Covid-19 News
Stay informed with the latest Covid-19 news at The Thaiger, your go-to source for pandemic updates. Keep up-to-date on global developments, vaccine rollouts, and safety measures. Our comprehensive coverage includes essential information on travel restrictions, case numbers, and government policies.
Whether you’re seeking guidance or simply staying aware, The Thaiger’s Covid-19 news page is your essential resource for navigating these unprecedented times. Engage with our expertly curated content, designed to keep you informed and prepared as the world continues to adapt to the ongoing pandemic. Stay safe and stay connected with The Thaiger.
-
Sponsored Which is the best copy trading platform?
Copy trading has become increasingly popular with investors around the globe over the past decade. It's considered a simple way to capitalise on market opportunities with little effort. But is it really a shortcut to making big bucks in the...
-
Survey reveals Thais want to drop outdoor mask rules and extend nightlife to 2am
A National Institute of Development Administration survey revealed nearly half of all Thai people agree that the country should drop the outdoor mask rules mandate, and nearly 50% of those polled agreed to extend nightlife hours from 12am to 2am. PM Prayut Chan-o-cha on Tuesday informed Thai media that he thought many Thai people were still scared of catching the…
-
Thailand Pass could be dropped on July 1
‘Thailand Pass’ could be scrapped completely on July 1, according to Thailand’s tourism minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakan. The fate of Thailand Pass will be decided at the next meeting of the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration, or CCSA, next Friday on June 17. Thailand Pass was already dropped for Thai nationals on June 1, but foreigners flying into the kingdom are…
-
On, off, on, off: PM Prayut rips off face mask mid-speech in Phuket
On Monday, just days after the requirement to wear face masks outdoors was re-imposed in Phuket province, Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha dramatically ripped off his face mask mid-speech at a tourism event in Phuket, asking the crowd, “Are you ready?” On June 1, Thailand’s Ministry of Health announced that it was no longer a requirement to wear a mask…
-
Ministry of Public Health insist there is no plan to roll out fifth Covid vaccine
The Department of Disease Control yesterday announced Thailand has no plans to roll out a fifth Covid-19 vaccine. The Ministry of Public Health has yet to decide whether a fifth shot would be needed and whether it would even be safe and effective to do so. DDC director-general Opas Karnkawinpong says concerned members of the public should discuss the matter…
-
Bangkok’s governor says officials will discuss easing outdoor mask requirement
After the confusing mask policy flip-flop in Phuket, Bangkok’s new governor Chadchart Sittipunt has announced plans to discuss easing mask requirements in Thailand’s capital. Chadchart stated late this week that Bangok Metropolitan Administration will meet with public health and medical departments to discuss the outdoor mask-wearing regulation. Chadchart did not, however, specify when the meeting will happen. The governor also…
-
Japan facing rise in ‘Long Covid’ cases
Japan is seeing a number of people report having so-called ‘Long Covid’ symptoms, including fatigue, coughing and memory memory loss. Tokyo’s metropolitan government found that of the 2,039 people reporting Long Covid symptoms, 97% only had mild symptoms when they were infected with the coronavirus between January and April. 74% had no underlying disease, and more than 70% were aged…
-
As night venues reopen, Phuket officials on their toes
As Thailand’s bars and nightclubs reopen (until midnight ‘officially’) in 31 provinces, Phuket officials are still on their toes about Covid-19. This week, Phuket officials inspected night venues in the island province’s city area of Phuket Town. Vice Governor Pichet Panaphong, along with Phuket City Police and others officials, visited venues around the Nimit Circle (well known as Seahorse Circle),…
-
Phuket governor reverses decision easing mask-wearing
Easy come, easy go. Phuket Governor Narong Woonciew today reversed yesterday’s mask-wearing easing order, insisting people must wear a mask in all public places even if they are practicing social distancing measures. Only yesterday the governor relaxed all measures saying healthy people could to take off their face masks while in open-air places, beaches, public parks and stadiums, as part of…
-
Thai government shuts down Mor Chana contact-tracing app
The Mor Chana contact-tracing app is no more, with the Public Health Ministry confirming it has been shut down. Officials say the app is no longer required and therefore was closed yesterday, in light of Thailand’s improving Covid-19 situation. Unlike the Mor Prom app, which was created to record an individual’s vaccination status, track vaccine side-effects, and provide data on…
-
Phuket drops outdoor face mask requirement
Wearing a mask in outdoor public spaces will no longer be a requirement in Phuket province, effective from yesterday, June 1. Medical or cloth face masks will still be required to be worn indoors, in crowded spaces and in badly ventilated spaces. The mask requirement – indoors and outdoors – is still in effect in all other provinces around the…
