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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  • Covid-19 nasal spray vaccines in development in Thailand

    Covid-19 nasal spray vaccines in development in Thailand

    The National Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, known as BIOTEC, believes that the solution to Covid-19 vaccination may be right under our noses. Thai virologists at BIOTEC have 2 nasal spray options currently in development for domestic production that may act as a substitute for Covid-19 vaccines in needle form. They believe a nasal spray or inhaler may provide…

  • Workers still locked up in Thai construction ‘camps’ | VIDEO

    Workers still locked up in Thai construction ‘camps’ | VIDEO

    Tim Newton speaks to Shaun Stenning from 5 Star Marine and One Phuket outside a worker camp and constructions site in Kathu, Phuket. The situation is just a small part of a nationwide situation where 80,000 – 100,000 mostly migrant workers are virtually imprisoned in their construction sites. We get to the issues and the work being done by people…

  • Covid UPDATE Saturday: 21,838 new infections – a new record, news briefs

    Covid UPDATE Saturday: 21,838 new infections – a new record, news briefs

    This morning the Thai public health department has announced 21,838 new infections along with 212 Covid-related deaths. 923 of the new cases have emerged from Thai prisons. 21,108 patients have been released from hospitals in the past 24 hours, significantly, nearly the same amount of new cases announced over the past 24 hours. 5,159 patients remain in “serious condition” whilst…

  • 2 Korat chicken processing factories report over 100 infections

    2 Korat chicken processing factories report over 100 infections

    2 chicken processing plants in northeastern Thailand’s Nakhon Ratchasima/Korat province have got the bubble/seal treatment after over 100 employees tested positive for Covid. The outbreak from the two poultry factories, which employs over 10,000 workers, aroused fear in the nearby residents at the prospect of Covid running amok in their area. Today, the Chok Chai district chief Somchai Amphankarn, and…

  • Survey shows nearly half of Thai businesses expect return to normality in early 2022

    Survey shows nearly half of Thai businesses expect return to normality in early 2022

    A survey carried out by the Bank of Thailand shows that nearly half of Thai businesses expect life to return to normal during the first quarter of 2022. According to a Bangkok Post report, businesses of all sizes were interviewed between July 1 – 22 as part of the business sentiment index. The findings show that 45% expect people to…

  • Government to allow private sector to import 25 million Covid-19 vaccine doses

    Government to allow private sector to import 25 million Covid-19 vaccine doses

    PM Prayut Chan-o-cha has called on the private sector to import 20 – 25 million alternative Covid-19 vaccines, expected to arrive during the third quarter of this year. With the Delta variant now the dominant strain in the Kingdom and daily new infections topping 20,000, the government is paving the way for the private sector to import vaccines without the…

  • Provincial hospitals treating nearly 100,000 Covid-19 patients from Bangkok

    Provincial hospitals treating nearly 100,000 Covid-19 patients from Bangkok

    Thailand’s provincial hospitals are treating nearly 100,000 Covid-19 patients who have been transferred out of Bangkok. Thongchai Lertwilairattanapong from the Ministry of Public Health says many Bangkok residents who test positive for the virus are opting to travel to their home provinces for treatment, with 94,664 having done so to date. He says that so far, hospitals in the provinces…

  • Friday Covid Update: 21,379 new cases and 191 deaths

    Friday Covid Update: 21,379 new cases and 191 deaths

    The number of Covid-19 infections and deaths continues to rise and hit record highs. Today, 21,379 new Covid-19 cases and 191 coronavirus-related deaths were reported by the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration. On Wednesday, the daily case count exceeded 20,000 and the daily fatality count hit a high of 188. There are now 212,926 active Covid-19 cases in Thailand. In…

  • Dr Boon, THG group must clarify Pfizer deal controversy

    Dr Boon, THG group must clarify Pfizer deal controversy

    Trouble is deepening for Dr Boon Vanasin, the President of Thonburi Healthcare Group, who has been accused of a large stock purchase before lying about his company procuring Pfizer vaccines that caused the stock to soar. The Chairman of the Crime Victims’ Assistance Club has filed a complaint with the CyberCrime Investigation Bureau against Boon for sharing that fake news…

  • Moderna effectiveness drops just 1% in 6 months

    Moderna effectiveness drops just 1% in 6 months

    New data shows that the Moderna vaccine maintains efficacy more successfully than other vaccines, showing 93% effectiveness after 6 months, a drop of just 1% from the 94% efficacy in clinical trials. In comparison, recent research had found that the effectiveness of Sinovac, the primary vaccine used in Thailand currently, drops 50% every 40 days, making it ineffective after 6…

