Coronavirus (Covid-19)
Chinese propaganda flick released about the Wuhan lockdown
A new, state-backed film marking the anniversary of the Covid-19 Wuhan lockdown, is using propaganda to praise the central Chinese city. The documentary “Days and Nights in Wuhan” chronicles the suffering that the city’s 11 million residents endured during the 76 day lockdown. 30 filmmakers contributed to the film which included footage of medical staff and front-line workers.
The film joins other documentaries centered on the Wuhan lockdown, including one that was produced by an activist artist that led to him fleeing the country after being harrassed by China’s Communist Party. “Coronation” was rejected by festivals, theatres, and streaming services in which the creator speaks about fears over the offending government which tightly controls what films can be shown inside the nation and abroad.
The new film was directed by Cao Jinling and has already debuted in Wuhan but the audience number were ‘underwhelming’. The film is set to be released to other cities across the weekend. But it is not clear if the Chinese government will allow it to be shown overseas.
“We wanted to record the journey of battling against the Covid-19 epidemic via motion picture. Some of the details, including the intense care, anxious waiting, heartbreaking farewells and hopeful rebirths, might strike a chord with viewers.”
The lockdown imposed on January 23 of last year, was eventually extended to surrounding areas in Hubei province, seeing some 56 million people unable to leave their homes. Hospitals and morgues became overwhelmed at the height of the crisis as Wuhan accounted for most of China’s 4,635 death toll.
Meanwhile, China has finally gave permission for the World Health Organisation to send a team of international experts to begin investigating the virus’ origins. Experts mostly agree that the coronavirus emerged from a Wuhan food market where live wild animals that carry the virus were sold. But China’s government has all but refuted the claim by insinuating that the virus was possibly brought into the country by US soldiers.
Other conspiracy theories are abound, but the notion that the virus was not from Wuhan has done well with many residents, who maintain the virus came from somewhere else. Such beliefs by those residents have also propelled them to view themselves as victims.
SOURCE: Associated Press
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Coronavirus (Covid-19)
Second batch of China’s Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine to arrive in Thailand on March 25
A second order of China’s Sinovac Covid-19 vaccines are expected to arrive on March 25, Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul announced today. 800,000 doses are set to be sent to Thailand later this month.
Along with informing the Thai government on the expected arrival date for the vaccines, Chinese officials also asked that the Thai government consider vaccinating Chinese nationals who are living in Thailand and establishing of a China Immunisation Centre for Overseas Chinese. Nation Thailand reports “Thailand will continue to seek support for the vaccine from China as a friend.”
There’s also talk of a travel bubble between the 2 countries for those who are vaccinated against the coronavirus.
The first batch of 200,000 doses arrived last month along with another shipment of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Altogether, the Thai government ordered 2 million doses of China’s Sinovac vaccine.
SOURCE: Nation Thailand
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Coronavirus (Covid-19)
Travellers undergoing yacht quarantine to wear wristbands to track location and monitor health
Foreign tourists travelling to Thailand by yacht and undergoing the mandatory quarantine period onboard the vessel will be asked to wear a smart wristband to monitor their health and track their location. The Digital Economy Promotion Agency teamed up with Advanced Info Service, known as AIS, and Phuket tourism operators to launch the so-called “Digital Yacht Quarantine” programme.
Apparently, tourist disappearances aren’t that uncommon and the digital tracking wristbands will help make sure tourists are safe. Here’s what the Bangkok Post wrote:
The use of the wristband also ensures the safety of tourists as about two tourists disappear from Phuket each month while travelling and it costs 4-5 million baht to search for each person.
Along with tracking location, the smart wristbands also monitor pulse, blood pressure and body temperature. If there is an emergency, an alert will be sent to authorities.
The yacht quarantine is expected to bring in 1.8 billion baht in tourism revenue, according to the Bangkok Post. About 100 yachts set to dock in Thailand with around 300 to 500 tourists are expected to undergo the onboard quarantine.
