Coronavirus (Covid-19)
Bangkok Metropolitan Administration cancels NY countdown events, asks workers to work from home

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, the municipal organisation in charge of the Greater Bangkok city area, has announced that all New Year countdown events have been cancelled after new cases of Covid-19 were found in Bangkok and surrounding provinces.
But organisations who have already organised events will be able to ask for specific permission.
The BMA is also asking the workers in Bangkok to work from home for the next 14 days. The sentence in the statement from the BMA appears as a “advisory” at this stage.
Several schools in Bangkok have announced closures, for the safety of students. At this stage, they include…
• Wattana Wittayalai
• Assumption Thon Buri
• Bangkok Christian College
• Suan Kularb College
• Thepsirin School
Currently, health authorities are conducting active tracing in construction sites, restaurants and 472 markets around Samut Sakhon and Bangkok after 689 Covid-19 cases emerged over the past 24 hours, mostly linked to migrant workers in the coastal fishing industry and markets in Samut Sakhon, which shares a provincial border with Bangkok.
The Department of Disease Control says they are currently tracking down over 10,000 people who may have come into contact with the infected migrant workers.
Thailand’s Public Health Ministry have now upgraded number of Covid-19 cases in the provincial cluster, mostly Burmese migrant workers, to 689 cases, all identified through contact tracing. Most worked in and around the provinces coastal fishing markets on the Gulf coast, according to the Department of Disease Control.
Some traced cases have been located in Suphan Buri, Nakhon Pathom, Ratchaburi, Bangkok and 3 cases in Samut Prakan (a Lao and 2 Thais). All have so far been traced to the original source of the market. The numbers are expected to rise as the testing, tracing and quarantining process continues. Importantly, the Department of Disease Control claim they have “the situation under control”.
For now, only Samut Sakhon is on a strict “lockdown” with non-essential travel banned in and out of the province plus a nightly curfew imposed until at least January 3. Migrant dormitories and camps have are now on “hard lockdown”. Some of the camps have been secured with barbed wire fences and migrant workers have been instructed not to leave the area.
The DDC say there has been no credible evidence that seafood from the market, or seafood in general, could spread Covid-19 but is urging the public to have their meals hot and not eat them raw.
The Thaiger is updating the information hourly and will advise of any changes to the current situation.
The newly identified cases in the past 24 hours has pushed Thailand’s total number of Covid-19 cases to 5,020, adding nearly 14% additional cases for the country in just one 24 hours period. Previously the highest number of cases in Thailand was 188 new cases announced on March 22.
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Election
Education minister’s wife plans to run for governor of Bangkok

The education minister of Thailand’s wife is planning to run for the governor of Bangkok when the city poll is called, in a move that puts her in direct competition with others for the backing of the ruling Palang Pracharath Party.
Nataphol Teepsuwan confirmed on Friday that his wife Taya Teepsuwan, a former core member of the now-defunct Peoples’ Democratic Reform Committee, would contest the unscheduled gubernatorial election.
Natapol met briefly with PM Prayut, with some speculating that the Government House meeting was centred around his wife’s future political career. But Natapol denied that was the focus of the meeting.
Her decision to run could be problematic as Bangkok governor Aswin Kwanmuang or former police chief Chakthip Chaijinda are expected to run under the Palang Pracharath banner. Both of those candidates were close to the party back when PM Prayut was the junta leader.
Chakthip has given signs of his intentions to run as he set up a Facebook page this month, while Aswin has not officially made up his mind whether to run or stand aside for the former national police chief.
But Natapol says his wife, who is a former deputy Bangkok governor, plans to a run as an independent if she is passed over by Palang Pracharath. The education minister said he had informed party leader Prawit Wongsuwon of his wife’s intention.
Taya is the youngest child and only daughter of the late business tycoon Chalermbhand and Khunying Sasima Srivikorn. Along with her husband, she co-founded the Rugby International School in Chonburi.
Taya was also the managing director of Srivikorn School and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from Thailand’s Chulalongkorn University as well as a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from the Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration at Chulalongkorn University. She also has a Master’s in Analysis, Design and Management of Information Systems from The London School of Economics & Political Science.
SOURCE: Bangkok Post
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Thailand
CCSA Update: 309 new Covid-19 infections in Thailand

