Covid UPDATE Saturday: 10,082 new infections, news briefs
This morning the public health department has announced 10,082 new infections & 141 Covid-related deaths over the past 24 hours across Thailand. The two figures are a record number of cases for the Kingdom and sweep the numbers over the psychological barriers of 10,000 cases and 100 sad deaths.
Suffice to say the October ‘reopening’ of Thailand is now looking less hopeful as the government struggles to strategise the roll out of vaccines and weigh up provisional restrictions and curfews.
Yesterday there were 3,367 in ICU and 847 on ventilators.
127 cases today were from the Thai prison system.
• Last night the Australian and US Embassies announced a limited rollout of vaccines for expats living in Thailand at this time. For Australians, at least, they’ll need to get to Bangkok tomorrow (Sunday) to receive their free AstraZeneca vaccines.Registrations close at 10am this morning.
Message from the Canadian Ambassador to Thailand here… https://www.facebook.com/CanadainThailand/posts/3997066430391049
• 7 more provinces are classified as “dark red” provinces under maximum control, the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration announced today. Tight restrictions in dark red zones were imposed on Monday restricting interprovincial travel, limiting gatherings to no more than 5 people and ordering residents to stay at home from 9pm to 4am.Despite the new restrictions this week, the Covid-19 situation has not improved, and officials are considering imposing more stringent measures to control the spread of the virus, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Department
• The Thai Red Cross Society will import 1 million doses of the Moderna Covid vaccine, to be provided free to the public. According to NBT, the Thai Red Cross Society secretary-general Tej Bunnag says the House panel probing the 2022 budget bill that the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation will handle the import of the vaccine on behalf of the society.
• The EU operates a “green list” of countries, which are currently only around 20 in number. Visitors from these countries, which include the US, New Zealand, Canada, and Japan, can enter the EU without mandatory quarantine. Yesterday, EU members agreed to add Ukraine to the green list, while removing Thailand and Rwanda.
The updating of the EU list will impact on potential European travellers to Thailand’s Sandbox-style reopening plans for tourists. Travellers now would have to go though quarantine upon their return from Thailand.
Countries may be added to the EUs green list if they report fewer than 75 Covid-19 infections per 100,000 people within the previous 14 days.
During the height of the pandemic, in March 2020, the EU shut its borders to non-essential travel but now regularly updates the list of countries from which people can enter, even if they are not vaccinated.
