- Covid-19 News
Who will receive free coronavirus testing?
Free Covid-19 coronavirus testing will be provided for 4 groups of people who are considered ‘patients under investigation’… this from the government’s Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration Thailand has vastly raised the number of centres and clinics certified to perform testing for the virus, and more are expected by the end of this month. A former deputy PM yesterday posted…
- Covid-19 News
Police say most Chiang Mai curfew violators drunk
More than 250 people have been arrested in Chiang Mai province since the national state of emergency was enacted on April 3 to fight the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus, after breaking its subsequent curfew. Police say most were drunk. Another 43 people were arrested overnight on Tuesday for violating curfew. Police report that amongst those arrested, 2 were in…
- Covid-19 News
UPDATE: Visa amnesty signed by PM
UPDATE: PM Prayut Chan-o-cha today signed an executive order granting visa amnesty to foreigners left stranded in Thailand by the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic. The order, released by the Ministry of Interior, grants “special permission for some classes of aliens to stay in the Kingdom.” It was signed by Prayuth and head of the Ministry of Interior, Anupong Paochinda. ORIGINAL STORY:…
- Covid-19 News
International visitor numbers down 35% January-March, exceeding worst predictions
International visitor numbers to Thailand from January to March dropped by 8.5 million, or 35.3% year-on- year, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand. You can be sure the specific numbers for March would have been a lot worse. The biggest decline, unsurprisingly, was in Chinese visitor numbers, which dropped by 59.4% compared to 2019, to around 2.4 million.…
- Covid-19 News
111 new Thai coronavirus cases. 3 more deaths, all foreigners
Thailand’s National Covid-19 Coronavirus Disease Management Centre has announced 111 new confirmed cases of the Covid-19 coronavirus today. Total cases now stand at 2,369 nationwide. 3 foreign men died, pushing the total death toll up to 30. 42 of today’s new cases were all returnees from a religious festival in Indonesia. The new fatalities include a 48 year old Russian man…
- Covid-19 News
Chiang Mai bans booze to battle coronavirus
There’s likely to be a rush on for booze over the next few days in Chiang Mai. The northern province is banning alcohol sales for 10 days, from April 10 – 20 in its local battle with the Covid-19 coronavirus. Provincial governor Charoenrit Sanguansat issued the order yesterday. He says the Chiang Mai Communicable Disease Committee has already issued emergency…
- Covid-19 News
Health ministry begs children to ‘save parents’ and avoid Songkran visits
Songkran, the traditional Thai New Year festival, is typically a week long celebration including a mass exodus to the provinces as dutiful children visit their homes bringing best wishes to their elders. This year’s celebrations have been postponed indefinitely to prevent that exodus, for fear of spreading the Covid-19 coronavirus to the provinces and among the elderly. Now the the Department…
- Covid-19 News
Phuket reports 14 new coronavirus cases, total now 140
Phuket has reported 14 new Covid-19 coronavirus cases today (Wednesday). The island is on virtual lockdown, especially Patong, home of the Bangla Road red light area, the flashpoint of most of the island’s infections. The new number bring the island’s infections to 140. Phuket has closed off all land and sea routes and barred entry to all but essential goods vehicles,…
- Covid-19 News
Government doubles cash stimulus period for informal workers
The Thai government is doubling the period of monthly cash handouts for “informal workers,” from 3 months to 6. Finance Minister Uttama Savanayana made the announcement after yesterday’s weekly Cabinet meeting. The government initially only planned to provide cash to 3 million people for 3 months. The new stimulus marks a huge investment by the Thai government to keep the…
- Covid-19 News
More than 600 prosecuted for violating emergency decree
The national state of emergency declared on March 26 and the resultant curfews are no laughing matter, and violators are being prosecuted to the full extent of the law. More than 600 people nationwide have been prosecuted for defying the emergency decree invoked to contain the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus. A spokesman for the Office of the Attorney General says…
