Covid-19 News

Thailand Covid-19 news, vaccine updates, travel restrictions, and government policies—stay informed on case numbers, safety measures, and global developments. Get the latest from The Thaiger, your trusted source for Covid-19 updates in Thailand.

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    How one hospital visit in Thailand could cost more than your whole trip

    Thailand is a favourite spot for travellers who want to enjoy more while spending less. From cheap street food to low-cost hotels and fun attractions, it’s easy to stretch your budget here. But there’s one thing many people don’t think...

  • 203 Thais returning home from New Zealand and Japan

    203 Thais returning home from New Zealand and Japan

    168 Thai nationals who have been stranded in New Zealand will be returning home today. The flight left Auckland International Airport at 1.10pm local time, and will arrive at Suvarnabhumi Airport at 8:15pm. The Royal Thai Embassy revealed that 88 students in Wellington, aged between 11 and 19, will be returning on a chartered flight arranged by Thai Airways. Meanwhile,…

  • Thailand’s emergency decree extended until May 31

    Thailand’s emergency decree extended until May 31

    Thailand’s Emergency Decree will be extended for another month after it expires this Thursday. The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration on Monday recommended to extend the decree which would be extended to the end of May. The emergency decree gives the Thai PM sweeping powers and is provided for in the Thai Constitution for situations like the current Covid-19 outbreak.…

  • 3,025 household goods prices will be reduced by up to 68%

    3,025 household goods prices will be reduced by up to 68%

    The Commerce Ministry, along with dozens of companies. has announced the reduction of the cost of many household goods as the Covid-19 crisis has affected the spending power of people across the country. Minister Jurin Laksanawisit says “3,025 consumer products have now been discounted by up to 68%.” “The cheaper goods will be available until June 30.” Companies who are…

  • April 27 Covid-19 update for Thailand

    April 27 Covid-19 update for Thailand

    Dr Taweesin Visanuyothin, the spokesman of the government’s Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration, reported 9 new cases confirmed over the past 24 hour period plus 1 additional death, taking the national total numbers to 2,931 confirmed cases since the start of the outbreak. With 0ne more new fatality, Thailand’s death toll rises to 52. “Today is the first day the…

  • To wear or not to wear, that is the question. Face masks in a Covid-19 world.

    To wear or not to wear, that is the question. Face masks in a Covid-19 world.

    The hot topic du jour is face masks – to wear or not to wear. Are they useful? Do they just make wearers ‘feel’ protected, or can they actually contribute to the prevention of spreading Covid-19, or any other virus for that matter. In Asian countries, generally, it’s become a common look, as people move around and go shopping while…

  • Yala clinic at centre of Covid-19 alert

    Yala clinic at centre of Covid-19 alert

    An orthopaedic clinic in the southern border province of Yala is at the centre of a Covid-19 alert after a patient failed to reveal he was infected with the virus. Health authorities are now scrambling to track down all those who visited the clinic on April 23, urging them to report immediately to their local health office for screening. In a…

  • A viral post reveals a lack of social distancing onboard Nok Air flight

    A viral post reveals a lack of social distancing onboard Nok Air flight

    A Nok Air passenger from flight DD7809 flying from Nakhon Si Thammarat to Don Meuang Bangkok last Friday posted on her Facebook account with a picture expressing her concern about the lack of social distancing during boarding and then on the plane. “The airline notified passengers that it had to make a detour to Trang Airport to pick up additional…

  • Phuket authorities on the hunt for quarantine dodgers

    Phuket authorities on the hunt for quarantine dodgers

    Phuket police and officials from the health department are trying to track down a group of people they believe to be potential carriers of the Covid-19 virus. The group had been asked to self-quarantine, but it’s now believed they continued to meet people outside their homes and defied the direct orders of health officials. Phuket has the highest rate of…

  • Phuket’s new Covid-19 cases today (Monday)

    Phuket’s new Covid-19 cases today (Monday)

    There has been one new case announced in the southern island of Phuket today at the daily briefings. Case number 207 is a 66 year old Thai women. Her occupation is a maid and had a history of close contact with workers in the same house as confirmed case number 204. She lives in Bang Tao, Cherngtalay, and is showing…

  • Suvarnabhumi poised to re-open to limited domestic scheduled flights this Friday

