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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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Drunk driving claims most traffic accidents over holiday season
Drunk driving is being blamed for most of the road accidents over the 7 deadly days of driving during the New Year season. So far, there have been 2,748 road accidents with 316 deaths and 2,741 injuries reported on the 5th day of the weeklong stretch. Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation says there were about 383 accidents with 44…
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Rayong, Chon Buri (including Pattaya) and Chanthaburi face full travel restrictions
Rayong, Chanthaburi and Chon Buri (that includes Pattaya), could be facing a full lockdown as soon as tomorrow if a recommendation from the Ministry of Public Health is approved by the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration. The outbreak of new infections are almost entirely linked to illegal gambling dens, mostly in Rayong. Thailand’s Deputy Health Minister says the measure “is…
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Britons arriving in Thailand test positive for Covid UK variant
Britons arriving in Thailand from England, have reportedly tested positive for the Covid-19 variant that was first identified in the UK. The family of 4 arrived from Kent, in southeast England, and are currently under quarantine at a private hospital after receiving the positive test results. Dr. Yong Pooworavan, chief of the Virology Centre of the Faculty of Medicine at…
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Unidentified man’s body found hanging from tree in Koh Larn
Pattaya police are investigating an incident in which an unidentified man’s body was found hanging from a tree in the Koh Larn forest. They say the body could be that of a foreigner, as they await autopsy results. The body was discovered by a hiker last night at sundown, who called the police at 7pm to investigate. After taking speedboats…
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Majority of Thais think economy will get worse – NIDA Poll
A recent poll has indicated that a majority of Thai respondents think that the economy will get worse this year, along with a continued unrest surrounding the political landscape. The survey by the National Institute of Development Administration was conducted December 24-25 on 1,326 people, aged 18 and over of various levels of education and occupations nationwide by random sampling…
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Deputy PM says relying on tourism is “unacceptable”
Thailand’s deputy PM says that relying too much on tourism is “unacceptable.” In Supattanapong Punmeechaow’s speech, he said that the tourism industry will never be allowed to recover to its previous levels. For years, Amazing Thailand was the nation’s slogan, which brought in $56.2 billion in 2019 alone, but after Covid struck, it is clear that there has been a…
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“Red zone” provinces may see tightened measures amid Covid outbreak
The 28 “red zone” provinces in Thailand, which are deemed high-risk for the spread of Covid-19, may see a potential tightening of measures after the country has experienced a spike in cases. The clamping down on these provinces also falls in line with the temporary closures of 25 types of businesses in Bangkok, in a further effort to curb the…
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Thai Restaurant Association asks PM not to restrict in-dining services
As the 4 day New Year long weekend comes to a close, there are a number of proposed restrictions looming as the CCSA battles to contain the latest outbreaks of cases, particularly in and around Bangkok and the nearby easter provinces. There is currently a proposal to restrict Bangkok’s restaurants to take away services only, as well as full travel…
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216 new Covid cases in Thailand, 11 people in ICU
216 new confirmed infections of Covid-19 have been announced today at the daily media briefing in Bangkok. As usual, Dr. Taweesin Visanuyothin fronted the announcements on behalf of the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration. 1 more person has also died, a 47 year old Chon Buri woman in the Banglamung district with complications of diabetes. It’s been reported in Thai media…
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New Year holiday draws homegrown tourists to Phuket, Koh Samui
With the vast majority of foreign holidaymakers still steering clear of Thailand, or simply unable to get a visa at the moment, the country has become almost completely reliant on homegrown tourists. The New Year holiday has brought some slight relief to islands like Phuket and Koh Samui, as visitors from other parts of the country arrived to welcome in…
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Lucky escape for mother and baby after stray bullet enters house
A woman in the eastern province of Chon Buri has told of her lucky escape, after a stray bullet pierced the roof of her home and landed in the room where she was trying to get her baby to sleep. The woman, named in a Thai Residents report as 25 year old Aphitsaya Raksasuk, was attempting to get the 1…
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What’s closed in Bangkok? Decision on restaurants today.