  • 5.7% of foreign residents in Thailand have received a dose of the Covid-19 vaccine

    5.7% of foreign residents in Thailand have received a dose of the Covid-19 vaccine

    Around 5.7% of foreign residents in Thailand have been injected with at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine from March 12 to July 30, according to the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration. Out of the 280,075 foreign residents vaccinated, only 74,587 of them have received both doses of the vaccine. Only 20,903 foreign residents ages 60 and above, a…

  • Thursday Covid Update: 20,920 new cases; provincial totals

    Thursday Covid Update: 20,920 new cases; provincial totals

    Thailand’s Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration reported a record high of 20,920 new Covid-19 cases and 160 coronavirus-related deaths today. There are now 213,910 active Covid-19 cases in Thailand. Since the start of the pandemic last year, the CCSA has reported 693,305 new Covid-19 cases and 5,663 coronavirus-related fatalities. The latest wave has accounted for 664,442 of those cases and…

  • Nonthaburi field hospital adds an ICU

    Nonthaburi field hospital adds an ICU

    Yesterday, the Busarakham field hospital in Nonthaburi, a central Thai province, opened its first intensive care unit. The ICU will treat people who have severe cases of Covid who are waiting to be admitted to general hospitals. Dr Kittisak Aksornwong, the assistant permanent secretary of public health, says the ICU, which is located in the parking lot behind the field…

  • Older volunteers wanted for trials of Chulalongkorn University mRNA vaccine

    Older volunteers wanted for trials of Chulalongkorn University mRNA vaccine

    The Faculty of Medicine at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University has put out a call for healthy volunteers to take part in trials of its Covid-19 mRNA vaccine. Nation Thailand reports that participants need to be between the ages of 56 and 75 with no underlying health conditions. They must also never have contracted Covid-19 or been vaccinated against the virus. Eligible…

  • WHO calls for booster shots to be suspended while poor countries face vaccine shortages

    WHO calls for booster shots to be suspended while poor countries face vaccine shortages

    The World Health Organisation has called for the administration of third, or booster doses, of Covid-19 vaccines to be suspended to deal with the huge inequality in global distribution. The organisation says booster shots should be halted until at least the end of September until the inequity in distribution between rich and poor countries is addressed. WHO boss Tedros Adhanom…

  • Waste disposal firm calls for rubbish collectors to be vaccinated

    Waste disposal firm calls for rubbish collectors to be vaccinated

    The head of Prabkaya, one of Thailand’s largest waste disposal companies, says rubbish collectors must be vaccinated as a matter of priority. Theerawong Sanpipat says the workers regularly come into contact with potentially infected discarded items, such as face masks. According to a Bangkok Post report, he is demanding the workers be vaccinated and the public educated on how to…

  • Rollout of Pfizer doses gets underway

    Rollout of Pfizer doses gets underway

    The first rollout of the eagerly awaited Pfizer vaccine has kicked off, with doses being distributed first to Bangkok and the surrounding provinces, followed by other high-risk provinces around the country. According to a Bangkok Post report, Opas Karnkawinpong from the Department of Disease Control has confirmed the doses will be given as booster shots to frontline healthcare workers who…

  • 20 year old arrested for online alternative vaccine scam

    20 year old arrested for online alternative vaccine scam

    A 20 year old man was arrested in Prachin Buri province after allegedly swindling at least around 50 people online in a fake vaccine scam. The man was arrested by the Technology Crime Suppression Division on Tuesday after using Facebook to collect orders for Covid-19 alternative vaccines that didn’t exist. This is the second vaccine scam in the province in…

  • Delta variant now the predominant strain, 78% of Thai infections

    Delta variant now the predominant strain, 78% of Thai infections

    Weeks ago experts predicted that the Delta variant would become the predominant strain of Covid-19 in Thailand by early August. Now, as foreseen, a new study shows that 78.2% of all new Covid-19 infections throughout the country are of the Delta variant. The Medical Sciences Department’s Director-General revealed the results of a test the department had been running in their…

  • Controversial food delivery only rule faces criticism

    Controversial food delivery only rule faces criticism

    Most people understand the need for Covid-19 restrictions and safety protections, but many people are complaining about one questionable restriction that affects anyone who owns a food establishment or indeed eats. Restaurants and their patrons are both miffed about the revision to the dark red zone Covid-19 restrictions that changed from food establishments being open for takeaway only to being…