    Suvarnabhumi poised to re-open to limited domestic scheduled flights this Friday

    Thailand’s biggest airport is getting ready to re-open this week. Suvarnabhumi International Airport resumes scheduled services this Friday when local airlines restart limited flights following the month of airline groundings due to lack of passengers and restrictions imposed by the Thai Government. But the BKK Airport director, Sutheerawat Suwannawat, says the lack of passengers has allowed some areas of the airport…

  • UPDATE: Scheduled passenger flight ban extended until end of May

    UPDATE: Scheduled passenger flight ban extended until end of May

    The inbound passenger flight restriction is now going to be extended another 31 days, until the end of May, whilst more repatriation flights for Thai citizens will continue this week. The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand says they will extend the ongoing ban, currently scheduled to end on April 30. The first of the temporary closures was announced on April 4. CAAT…

  • Thailand turns to China to revive post-Covid tourist economy

    Thailand turns to China to revive post-Covid tourist economy

    The Covid-19 pandemic has crushed Thailand’s tourism sector, long considered a lifeline for the nation’s already battered economy, as numbers of foreign visitors have dropped below even the worst predictions plunging 76.4% in March from last year after a 42.8% drop in February. For an economy that derives 12-14% of its gross domestic product from tourism, receipts, the impact of…

  • NY Governor offers evidence that the virus entered the US from Europe

    NY Governor offers evidence that the virus entered the US from Europe

    China has been in the sites of many as the world tries to apportion blame of the origins of Covid-19, including some world leaders. Now New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has laid out some research showing that the strains of the novel coronavirus arrived in New York from Europe, not China. He also claimed that travel bans enacted by the…

  • Curfew subjects Thailand’s many homeless to arrest

    Curfew subjects Thailand’s many homeless to arrest

    “The homeless can’t stay at home.” Earlier this month, Police in Chiang Mai arrrested “Tui,” a homeless man, for violating the national curfew imposed as part of the Emergency Decree to contain the spread of Covid-19. Police say they “found him wandering on the streets without permission from authorities or valid reasons,” and the court then sentenced Tui to 15…

  • Park chief, officers arrested for house party

    Park chief, officers arrested for house party

    A group of 8 officers from the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation are in trouble after being spotted drinking and socialising at a house party in Ngao Waterfall National Park in the southern Ranong province. They’ve all been arrested for defying the Emergency Decree. Police told reporters yesterday the 8 were rounded up last Friday night after…

  • 15 new national virus cases, 5 imported (Sunday)

    15 new national virus cases, 5 imported (Sunday)

    Thailand’s health officials have confirmed a total of 15 new cases of the Covid-19 coronavirus. Of these, 5 were imported cases of Thai nationals recently repatriated from abroad who were sent directly to mandated state quarantine. No new deaths were reported in today’s daily media update. 2,922 people have been infected in Thailand since the beginning of the outbreak in…

  • Phuket reports 4 new Covid-19 cases, all in Bang Tao (Sunday)

    Phuket reports 4 new Covid-19 cases, all in Bang Tao (Sunday)

    The southern province of Phuket reports 4 new confirmed Covid-19 cases today, all in the Bang Tao area of the island’s Cherngtalay subdistrict, bringing the total in Phuket to 206 since the outbreak began in January. One more patient has recovered, bringing that total of recovered patients to 161. 45 cases are still in hospital of which 4 are ‘severe’.…

  • Colour-coding gives insight to Government’s post-April 30 strategy

    Colour-coding gives insight to Government’s post-April 30 strategy

    The government and the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration is coding the 77 provinces of Thailand into colours. From green, where no Covid-19 cases have been found, up to red, where new, infected patients are discovered in the past 7 days. The National Security Council is expected to present a proposal tomorrow to possibly extend the Emergency Decree, Tourism and Sports Minister…

  • With humans indoors, nature makes a comeback

    With humans indoors, nature makes a comeback

    With millions around the world housebound for the duration of the Covid-19 pandemic, Netflix and YouTube are making a killing and lots of people are finding new hobbies. But there’s another consequence to fewer humans on the streets and trampling around nature. Animals on land and in the sea are taking back areas claimed by humans over the past weeks…

  • Tourism minister, TAT hope for a return of limited domestic travel

    Tourism minister, TAT hope for a return of limited domestic travel

    For weeks, interprovincial travel has been heavily restricted if not outright banned due to the Emergency Decree announced on March 24 to combat the spread of Covid-19. And although the National Security Council is expected to present a proposal on Monday to extend the Decree, Tourism and Sports Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakan expects the government to ease some measures and allow…