- Crime News
Facebook page advocates violence against ‘shit tourists’ in Phuket
Following up from yesterday’s report there has been no action taken to remove a Facebook page advocating violence against “shit tourists” stranded in Phuket. ‘Spotlight Thailand’, usually a ‘whistleblower’ for local corruption and fuelled by the admin’s political views, has nearly 600,000 followers. Now this week’s posts are going viral, spreading a disturbing message from local Phuket ‘vigilantes’, commenting about…
- Crime News
Police hunt Burmese man accused of killing Chon Buri boy
Police in Chon Buri have launched a manhunt for a Burmese worker who is a suspect in the murder of an 11 year old boy. The boy’s body was found in a cassava farm in the province’s Sri Racha district on Sunday. Police believe the 49 year old Burmese national known only as “Wan,” may still be hiding in Chon…
- Covid-19 News
Phuket adds Kathu and Chalong sub-districts to ‘lockdown’ list
Chalong and Kathu districts are now being added to Phuket’s “lock down” list by the Phuket Governor. The notices, like the others for Rawai, Karon and Patong, say all non-essential vehicles are banned entry or exit into these two areas, including public transport. “People are asked to say in their homes, and public health teams will be deployed to check…
- Covid-19 News
Interior ministry sends new measures to provincial governors to fight coronavirus
The permanent secretary of Thailand’s interior ministry has sent an urgent communiqué to the nation’s provincial governors, telling them that the newly formed National Covid-19 Coronavirus Disease Management Centre will require new measures at the provincial level to combat the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus. These measures are issued under the national state of emergency declared last week by the…
- Covid-19 News
51 new virus cases nationwide, infections among health workers rise
New confirmed cases of the Covid-19 coronavirus in Thailand fell to only 51 today, the lowest number in weeks. Sadly, the new cases include 13 health workers. The number had trended steadily down until yesterday, when it shot back above 100. 3 additional deaths were also reported today. Total confirmed infections in the country now stand at 2,220, the cumulative…
- Covid-19 News
British PM running government from hospital – the latest
Boris Johnson, the British PM, has become the first world leader hospitalised by the Covid-19 coronavirus. He was admitted to hospital for tests last night after suffering “persistent symptoms 10 days after testing positive for the virus”. The UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab will chair the Government’s Covid-19 daily meeting after Boris Johnson was hospitalised as a “precautionary step” although…
- Covid-19 News
Virus kills 630 in a single day in US state of New York
The Covid-19 coronavirus killed 630 people over 24 hours in New York state, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced yesterday, the worst day yet for the US state hit hardest by the pandemic so far. Infections in the state doubled in just six days. Cases worldwide have doubled in the last week to over 1.2 million. As of 11:04 Thai time today…
- Covid-19 News
102 new Covid-19 cases today (Sunday), total now 2,169, 3 more deaths
Thailand now has 2,169 confirmed cases of the Covid-19 coronavirus, after the newly formed Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration reported 102 new cases this morning (Sunday). 3 new deaths were also reported, bringing the total to 23 since the outbreak first emerged in January. Taweesilp Visanuyothin, spokesman for the centre and the Public Health Ministry, made the announcements at today’s…
- Covid-19 News
10 new coronavirus cases in Phuket today (Sunday)
The island of Phuket in Thailand’s south has reported 10 new Covid-19 coronavirus cases today (Sunday), bringing the total to 119. Today’s new cases aren’t all in Patong, as has been the trend over the past week, with new cases being reported in Bang Tao, just north of Surin Beach area. Among the confirmed cases announced today are six members of…
- Covid-19 News
Broke and stranded, Russian tourists take shelter in Phuket temple
When their flight was eventually cancelled, they had no money left and decided to walk from the airport. They didn’t know where to go. When they came across Wat Mai Khao they asked to take refuge there. Tourism authorities in Phuket are now trying to help the 3 stranded Russian tourists who have taken shelter at the local temple. Their…