  • Wednesday Covid Update: 20,200 new cases, provincial totals

    Wednesday Covid Update: 20,200 new cases, provincial totals

    Thailand’s daily counts for Covid-19 cases and deaths hit record highs today with 20,200 new Covid-19 cases and 188 coronavirus-related fatalities recorded today by the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration. A total of 672,395 confirmed Covid-19 infections and 5,503 coronavirus-related deaths have been recorded in Thailand since the start of the pandemic last year. Thailand’s latest and most severe wave…

  • Health Ministry to distribute 10 million vaccine doses across Thailand this month

    Health Ministry to distribute 10 million vaccine doses across Thailand this month

    The Public Health Ministry has confirmed that 10 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines will be distributed across the country in August. Thai PBS World reports that the vaccine doses will primarily be AstraZeneca and Sinovac, but also include the 1.5 million Pfizer doses donated by the US. Bangkok will receive 1.23 million vaccine doses, with priority being given to elderly…

  • Wednesday Covid Update: Record high of 20,200 new cases and 188 deaths

    Wednesday Covid Update: Record high of 20,200 new cases and 188 deaths

    A record high of 20,200 new Covid-19 cases and another high of 188 coronavirus-related deaths were reported today by the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration. Thailand now has 211,076 active Covid-19 cases. In the latest and most severe wave of the virus, first recorded on April 1, the CCSA has recorded 643,522 Covid-19 cases. In 24 hours, the CCSA says 17,975 Covid-19 patients were…

  • Health Ministry calls for a halt to criticism of doctors not involved in vaccine decisions

    Health Ministry calls for a halt to criticism of doctors not involved in vaccine decisions

    Thailand’s Public Health Ministry has issued a statement in defence of 4 top doctors it says are being unfairly criticised for vaccine decisions they were not involved in. Kiattiphum Wongrajit from the Health Ministry says the doctors are dedicated in their fight against Covid-19, but have never had any involvement in vaccine procurement. “These medical advisers only gave advice to…

  • Tuesday Covid Update: 18,901 new cases, provincial totals

    Tuesday Covid Update: 18,901 new cases, provincial totals

    The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration reported 18,901 new Covid-19 cases and 147 coronavirus-related deaths today, raising the total case count since the start of the pandemic to 652,185 and the Covid death toll to 5,315. The latest and most severe wave of Covid-19 in Thailand, which was first recorded on April 1, has accounted for 623,322 infections and 5,221…

  • Government says not to buy Favipiravir/Avigan online, says it might be fake

    Government says not to buy Favipiravir/Avigan online, says it might be fake

    Yesterday, Traisuree Taisaranaku, the deputy government spokesperson said that people should refrain from buying the antiviral medication Favipiravir online because it’s possibly fake. The drug also goes by the brand name Avigan, as well as other names. The spokesperson says the medication should only be taken if it is prescribed by a doctor. Traisuree says people were tricked through social…

  • Phuket bans alcohol sales at restaurants, issues order amid rise of Covid cases

    Phuket bans alcohol sales at restaurants, issues order amid rise of Covid cases

    The ban on alcohol sales and consumption at restaurants has been reimposed in Phuket and will be in place until at least August 16. Certain “social activities,” like parties at public places, are also now prohibited for the next two weeks. The order, Phuket Governor Narong Woonciew yesterday, could be extended longer if the Covid-19 situation does not improve. Phuket…

  • Ministry of Public Health says Pfizer vaccine will be allocated correctly, others disagree

    Ministry of Public Health says Pfizer vaccine will be allocated correctly, others disagree

    Yesterday, the Ministry of Public Health assured the public that all medical staff, including “rescuers” and undertakers, will assuredly get the Pfizer vaccine. Provided, that is, they fall within the ministry’s guidelines for the vaccination. The ministry says the subcommittee on disease immunity enhancement made the decision on Sunday to establish guidelines for the 1,503,450 Pfizer vaccines from the US…

  • Phuket tourism sector calls for island to be “green-listed” for foreign tourists – VIDEO

    Phuket tourism sector calls for island to be “green-listed” for foreign tourists – VIDEO

    The executive chairman of the Banyan Tree Group is calling for Phuket to be given “green” status, promoting the island as a safe haven for foreign tourists. Singaporean KP Ho was addressing the Phuket Sandbox Summit via video-conference when he called on European airlines, business leaders, and officials to differentiate the southern island from the rest of Thailand. According to…

  • Thailand’s foreign tourist numbers expected to plummet during 2021

    Thailand’s foreign tourist numbers expected to plummet during 2021

    Tourism officials have repeated a bleak prediction that international arrivals in Thailand are likely to drop to an all-time low this year. According to a Bangkok Post report, Tourism Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn says foreign visitors to the Kingdom may only number 500,000 this year. “If the ongoing outbreak continues past September, the total number of foreign tourists this year might…