  • Phuket adds 4 Covid-19 cases, 3 in Bang Tao (Saturday)

    Phuket adds 4 Covid-19 cases, 3 in Bang Tao (Saturday)

    4 new Covid-19 cases have been confirmed in the southern island province of Phuket today. The island has the highest rate of infection and the second highest number of cases, after Bangkok. A single new case was reported this morning, bringing the total there to 202: a 60 year old Thai woman who lives in Witchit, Phuket Town. She fell…

  • Thailand reports 53 new cases today, 1 more death (Saturday)

    Thailand reports 53 new cases today, 1 more death (Saturday)

    A spokesman for the government’s Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration today announced 53 new Covid-19 cases confirmed over a 24 hour period, and 1 additional death. Most of today’s new cases are imported from outside the country. 42 of the new cases are illegal migrant workers currently at the detention centre at the Sadao checkpoint bordering Malaysia, another 7 in Yala,…

  • Housing registration not required to receive free masks, says ministry

    Housing registration not required to receive free masks, says ministry

    False reports are circulating online that housing registration details are required to receive free face masks from the government, and the Ministry of Industry is publicly warning people not to believe them, calling them “fake news.” A spokesperson says that reports are appearing on online media that the ministry plans to distribute free cloth masks by post, but only after…

  • Public health must take priority – Thai PM

    Public health must take priority – Thai PM

    PM Prayut Chan-o-cha has stressed that public health will take priority when the government makes a decision on Tuesday whether to ease restriction imposed by the Emergency Decree to fight the spread of Covid-19. At a press briefing at Government House yesterday, Prayut said that although Thailand has, up to now, managed to flatten the infection curve, the nation “cannot…

  • “Healthy stickers” to be required of all Buriram residents starting May 1

    “Healthy stickers” to be required of all Buriram residents starting May 1

    Buriram, one of Thailand’s major provinces in the lower northeastern region know as Issan, will soon require residents to carry a “healthy sticker” whenever they go outside. The provincial governor made the announcement yesterday and said the measure will come into effect on May 1. The sticker, to be attached to residents’ ID cards, will be required as a proof…

  • Many farangs chipping in to help their stricken communities – VIDEO

    Many farangs chipping in to help their stricken communities – VIDEO

    Thai media are reporting that foreigners, together with their their Thai friends, are doing great work in Chiang Mai to ease the economic hardship felt by many due to the Covid-19 pandemic. MCOT reports that a group of foreigners as well as Thais outside a shop near the Chang Pheuak gate have been handing out 300 – 400 ready meals…

  • Government ramps up production of 5 anti-Covid-19 medicines, procurement of others

    Government ramps up production of 5 anti-Covid-19 medicines, procurement of others

    The Government Pharmaceutical Organisation is increasing production of five drugs used treat Covid-19 to ensure adequate stocks for all patients. A GPO spokesmansaid that excluding Favipiravir also known as Avigan, Thailand has five drugs to treat Covid-19, totalling 39.6 million tablets: there are 1.8 million tablets of Chloroquine, an anti-malarial drug; 30.6 million tablets of an antiretroviral drug containing Lopinavir and…

  • Experimental antiviral drug Remdesivir fails first clinical trial

    Experimental antiviral drug Remdesivir fails first clinical trial

    Reports are emerging that the experimental antiviral drug Remdesivir, developed by the American pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences, has failed in its first randomised clinical trial to treat Covid-19, according to draft documents accidentally published by the World Health Organization and seen by the Financial Times. Gilead disputed how the now deleted post characterised the findings, saying the data showed a…

  • Thailand seeks more quarantine locations as residents return from OS

    Thailand seeks more quarantine locations as residents return from OS

    The director of the Institution for Urban Disease Control says more Covid-19 quarantine sites are needed in Bangkok and elsewhere around the country as more Thais arrive back from overseas. Nation Thailand reports that Anek Mungaomklang confirms that the government is looking for appropriate places to house repatriated Thai residents, who must undergo a mandatory 14 day quarantine period. There…

  • Hungry residents in Bangkok queue for rice handouts

    Hungry residents in Bangkok queue for rice handouts

    Thousands of Bangkok residents who have had their income cut off or severely reduced by the Covid-19 restrictions have been queueing for supplies of rice donated by some of the city’s Good Samaritans. Thai Residents reports that officials were on hand yesterday to check the lines of people in Santiphap Park in the city’s Ratchathewi district and ensure social distancing…