Since restrictions were imposed last year on international travel, tourism officials have been brainstorming ways to bring in foreign travellers safely, without risking the spread of the coronavirus, to help revive tourism dependent areas. Last year, Phuket lost 320 billion baht in revenue and the number of tourists on the island dropped from 40,000 to 50,000 visitors per day to just hundreds, according to the Post.
The agency’s president and chief executive Nuttapon Nimmanphatcharin says the island province is a “magnet” tourist attraction.
“Tourism is a key sector where technology can be used to address the problem and boost travel.”
SOURCE: Bangkok Post
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Coronavirus (Covid-19)
Thailand to issue vaccine certificate to everyone who gets 2 doses of Covid jab
Thailand’s Public Health Minister says everyone who receives both doses of a Covid-19 vaccine will be issued with a vaccine certificate. The vaccine certificate will be similar to the vaccination books already in circulation for some time and used to prove inoculation against yellow fever. According to a Coconuts report, both the paper and online version of the certificate will cost 50 baht and will be available from hospitals administering the vaccines.
While there is currently no standard vaccine passport, with most countries waiting for World Health Organisation guidance on the matter, it’s hoped Thailand’s vaccine certificate could help citizens with international travel plans. Anutin says recipients can use them for international travel and the certificates will have a validity of 1 year.
The government is also considering a reduction in mandatory quarantine for vaccinated foreigners entering the Kingdom. A proposal going before the government’s Covid-19 task force on Monday includes cutting quarantine to 7 days for vaccinated visitors or reducing it to 10 days for unvaccinated arrivals who have tested negative 72 hours prior to travel. It’s understood the 7 day quarantine would apply to travellers who have been vaccinated for at least 2 weeks, but no longer than 3 months.
The proposals come as vaccine rollouts continue around the world, although Anutin points out that travellers from South Africa will not be eligible for reduced quarantine, due to the highly-contagious variant detected there, which health officials fear may be more resistant to vaccines.
Meanwhile, the Health Minister has even hinted at quarantine being cancelled completely if Thailand manages to inoculate 70% of people with underlying conditions and those working in the health and tourism sectors by October. Vaccine registration is set to kick-off in May, with the full national rollout beginning in June, when additional doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine are expected to arrive.
SOURCE: Coconuts
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Slugger
Friday, January 22, 2021 at 5:20 pm
July 2019 Covid in sewage in EU. November 2019 a case in America. Need I go on?
Conspiracy?
Issan John
Friday, January 22, 2021 at 6:16 pm
No … and no.
Leo Z
Friday, January 22, 2021 at 11:13 pm
Too bad (for that theory) that hospitals were not overwhelmed in the EU and the US in July-December 2019. It was Wuhan in January 2020 where the hospitals were overwhelmed.
Barry Crews
Friday, January 22, 2021 at 7:36 pm
State-backed film? Not worth the paper used for the script. China – specifically the CCP Proletariat – are doing nothing but marking themselves as idiots of self-denial by releasing (in their pea-brains) face-saving propaganda.
Buttaxe
Saturday, January 23, 2021 at 12:06 pm
You are aware that Chinese, like Japanese and Koreans, have higher IQs then caucasians like you Barry. Furthermore, the ‘pea-brained’ proletariat are well aware that state TV is propaganda – they nick-name it the ‘paradise channel’. But you Barry, KNOW that everything the BBC or CNN says is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, with no agenda at all. That’s why you’re here, repeating verbatim their talking points LOL. So at the end of the day, who is actually more brainwashed…
J West
Saturday, January 23, 2021 at 4:37 pm
Odd comment , given that the widely discredited IQ test hasn’t been used by psychologists for over thirty years.
