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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Sponsored How to reduce out-of-pocket medical expenses in Thailand?
Managing medical expenses in Thailand is important as healthcare costs continue to rise. The country’s healthcare system includes both public and private options, but even with the Universal Coverage Scheme (UCS) for citizens, many still face high out-of-pocket medical expenses....
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Korean virus cases skyrocket; Japanese passenger turns positive
The number of COVID-19 coronavirus cases in Korea has increased tenfold in just four days to 556, and a passenger on the virus-stricken Diamond Princess tested positive after arriving home in Japan, despite a negative result during the ship’s 14-day quarantine. Yesterday, China’s Hubei province, where the outbreak began, saw 96 deaths, another decrease, in line with the toll reported…
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China reports further reduction in new coronavirus cases, down to 397; Korea has a second death
China’s National Health Commission announced today that the country had 397 new confirmed cases of the Covid-19 coronavirus infections as of yesterday, down from 889 cases a day earlier. That brings the total number of confirmed cases in mainland China so far to 76,288. The death toll from the outbreak in mainland China had reached 2,345. Hubei province, the epicentre…
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No virus cover-up, PM tweets
PM Prayut Chan-o-cha went on Twitter yesterday, in an apparent bid to counter “fake news,” and announced there is no COVID-19 coronavirus cover-up happening in Thailand. He insisted the government is neither hiding nor distorting the number of infections in the country and said citizens should “gain confidence” in its remarkable success managing the disease. Earlier in the day, Prayut…
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Coronavirus cases more than double in South Korea to surpass 150
South Korea has reported its first death from the COVID-19 corona virus. The government reports that a 63 year old man, who died Wednesday, tested positive for the virus in a post mortem examination. The exact cause of his death has yet to be determined. He died in North Gyeongsang province, where he had been hospitalized for over 20 years,…
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Israel travel ban rankles Thailand
Thailand wants Israel to reconsider its decision, announced Tuesday, to ban Thais from entering the country in a bid to control the spread of deadly coronavirus (Covid-19). Israel banned all non-Israelis who have been in Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong and Macau in the previous 14 days. Previously, Israel’s health ministry had imposed only a 14-day house quarantine on visitors from…
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Three Thais on Yokohama virus ship have COVID-19 coronavirus
Officials today announced that three Thai nationals aboard the quarantined cruise ship Diamond Princess, moored off Yokohama, are infected with the Covid-19 coronavirus, the same day two elderly Japanese passengers are reported to have died from the disease. Foreign affairs spokesman Cherdkiat Atthakor said three Thais, one passenger and two crew members, are now being treated in hospital in Japan.…
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Two passengers of virus-hit cruise ship die in Japan
Two elderly passengers of the Diamond Princess, the coronavirus-stricken cruise ship which spent two weeks in quarantine in Japan’s Yokohama Harbour, have died. State broadcaster NHK made the announcement this morning, as a second group of passengers began disembarking after fourteen days quarantined onboard. The passengers were both Japanese, a man and woman in their 80s. More than 620 of…
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CORONAVIRUS update: Scientists debunk conspiracies, South Korea cases jump to 82
“We stand together to strongly condemn conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin.” China’s National Health Commission reports there has been 114 new deaths from the coronavirus outbreak bringing the death toll to at least 2,126. 16,433 people have now fully recovered around the world. Around the world, there are 31 new cases in South Korea…
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Korea reports 15 more coronavirus cases, total now 46
South Korea today confirmed 15 more cases of the COVID-19 coronavirus bringing its total number of infections to 46, amid growing concerns that the illness is spreading despite tighter quarantine measures. According to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), 13 new patients were found in Daegu, 300 kilometres southeast of Seoul. It’s presumed they contracted the illness…
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Chinatowns around the world fall quiet over coronavirus fears
