- Covid-19 News
New Covid-19 specialist hospital to open as Thai government steps up response
The Thai government plans to use a freshly constructed hospital as a Covid-19-only patient hospital. Yesterday the number of infections in Thailand rose by 32 cases for a total of 114, the largest single rise in new daily cases. The Thai PM was speaking about the possibilities of moving to Stage 3 after chairing a meeting yesterday on new measures…
- Northern Thailand News
Summer storms batter Korat, Buri Ram
Sudden summer storms caused extensive damage in two provinces in Thailand’s northeast yesterday: many villages in tambon Nong Ma Nao in Khong district of Nakhon Ratchasima, also known as Korat, were struck by a summer storm late last night. Numerous houses were severely damaged by the storm, which started at about 11pm. Some structures were entirely demolished. The roofing sheets…
- Covid-19 News
PM: Nightlife stays open for business
Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-cha announced he has rejected, for the time being, the suggestion from Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul to temporarily close the country’s massive nightlife industry. Anutin Charnvirakul said yesterday the suggestion was one of several measures he and the Ministry of Public Health would bring up with the PM tomorrow. But as social media exploded, fiercely…
- Covid-19 News
Huge jump as Thailand confirms 32 new coronavirus cases
Thailand today confirmed 32 new cases of the Covid-19 coronavirus. The announcement was made at an afternoon press conference with the Department of Disease Control, and confirmed by The Ministry of Public Health. The list of new infections is varied, and includes nine from a boxing gym, three more who had contact with a cluster that had a party with…
- Covid-19 News
83 students returning from Italy quarantined
83 Thai students arriving on a Thai Airways flight from Italy were taken from U-Tapao International Airport to Sattahip naval base in Chon Buri this morning for Covid-19 coronavirus screening. Six students had fevers and were separated and taken to nearby hospitals for tests and a 14 day mandatory quarantine. The other 77 were taken to guesthouses within the naval…
- Covid-19 News
Thailand now lists UK, USA as “high risk” countries
Thailand has added the UK, USA and several other countries to the list of countries it regards as being “high risk” for Covid-19 coronavirus contagion. The list now includes: Japan, France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, the UK and USA. An update posted on the Tourism Authority of Thailand website yesterday advised travellers arriving in Thailand from these…
- Northern Thailand News
Khon Kaen University students in anti-government demonstration
“We are afraid of the virus. But, we are also duty-bound to study and seek the government’s ouster.” Adding to a growing trend, students at Khon Khaen University in northeastern Thailand held a second demonstration last night, despite fears of the Covid-19 coronavirus spread, saying they’ve “had enough” of the government. Students from all departments gathered at the multi-purpose ground…
- Covid-19 News
Government tries, fails to clarify visa-on-arrival confusion
After days of rumours, assertions and flip-flops, Thailand’s Foreign Ministry in a press briefing yesterday provided some much-needed clarity regarding visa-on-arrival (VOA) status for 18 countries and visa exemption for three countries with high infection rates of the Covid-19 coronavirus: they are cancelled. Cherdkiat Atthakor, director-general and spokesman of the Foreign Ministry’s Information Department says the cancellations are in place…
- Covid-19 News
Health minister to “suggest” closing bars, nightclubs
Thailand’s gaffe-prone public health minister and deputy PM Anutin Charnvirakul is back at it, telling a press conference this afternoon that the Public Health Ministry will “suggest additional precautions” to the government and Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha on Monday, including the temporary closure of bars and entertainment venues, including nightclubs, concerts, live music venues and other venues where people congregate.…
- Crime News
Wife and sister stabbed to death in Chon Buri, second domestic murder in a day
Police in Chon Buri province are hunting a suspect who allegedly stabbed his wife and her sister to death in the central province’s Panthong District yesterday. Panthong police were notified of the incident, at a shrimp fishing pond on Panthong-Baankhao Road, at 6:30pm. Police arriving at the pond and adjacent home found it locked. They broke the bedroom door to…