Buttaxe
Sunday, January 24, 2021 at 2:22 pm
Pedantic comment given ethnic Chinese, Koreans and Japanese outperform their caucasian counterparts academically everywhere. Likewise suggesting the IQ test is ‘widely discredited’, both the IQ test and variants therefore are WIDELY used today, including in the US government and military – not a great example of intelligent recruiting I’ll grant you, but nevertheless an example.
Steve
Friday, January 22, 2021 at 8:58 pm
Yes but the problem is the film is not for western audiences, it is for Chinese audiences to brainwash them, and it will work. They already are saying the virus came from the west.
dispensed
Friday, January 22, 2021 at 11:54 pm
The Western media has done a great job writing the propaganda script for China on this one. Inexplicable…
Meanwhile, there are probably several million Chinese people dying from air pollution and tobacco as I write this–but at least they won’t have to worry about dying of Covid in their 80s!
Buttaxe
Saturday, January 23, 2021 at 11:35 am
Speaking generally not just about this specific article, The Thaiger would do well to remember where it is – in East Asia. Reposting constant US-led anti-Chinese propaganda through this site will alienate many readers who know far more about the region, and China than a wholly Western and West-based audience. If you want an example of how to report on China in a balanced but object way, see the South China Morning Post. Or better still post your own reporting only.
Tom
Saturday, January 23, 2021 at 2:33 pm
Is it Buttaxe or Butthurt?? THe Thaiger is free to report any way this wish to and it is a PROPOGANDA film nothing more nothing less… “The Thaiger would do well to remember where it is” sounds like some sort of keyboard warrior threat you would normaly see on twatter (name changed on purpose) Do you think the staff that work in this news group many of whom were born and raised in Thailand OR have lived there for many many years?? and know exactly what’s going on in and around Thailand and Asia in general…
Buttaxe
Sunday, January 24, 2021 at 10:22 am
It’s MR Buttaxe sir, to you young Thomas. When you’ve got anything other than the obvious to post, get back to me. Until then enjoy your crayons.
luca
Saturday, January 23, 2021 at 11:33 pm
china is a communist dictatorship, there is no possibility that the party apparatus can grant freedom of opinion, everything that the media publishes in China is approved by the party, so communist dictatorships work
Andy
Sunday, January 24, 2021 at 11:39 am
Incorrect that most experts agree the virus originated in a Wuhan wet market. Google opinions about Covid’s origins from esteemed professors like Richard Ebright and Nicolas Petrovosky and you’ll see that the lab leak hypothesis is just as likely as a natural zoonotic transfer.
It’s a fact that the Wuhan institute of virology is the world’s largest lab for conducting gain-of-function research on novel bat coronaviruses and that the closest known virus, RaTG13, was isolated and kept in this lab. Add in the WIV’s questionable safety record and the CCP’s increasingly absurd and desperate attempts to claim that the virus originated in the United States and you’ve got a smokin’ hot smoking gun. That said, the cover-up by the CCP will be seamlessly executed, and the truth of Covid’s origins will perennially remain a mystery.
Buttaxe
Monday, January 25, 2021 at 9:54 am
Learn the FBS doctrine, Full Spectrum Dominance to understand the US mindset – the only nation on record as carrying out WMD attacks, as well as a consistent history of chemical and biological attacks on other nations – Vietnam, Laos, Iraq, Yemen… To dismiss the idea that the US released the virus in China is simply foolish or betrays an agenda. Until that is proven otherwise, that also remains a possibility. It is too convenient that the US’s current bogey-man, China – it’s rival for supremacy is being blamed for every evil under the sun, while at the same time one nation alone continues to destabilise, make war and economic war on any nation that will not kowtow.
Michael
Wednesday, January 27, 2021 at 11:38 am
“one nation alone continues to destabilise, make war and economic war on any nation that will not kowtow.”
You are talking about China now?
You pretend to know much about politics in this region. But if that was really so you should know that China is the biggest destabilizing factor at the moment.
Richard
Tuesday, January 26, 2021 at 4:38 pm
The Chinese would rather lie than spill the beans on anything, including the actual death counts.