Chinatowns around the world, some centuries old, are quiet, as businesses to survive the effects of global concern over the COVID-19 outbreak. Businesses in Australia’s oldest Chinatown enclave, dating back to the influx of fortune-seekers during an 1850s gold rush, report their earnings have dropped by more than half and they have been forced to cut staff hours dramatically, a…
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Ministry says no entry for banned cruise ship passengers, even by air
The Thai Public Health Ministry announced yesterday that no flights carrying passengers from the barred cruise ship MS Westerdam, whether chartered flights or otherwise, will be allowed to land in Thailand before the end of February. Department of Disease Control deputy chief Dr Thanarak Palitpat says the decision is the result of a discussion among authorities including the DDC, the…
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137 Thai evacuees head home after 14 day quarantine
137 Thai evacuees, repatriated from the Chinese city of Wuhan on February 4, were given a warm farewell as they started on their journeys back home from the Royal Thai Navy’s Sattahip base, south of Pattaya this morning. The Thai Deputy Public Health Minister Sathit Pitutaecha, Chon Buri governor Pakkarathorn Thienchai, naval officers and medical personnel sent the group on…
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Westerdam passengers in Thailand found virus-free
Transport Minister Saksayam Chidchob has announced that all 27 passengers from the cruise ship MS Westerdam who arrived in Thailand have tested negative for the COVID-19 coronavirus. The passengers, who disembarked in Cambodia on Valentine’s Day and came to Thailand, “…have tested negative and been allowed to continue to their destinations.” Two Thai passengers onboard the luxury cruise also showed…
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Public Health Ministry urges Thais to delay visits to Japan, Singapore
The Public Health Ministry is urging Thais to postpone any planned visits to Singapore and Japan, citing the rising number of COVID-19 coronavirus cases in the two countries. Thailand’s total confirmed cases of the virus has risen to 35. The permanent secretary at the Public Health Ministry Dr Sukhum Kanchanapima says that the virus outbreak in the two countries has…
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World travel suffers as coronavirus outbreak drags on
The Public Health Ministry is asking Thais planning trips to Japan and Singapore to reschedule their visits, saying that travellers need to be aware of the rising number of people infected by the coronavirus (Covid-19) in those two countries. Dr Sukhum Kanchanapima, the permanent secretary at the Thai Public Health Ministry, says the coronavirus outbreak had reached the third stage…
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Four people arrested after posting fake news about coronavirus
Thai police have co-ordinated raids in four province and arrested four separate people over allegations of spreading fake news about the coronavirus outbreak. Officials from the Thai Ministry of Digital for Economy and Society, Technology Crime Suppression Division along with local authorities, raided houses in Bo Win district of Chon Buri, Ban Po district of Chachoengsao province and Muang districts…
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New coronavirus case brings Thailand total to 35
Thailand has a new case of the COVID-19 coronavirus, bringing the total in the country to 35 since January, the Ministry of Public Health’s permanent secretary announced at a press conference today. The new case is a 60 year old Chinese woman whose relatives earlier contracted the virus. Of Thailand’s 35 confirmed cases since January, 15 have recovered and return…
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Thai Airways starts to trim back schedules due to loss of demand
Thai Airways is cutting back services to South Korea and Singapore out of Bangkok due to “a dramatic fall in demand” and cancellations caused by the coronavirus outbreak. The vice president of sales at Thai Airways, Nond Kalinta, says the national carrier had adjusted flight schedules to match commercial demand. He confirmed the following changes. • Flights reduce on the…
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Thailand welcomes cruise ship shunned in Vietnam over virus fears
German cruise ship AIDAvita has been welcomed in Thailand, days after it was blocked from docking in Vietnam due to fears of the COVID-19 coronavirus spreading across the region. Authorities in Vietnam’s Quang Ninh province, home to UNESCO world heritage site Ha Long Bay, barred passengers on the AIDAvita from disembarking on Thursday, according to the Vietnam News Agency. Germany’s…
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UPDATE: China coronavirus deaths reach 1665, Taiwan reports first fatality
UPDATE: Taiwan has confirmed its first death from the coronavirus. Malaysia says it won’t allow any more passengers from the Westerdam cruise ship to enter the country from Cambodia, after an American woman who flew into Kuala Lumpur was diagnosed with the coronavirus. China said today the number of coronavirus cases nationwide had reached 68,500, with the death toll rising…
