid-19 as the Delta variant of the virus becomes more prevalent. Many have been calling it a “lockdown,” but the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration has been avoiding the word to describe the…
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Bangladesh factory fire takes 52 lives
Today, a cataclysmic fire ravaged a factory in Rupgang, Bangladesh. 52 people have been confirmed dead, trapped by searing walls of fire that made some workers jump from upper floors in an effort to escape, says Bangladeshi police. At least 30 people have been injured and hundreds of family members, workers wait with extreme apprehension as the fire kept blazing.…
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Health officials concede to using rapid antigen tests
Health officials are conceding to using rapid antigen tests on top of using the RT-PCR method to detect cases of Covid. The public Health Ministry is eager to use the rapid antigen test to determine possible infections as Covid cases incessantly rise. Thai media reports that the RT-PCR method would still be employed. The Director General of the DMS, Dr…
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Breaking: Travel restrictions and curfew to be set in Bangkok, “dark red” provinces
UPDATE: The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration’s daily press briefing has been rescheduled to 4pm today. More details will be reported following the briefing. Travel restrictions and a nightly curfew will be set in Bangkok and provinces classified as “dark red” zones for the high rates of Covid-19 infections, the government’s news bureau confirmed today. In this morning’s Centre for…
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Isolation centres being set up in Bangkok to provide basic care to Covid-19 patients
To help reduce overcrowding in Bangkok hospitals, Thai authorities have decided to allow Covid-19 patients with mild symptoms, or who are asymptomatic, to stay at home or at a community isolation centre rather than a hospital or field hospital. Public hospitals in the capital have been at capacity and Covid-19 cases are expected to continue to rise due to the…
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Sangkhla Buri district in Kanchanaburi enters 14 day lockdown
The Sankhla Buri district in Kanchanaburi, a western Thai province is locking down for 14 days and people are ordered to remain at home from 10 pm to 4 am to help prevent Covid outbreaks. The order was signed by Governor Jirakiat Phumsawat, who also acts as chairman of the provincial communicable disease control committee. Other restrictions include barring the…
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South Sudan: Dashed hopes after 10 years of independence
The euphoria following South Sudan’s independence from Sudan on July 9, 2011 was short-lived. Less than a year and a half later, the resource-rich country was plunged into a brutal civil war, at a cost of almost 400,000 lives. As a result of the civil war, 1.6 million people of the country’s 11 million people are currently displaced within South…
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2 More schools close in Phuket after infections found
2 more schools are being closed in Phuket after infections were discovered. The 2 school closures in Phuket town follows a staff member and a parent having close contact with a high risk person. The schools announced they will be closed to clean and sanitize their facilities. The schools are: Darasamuth Phuket School Kajornrangsan Municipal School The Darasamuth school announced…
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67,000 Phuket residents try to register for Moderna, web portal crashes
Yesterday, nearly 70,000 people tried to apply for the Phuket Moderna vaccine reservations. The web portal crashed instead. The 67,000 hopeful vaccination registrants would have had their vaccines provided by Bangkok Hospital Phuket and Bangkok Hospital Siriroj. The crash did not sit well with many who had already found the registration process slow and rife with system failures and an…
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Supreme Court rules against former red-shirt leader
Former red-shirt leader Jatuporn Prompan has been ordered to serve back-to-back sentences in 2 defamation cases, according to a Supreme Court ruling. The Bangkok Post reports that Jatuporn will now spend another 11 months and 16 days in prison after a 2009 defamation case brought against him by former PM, Abhisit Vejjajiva. The activist was found guilty of defamation in…
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Friday Covid Update: 9,276 new infections and 72 deaths
9,276 new Covid-19 cases and 72 coronavirus-related deaths were reported today by the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration. With the spread of the highly transmissible Delta variant, the CCSA expects daily cases to soon hit 10,000. While today’s case count is an uptick over the past several weeks. Thailand hit a record high in new cases in mid-May with 9,635…
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Bangkok’s Bumrungrad Hospital opens registration for Moderna vaccine
Bumrungrad Hospital in Bangkok has opened an online booking system for the Moderna vaccine, with priority going to healthcare workers and people who remain unvaccinated. The Bangkok Post reports that the vaccine will cost 1,650 baht per dose. Chief Executive Artirat Charukitpipat says the hospital has not been able to receive the number of vaccines it would have liked and…
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