Here’s the full list of closures from the BMA that went into effect at midnight last night in the city of Bangkok. The Bangkok Metropolitan Organisation has closed “high risk’ venues around Bangkok.(Pattaya/Banglamung list of restrictions and closures below) Entertainment venues, water parks, amusement parks, playgrounds, floating markets, flea markets, snooker and billiards clubs, arcade game premises, games shops, Internet…
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Chon Buri bar raided for violating Covid-19 restrictions
Police have raided a bar in the Banglamung district of Chon Buri after it was found to have violated a closure order currently in place to curtail the spread of Covid-19. The eastern province now has over 211 active cases of the virus. Earlier this week, the Chon Buri governor introduced strict restrictions in Banglamung and Pattaya in an effort…
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Thailand looking to speed up Covid-19 vaccination timeline
Amid a new surge in Covid-19 cases, Thai officials are planning to increase the number of vaccines available and speed up the timeline for administration. Dr. Taweesin Visanuyothin from the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration has confirmed the plan, following complaints from the country’s tourism industry when an initial statement said vaccination might not begin until as late as June.…
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More closures in Bangkok as BMA mulls further restrictions
• High risk entertainment venues closed • BMA’s 437 schools closed for at least 2 weeks • CCSA considering restricting Bangkok restaurants to take-any only services only The Bangkok Metropolitan Organisation has closed “high risk’ venues around Bangkok as of midnight last night. The city’s 437 public schools run by the BMA have also been ordered to close until at least January 17.…
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UPDATE: 279 new Covid infections, 2 new deaths
Dr. Taweesin Visanuyothin has announced 279 new infections of Covid-19 from the past 24 hours at this morning’s media briefing in Bangkok. There’s also been 2 new deaths. 16 of today’s new infections are Burmese migrant workers, 5 are imported cases from arrivees returning to Thailand. The first of the 2 deaths was a 44 year old Thai man who…
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2020’s movers, shakers and influences (that weren’t Covid) | VIDEO
2020 The big events, the winners and the losers 2020 has been one of the most disruptive years in history, certainly for anyone that has lived since the great depression and the world wars. But although Covid-19 has been the big headline for the year, there has still been highlights and big news in all fields. Some of these big…
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Good things that happened in 2020
There’s no disputing the fact that none of us are going to remember 2020 with great fondness. With a global pandemic wreaking havoc around the world, and no end in sight in the immediate future, it’s hard to see any positives in the year just gone. However, buried in the midst of all the doom and gloom, there were some…
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WHO approves emergency use of the Pfizer/BionTech Covid vaccine
The World Health Organisation has granted “emergency validation” for the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine, allowing countries across the globe to now approve its import and distribution for their citizens. In a statement released on the final day of 2020, the WHO said its validation, the first since the start of the pandemic, “opens the door for countries to expedite their own…
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2020: A year in Covid-19 milestones
As the world embraces the dawn of a new year, while tentatively waiting to see what it has in store, it will be some time before the trauma of 2020 can be laid to rest. The year that has just ended will forever be remembered for the Covid-19 pandemic that has claimed over 1.8 million lives to date, infected millions worldwide,…
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His Majesty presents televised end of year message
His Majesty King Maha Vajiralongkorn is appealing to Thai people to appreciate their rich culture, which exhibits virtue, beauty and progress… the foundation of life and mind. HM also asked all Thai people to conduct themselves “with virtue and reason in order” to overcome the Covid-19 crisis. His Majesty spoke in a televised end of year broadcast saying that cultural…
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Why Thailand celebrates the New Year not once, not twice, but 3 times
While the year just gone may be referred to as 2020 by most of us (with perhaps a few expletives thrown in, given the year it was), we are currently in the year 2563 in Thailand. As everyone who lives here knows, Thailand uses the Buddhist calendar, as well as the Western, or Gregorian, calendar, adding to our eternal confusion…
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Dawn Wells, “Mary Ann” from Glligan’s Island, dies at 82
Dawn Wells, one of the castaways in Gilligan’s Island, playing Mary Ann, has died in Los Angeles from Covid-19 complications. She was 82 years old. Her career lasted a lot longer than the fateful trip of the SS Minnow… the three hour tour! Dawn was born in Reno, Nevada, and started a career in Hollywood where she appeared in TV shows…
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2020’s top 3 stories in Thailand… besides Covid-19
Covid-19 dominated headlines in 2020. Here’s the other major stories in Thailand this year as rated by the Thaiger editorial team. We’ve also prepared a story rating the Top 10 stories as ranked by you, counting the number of clicks on the stories. You can watch that HERE. February mass shooting On February 8, a Royal Thai Army soldier shot…
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Inflight catering ban on domestic flights in Thailand amid Covid-19 surge
Damn. I was looking forward to another stale sandwich wrapped in 7 layers of plastic, unable to open it for fear of elbowing the lady next to me, on my flight today. Airlines flying domestic routes within Thailand have been instructed to not serve inflight meals or drinks from today. The ban has been introduced by the Civil Aviation Authority…
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2 dead, 1 missing, as tourist boat capsizes in eastern Thailand | VIDEO
Click HERE to watch Thai news report on the story. A tourist boat carrying 12 passengers, including 2 children, has sunk in the province of Chachoengsao, just east of Bangkok. 2 people have drowned, with a third still missing. The accident happened yesterday afternoon, as the sightseeing boat was carrying tourists on the Khlong Siyad Reservoir, a popular attraction in…
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The case for temporarily closing hotel and restaurant operations
OPINION by Bill Barnett As the final days of disruptive 2020 come screeching to an erratic end, hotel, and restaurant owners are peering into an unpredictable year ahead. Here in Thailand over the past week, the tourism industry has been shaken to its core over an uptick in Covid-19 cases and backroom speculation over fears of another round of lockdowns. (Restrictions,…
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PM says there will be no national lockdown, provincial measures up to local governors
Despite a rise in Covid-19 infections in the Kingdom, Thai PM Prayut Chan-o-cha insists there will be no nationwide lockdown. He says local governors are empowered to make the necessary decisions for their own provinces, should stricter measures be required to contain the spread of the virus. The PM was speaking while on a visit to the eastern province of…
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Nonthaburi province, north of Bangkok, declared Covid-19 controlled zone
Nonthaburi, the province directly north of Bangkok, is now declared a Covid-19 controlled zone. Nonthaburi’s Bang Yai central market has been placed under “maximum control”. The 7 floor Pink Condominium has been locked down until January 12, as the 2nd wave of coronavirus continues to spread in Thailand. Outside greater Bangkok, high risk areas have also been declared in Rayong…
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WOW what a year! Thailand’s top news stories for 2020 as voted by YOU.
TOP 10 (non Covid) THAIGER STORIES FOR 2020 The Thaiger started 2020, as we all did, with high hopes and few clues that we were heading into a profound disruption for almost the entire year. Even as we were tapping away at the keyboards on January 1, 2020, there were stories emerging in Wuhan, China about a mysterious new respiratory…
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