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Thai healthcare worker tests positive for COVID-19 coronavirus
In a first, a Thai healthcare worker was diagnosed with the COVID-19 coronavirus yesterday. The new case brings the country’s total confirmed cases to 34 since the outbreak. Fourteen patients have recovered and returned home. Thailand has so far not recorded a fatality from the virus. The director-general of the Department of Disease Control told a news conference today that…
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Asian tourists cancelling flights, staying home
Scores of flights to Asian destinations are being cancelled after South Korea advised its citizens to delay trips to countries where the COVID-19 coronavirus has been found. Especially hard-hit are Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan. South Korea remains largely free of the virus, though one of its citizens tested positive for the virus after returning from…
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Thailand Post boosts anti-coronavirus measures
Thailand’s postal service announced this week that it’s employing health and safety measures to protect customers and staff from the COVID-19 coronavirus. According to Thai Post CEO and acting managing director Kalong Subsa-ard: “We will be using disinfectant spray at stations that receive inbound parcels from overseas. This applies to all parcels from all countries, not only China, as a…
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Coronavirus UPDATE: WHO fights the ‘infodemic’, recession fears in Europe
A total number of 67,100 cases of Coronavirus (covid-2019) have now been confirmed worldwide, along with 1,526 deaths reported and 8,193 people recovered. The number of reported full recoveries is now over 5 times the rate of reported deaths, and continues to rise each day. The infodemic… On top of the spread of the virus, there has been increasingly dangerous…
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MS Westerdam passengers, all cleared, alight in Cambodia
Passengers of the MS Westerdam, the cruise ship that spent two weeks at sea after being turned away by five countries including Thailand, over fears that someone aboard might have the COVID-19 coronavirus, finally disembarked today. The ship, carrying 1,455 passengers and 802 crew, docked in the Cambodian port town of Sihanoukville yesterday. It anchored offshore in the morning to…
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2 cruise ship allowed to dock in Phuket, prompting accusations of double standard
After the Netherlands-flagged MS Westerdam cruise ship was turned away on Tuesday and later escorted to Cambodia, some 4,000 passengers and crew from two cruise ships were allowed to alight in Phuket yesterday, after being cleared of the deadly COVID-19 coronavirus. The Bahamian-flagged Seabourn Ovation anchored at Phuket’s deep-sea port yesterday, returning from Langkawi in Malaysia. The 495 vacationers and…
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Coronavirus could cause huge damage to ASEAN economies
The Covid-19 coronavirus is expected to cause damage valued at US$2.4-3.4 billion (74.6-105.7 billion baht) to ASEAN economies, according to estimates from the Kasikorn Research Centre. The jolt will likely result from a virus-related economic slowdown in China, which has close trade ties with ASEAN nations as well as investment and tourism, the centre reports. If the outbreak can be…
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Coronavirus myths busted
The newly named Covid-19 coronavirus has killed over 1,300 people to date and infected more than 60,000 across 24 countries and territories. It’s perhaps unsurprising that myths and urban legends have sprung up surrounding the virus, both in how it’s spread and how to prevent it. The Thaiger is here to bust some of those myths, courtesy of information provided…
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UK prisoner tested for coronavirus after extradition is virus-free
UPDATE: Neither Mark Rumble nor another suspect deported to the UK have the Covid-19 coronavirus, The Daily Mail reports: “Two British prisoners including a ‘drug dealer’ who were sent home from Thailand do not have coronavirus, tests have confirmed.” A British drug suspect, arrested in Pattaya on November 2 before being extradited to the United Kingdom in January, has been…
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Coronavirus UPDATE – sharp increase in cases, UK officials battle to contain a new threat
There’s been a sharp spike in new cases of coronavirus, principally in the central Chinese province of Hubei. There are now 60,373 world cases, 59,805 in China. 1,369 people have died and over 6,000 recovered. 242 new deaths were recorded yesterday, the deadliest day since the start of the outbreak. So what’s behind the big rise? It’s not actually a spike…
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