- Politics News
PM urges unity in the face of adversity
In a nation battered by drought, a slowing economy and the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak, Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha has appealed to the public to unite and join the government in its efforts to overcome. In a public statement yesterday, the PM said some of the measures adopted by his administration to cope with the threat of coronavirus contagion are…
- Covid-19 News
Body of Chinese man lies untouched for hours over coronavirus fears
A Chinese man who fell to his death from a Bangok hotel room yesterday was left lying untouched for more than six hours, as responders feared contracting the Covid-19 coronavirus from the body. Police, who were notified at about 12;30pm, say the 39 year old Chinese national was staying in a room on the sixth floor of the hotel, which…
- Covid-19 News
Doctors warn Thailand unprepared for Stage 3 virus outbreak
The Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak is still only at the second stage in Thailand, permanent secretary for public health Sukhum Kanchanapimai said yesterday, meaning the spread is still limited and mostly confined to overseas returnees, foreigners from affected countries and those in close contact with either group. But an association of doctors is warning that the nation might not be equipped…
- Covid-19 News
Monkeys plunder town hall building in South, apparently searching for food
Days after a pitched battle between rival monkey gangs rocked Lop Buri in central Thailand, dozens, perhaps hundreds of monkeys have ransacked an old town hall building in the southern province of Prachuap Khiri Khan, forcing staff to flee. It’s believed in both instances that the drop in tourism caused by the Covid-19 coronavirus, combined with dry weather and drought,…
- Covid-19 News
Thailand’s virus testing goes to the next level
There are currently 35 labs in Thailand that can test up to 200 specimens daily, and 20 more are expected to open soon. But there’s now a “superlab” that can perform 4000 tests per day. The facility, unveiled today by the Public Health Ministry’s Department of Medical Sciences, will use the Rapid Polymerase Chain reaction method of testing. A department…
- Pattaya News
Russian overstayer busted for drugs in Pattaya
Chon Buri Provincial Police arrested a Russian man today in relation to a visa overstay and reports that he was selling narcotics to tourists, predominantly visiting East Europeans at bars and nightclubs in Pattaya’s Walking Street. Russian national Maxim Kurbatov, aged 33, barefoot, shirtless and visibly intoxicated, was swooped on by several officers outside his rented house, along with two…
- Crime News
Serial thief who robbed Russian couple at knifepoint in Pattaya re-arrested
Police in Pattaya have re-arrested a thief who was involved in a robbery and knife attack on a Russian couple five years ago. A team of Pattaya City Police arrested 29 year old Thai national “Manat” yesterday afternoon. Another Thai man, 60 year old Niphon Meechaiyo, was also arrested for buying stolen items and allegedly fencing them. Police seized six…
- Covid-19 News
Thousands laid off, millions of baht lost as Chiang Mai elephant camps close
Elephant businesses in Chiang Mai and elsewhere in Northern Thailand are being wiped out in their dozens by the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak. Most have closed their doors and laid off thousands of staff. Those that remain open are haemorrhaging money. According to Boonthachai Lert, chairman of Mae Taeng Elephant Camp and a spokesperson for the industry, 85 of Chiang Mai’s…
- Covid-19 News
“Little ghosts” going home
Some of the Thai nationals dubbed “phee noi” (little ghosts), who recently returned from South Korea and were quarantined at a naval base in Chon Buri’s Sattahip district are today being sent to their hometowns. Public Health Ministry and Royal Thai Navy officials agreed this week that many of the migrant workers can be released. All are suspected of being…
- Covid-19 News
Thailand confirms five new coronavirus cases
The Public Health Ministry confirmed five new Covid-19 coronavirus cases this morning in its daily press briefing. The new cases take the total number of infections in the country to 75 since January. 34 patients have recovered and been discharged from hospital. Meanwhile, worried citizens continue to have difficulty buying face masks and hand sanitiser due to short supply and…