- Covid-19 News
Even if effective, Thailand’s curfew may be extended
Deputy PM Wissanu Krea-ngam told reporters on Friday night that even if the current nationwide curfew, currently 10pm to 4am, shows signs of helping reduce gatherings and preventing crime, it could be extended. “The primary purpose of the curfew is to encourage social distancing and combat the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus.” Critics of the curfew say the limited 6…
- Covid-19 News
Japan offers anti-flu drug Avigan for free to fight coronavirus
Japan’s PM Shinzo Abe says Japan is offering the anti-flu drug Avigan free of charge to countries battling the Covid-19 coronavirus. The drug, developed by a group firm of Fujifilm Holdings, has shown early signs of being effective in helping to treat the virus. Chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga told a press conference that some 30 countries have made requests…
- Covid-19 News
Officer who allowed 152 returnees to leave airport without quarantine has been ‘recalled’
152 Thais who arrived home from the US on Friday were inexplicably allowed to return to their homes to self quarantine, rather than endure the mandatory 14 day quarantine at state facilities faced by other arrivals. As a result, the permanent secretary of the defence ministry has recalled an army major-general from Suvarnabhumi International Airport and ordered an investigation. A…
- Northern Thailand News
146 horses dead in Korat of African Horse Sickness
African Horse Sickness, a viral disease which affects only animals, has now killed 146 horses in the northeastern province of Nakhon Ratchasima, or Korat. The chief of the provincial livestock development office says 13 other horses also had severe symptoms. The deaths have so far been limited to the province’s Pak Chong district. Previously, tests confirmed that more than 100…
- Covid-19 News
Feverish woman spits at health workers on train – VIDEO
A woman with a high fever spat on health officials who tried to offer her a face mask on a train bound for the northern province of Khon Kaen. The incident immediately sparked Covid-19 coronavirus fears and panic amongst the train’s other passengers. The 53 year old woman, whose name was withheld, boarded the train on the Kaeng Khoi-Khon Kaen route…
- Covid-19 News
British businessman jumps to his death in Bangkok
A British businessman is dead in an apparent suicide this morning in Bangkok. The man, whose name is being withheld pending notification of kin, jumped from the outbound Srirat expressway onto Ramkhamhaeng Road in Bangkok’s Hua Mak district. Police declared the man dead at the scene. The man had left an Izuzu D-Max pickup truck parked on the Sirat Expressway…
- Covid-19 News
Journalists barred from field reporting during curfew hours
“There shouldn’t be any news during that 6 hour period.” Journalists have been instructed not to report in the field during the nationwide curfew that went into effect last night night. Deputy PM Wissanu Krea-ngam told reporters at the government’s Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration that journalists will not be exempted from the curfew, though he said that newspaper circulation,…
- Covid-19 News
Thailand: 89 new coronavirus cases confirmed, 1 new death (Saturday)
Thailand now has an ‘official’ total of 2067 Covid-19 coronavirus cases, with 89 new cases confirmed over the last 24 hours and 1 new death reported. Total reported deaths now stand at 20. A spokesman for the government’s newly formed Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration, made the announcement today (Saturday). This is the lowest daily number in some time, perhaps…
- Covid-19 News
8 curfew violators arrested in Phuket
Under Thailand’s state of emergency, a nationwide curfew has been imposed between the hours of 10pm and 4am. Last night 8 people, including 5 Thais, 2 Burmese men and 1 Chinese were arrested in the Patong area of the southern island province of Phuket for breaching the curfew, which began last night to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus.…
- Covid-19 News
Police warn of harsh punishments for curfew violators
“We will quickly forward the case to prosecutors and ask the court to hand them harsh punishments without sentence suspension.” Police are warning that that people who leave their homes during curfew hours will be prosecuted and face harsh punishments. The warning comes after amid national curfew went into effect last night under the recently imposed state of emergency. The…