The CCSA’s daily briefing today started with an update about a NBT news presenter who has attended the daily briefings at the CCSA studio and testing positive for Covid-19. The CCSA spokesman then announced that all people working in the CCSA studio, including himself, are defined as a “low risk” group for infections.
The CCSA spokesman says he, together with all those involved with any risk, will take a swab test this afternoon and will report the test results to the public later on. The infected NBT newscaster has been sent to the hospital already.
Today, 309 new Covid-19 cases were announced from the last 24 hours. The majority of the infections were detected from active case testing, accounting for 217 cases. Most of them were migrant workers. 80 were local transmission, while 12 cases were detected in state quarantine.
According to the CCSA spokesman, key measures to be rolled out next week will be the acceleration on proactive testing in Samut Sakhon and the outer western areas of Bangkok where the infection rate is still high. Numbers and reports from the active findings are expected to be complete by the end of next week will serve as key factors for a review of the current restrictions in place.
SOURCE: CCSA Daily Briefing
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Bangkok
Smog across Bangkok can be blamed on a ‘Dust Dome’ of pollutants

Poor air quality across Bangkok in the past week are not just caused by the PM2.5 dust. We can blame a ‘dust dome’ that is formed with low atmospheric pressure, dust and pollutants from the farmland waste burning, and greenhouse gases.
Natural Resources and Environment Minister Varawut Silpa-archa says that the pollutants come from “the improper disposal” of farming waste around Bangkok’s northern outskirts. He also asked provincial governors to ask farmers to avoid burring farm waste. If they refuse to cooperate, there might be an order to ban all outdoor burning activities in the future, while suggesting that farmers should sell their agricultural waste instead of burning it.
The mentioning of the agricultural sector being major contributors to Bangkok’s smog problems is a rare official recognition of the pollution ‘elephant in the room’.
People in Bangkok are also being encouraged to avoid outdoor activities and wear their masks when going outside to prevent both the pollutants and Covid-19. While “unhealthy level” of PM2.5 has been reported in many areas over the past week, the Department of Pollution Control is considering both short-term and long-term measures to tackle the air pollution problems.
Measures that have been rolled out include an extension of the work-from-home policy, lowering the price of low sulphur fuel in the capital and its vicinity, extensive monitoring of waste burning on farms, as well as offering higher prices for sugarcane products which were made in a sustainable manner.
For a long-term plan, the department is considering setting a new standard of air quality by lowering the “safe” threshold for PM2.5 exposure below the current level, but this is likely to happen in the next 5 years. Also, the government aims to apply the Euro-5 standard for vehicle emissions by 2024.
He also says that the pollution situation in Thailand has seen improvement after the measures were implemented. And, the number of days where [air quality] exceeded safe standards was less than 20% of the year.
SOURCE: Bangkok Post
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Vlad
Sunday, December 20, 2020 at 7:46 pm
10000 tests? So this real reason of thai success
For compare Russia make 200.000-400.000 tests per DAY
I think EU countries have same number
Stefan Svensson
Sunday, December 20, 2020 at 8:32 pm
Its time for a new lockdown, close the entertainment areas,bars and places like that.Then pray it wont be another outbreak again that gonna a devastating hit to the already suffering poor country.
Peter
Sunday, December 20, 2020 at 9:02 pm
Idiots have returned to Thailand to do 14 day quarantine, so they can escape the virus.
Now they have walked into a fire storm in a developing country, which doesn’t have the infrastructure of the West.
Stupidity knows no bounds. Having listened to the Brit and US bashing for 8 months online by a bunch of farang Uncle Tom’s, you are going to get a taste of your own medicine you hypocritical bas1tards.
Let the show begin.
Issan John
Monday, December 21, 2020 at 2:32 pm
The West’s “infrastructure” doesn’t seem to have done it much good …..
Patrick Kelly
Sunday, December 20, 2020 at 11:43 pm
Seems that the holidays have been canceled.
Thank You China ! The gift that keeps on giving.
Ynwaps
Sunday, December 20, 2020 at 11:44 pm
It’s up to the society in Thailand now to ride out this storm, as war and inequality will only further spread the disease.
I hope the Thaiger can create a motivational video for the coming weeks of turbulences.
Ian
Monday, December 21, 2020 at 4:26 am
Peter it was always coming back but they had the I’m alright jack attitudes while the west suffered our losses well it gets the old ones so they best get thier supplies and hibernate at least the young Thai girls they married will get thier inheritance
Peter
Monday, December 21, 2020 at 1:10 pm
On a number of forums, it was also the younger digital nomad types mocking.
Now the little sh1ts won’t be able to get back to mummy and daddy because BKK will be shut.
James Pate
Monday, December 21, 2020 at 5:48 am
It was only a matter of time. However, I thought the 2nd wave would start at Suvarnabhumi, not Samut Sakhon. Back in Feb., there was anti-Chinese sentiment that fairly quickly transitioned to anti-Western. Now it is anti-Burmese. Sad really, as they are one of the most vulnerable populations here. They are mostly hardworking people who do work Thais don’t want. They will suffer.