- Covid-19 News
China says US military may have brought virus to China
In an escalating war of words with Washington, China’s Foreign Ministry suggested yesterday that the US military might have brought the Covid-19 coronavirus to the Chinese city of Wuhan, long considered the source of the outbreak. China has taken great offence at comments by US officials accusing it of being slow to react to the virus, first detected in Wuhan…
- Northern Thailand News
Soldiers sent to fight forest fires in the North
With Chiang Mai again declared the world’s most polluted city today, and with air quality worsening across northern Thailand, soldiers from Royal Thai Army 3rd Army Region have been deployed to detect and fight forest fires. Forest fires and agricultural burning, both in Thailand and neighbouring Cambodia, have created extremely poor air quality levels. Rangers from the 35th Scout Regiment…
- Tourism News
Old “falangs” are Pattaya beach vendors’ lifeline in coronavirus downturn
Old expats and Thais are the only thing keeping Pattaya beach vendor in business, through the coronavirus tourism downturn. One vendor, Pha Aree, who has been renting beach chairs and umbrellas for 30 years, says she’s survived more than her share of crises, the tourism downturns during the 2004 tsunami, SARS, political strife and numerous military coups. She’ll get through…
- Covid-19 News
Lazada investigating allegations of facemask price gouging
Online marketplace Lazada is investigating an allegation by the Commerce Ministry’s yesterday that protective facemasks for the Covid-19 coronavirus are being sold via its platform at illegally high prices. The masks were declared a price-controlled item in Thailand on February 4. Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanawisit ordered a complaint filed against Lazada for allegedly allowing sales of masks by vendors at…
- Covid-19 News
UPDATE: SCB becomes third bank to stop exchanging foreign cash
Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) today became the third Thai bank to cease exchanging foreign cash, shut down its exchange booths and quarantine booth staff for fourteen days as a result of the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak. The move comes after a similar move by Kasikorn Bank over the weekend – see original story below. Yesterday afternoon saw Krungthai Bank follow suit.…
- Crime News
Grab driver turns himself in over missing wallet: cash still missing
A Grab taxi driver has turned himself in to police in Chiang Mai police after a Dutch tourist lost 500 euros at an exchange booth in the city. The 27 year old Duct national, identified as “Edwin T.” reported to police after dropping his wallet at a booth at in the city’s Saphan Lek on Monday. CCTV showed a Grab…
- South Thailand News
200 landmines cleared from old battleground near Burmese border
The army’s Thailand Mine Action Centre (TMAC) has announced that they’ve cleared more than 200 landmines from a former battlefield in the southern province of Chumphon, near the Burmese border. TMAC chief Wisut Uthitwattana says the 6.6 square kilometre area was marked as a potential landmine zone as it was the site of battles between ethnic insurgents and Burmese troops.…
- Covid-19 News
Thailand confirms 11 new coronavirus cases
Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health announced 11 new confirmed cases of the Covid-19 coronavirus at its press briefing today. The new cases bring the total of confirmed cases in Thailand to 70. The ministry said the new patients were found infected in a cluster, the first since the virus struck the country in January. Officials say the eleven were at…
- Crime News
Businessman murdered in front of family in southern Thailand
A businessman in Thailand’s southern Trang province is dead after being shot down in home Tuesday in front of his family. Police say the murder occurred about 9:35pm. Thai media report that 32 year old Suchart Kongpeng was eating watermelon with his family when hooded gunman in a white shirt broke into the house and opened fire with a 12-gauge…
- Central Thailand News
Monkey brawl shocks Lop Buri – VIDEO
Central Thailand’s Lop Buri province was a battleground yesterday, with fierce skirmishes raging through city streets. Fortunately no casualties were reported. No human ones, anyway. Rival monkey gangs took to the streets and brawled for hours. Lopburi is home to two monkey clubs, with thousands of members: city monkeys and temple monkeys. The temple monkeys control the area around Phra Prang…