-
Thai health ministry says downgrading Covid-19 will take some time
Thailand’s health ministry says the government needs more time before downgrading Covid-19 to a communicable disease requiring close surveillance. In February 2020, the virus was classified as a dangerous communicable disease, in order to enable the Thai authorities to react swiftly to contain the spread. Now, with the situation beginning to ease nationally and globally, officials are working towards downgrading…
-
Phuket authorities close Covid-19 field hospital
In a grand ceremony yesterday, Phuket authorities closed up a field hospital set up for people who tested positive for Covid-19. The field hospital was at Phuket Rajabhat University in the island province’s main city district. The deputy director of the Phuket Provincial Public Health Office, Padungkiat Utokasenee, led the closing ceremony. Between August 2021 and March 2022, the field…
-
PM Prayut insists no plans to drop face-mask requirement in Thailand
Thailand’s PM and Defense Minister, Prayut Chan-o-cha, insists that Thailand has no plans to drop the requirement to wear face-masks. The PM asked the spokesperson to emphasise this point to the residents saying wearing masks was still “a necessary behaviour”. Last week, the Permanent Secretary of the Public Health Ministry, Kiattiphum Wongrajit, said that the ministry proposed to adjust the…
-
Thai government considers lowering Covid-19 alert to Level 2
As the overall pandemic situation continues to improve, the Thai health ministry is considering lowering the country’s Covid alert level to Level 2. Chakrarat Pittayawonganon from the Department of Disease Control says the alert could be reduced from Level 3, while keeping the focus on protecting high-risk groups and ensuring they have received booster vaccine doses. Thailand’s high-risk groups include…
-
Monkeypox is not a shingles mingle or side effect of Covid-19 vax
The current monkeypox outbreak has not yet caused mass hysteria throughout the globe but there is enough false information doing the rounds on social media to cause concern. The latest stories circulating on social media suggest the outbreak of monkeypox is in fact shingles, while some others believe the flare-up is due to an adverse effect of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccination,…
-
Bangkok nightlife venues frustrated with June 1 re-opening rules
The owners of bars, clubs, and other nightlife venues in Bangkok have expressed frustration with conditions governing the June 1 re-opening. From Wednesday, such businesses can re-open, provided they are located in the 31 blue or green zones, adhere to disease prevention measures, and close by midnight. It’s the midnight closure that most are finding frustrating, with several business owners…
-
Health officials call for more elderly Thais to get their Covid-19 boosters
According to the Department of Disease Control, around 6 million elderly Thais have yet to receive a booster dose of a Covid-19 vaccine. Dr. Taweesap Siraprapasiri says the reason for this is that people are either worried about potential side-effects or they feel they don’t need a booster. However, he adds that 43% of elderly people have received 3 doses,…
-
Government urges bars, nightlife venues to remain safe on re-opening
The Thai government is warning nightlife operators to remain safe and to continue to adhere to Covid-19 prevention measures once they re-open next month. The warning comes following a meeting of the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration last Friday, when it was agreed that nightlife in designated parts of the country could re-open. The businesses in question include bars, nightclubs,…
-
Government says the WHO will use Thailand as a role model for Covid-19 management
The Thai government is patting itself on the back again, with a spokesperson saying officials have been praised by the World Health Organisation. Traisuree Taisaranakul says the administration has been cited as a “role model” for its management of the Covid-19 pandemic. She was speaking after a meeting between the health minister, Anutin Charnvirakul, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghrebreyesus, and…
-
Health ministry clarifies lifting of mask mandate in “designated areas only”
Not so fast, says the Public Health Ministry, responding to news that Thailand’s mask mandate could be lifted next month. Dr Kiattiphum Wongrajit has issued a clarification that this could apply in certain areas only. According to Kiattiphum, Thailand’s Covid-19 situation has improved quicker than expected and officials believe the virus can be downgraded to endemic as planned. At that…
-
Over 100,000 Thai students didn’t show up to class
There were over 100,000 students who didn’t turn up for class when schools in Thailand returned last week after a long break because of the Covid-19 pandemic. But Education Minister Trinuch Thienthong vowed to get kids back and says the department is joining forces with other organisations, including the police, to make sure it happens. Students living in rural areas will…
-
Lockdown in China stinks for Thai farmers
With no ending in sight in regards to lockdown in China, Thailand has been told it must source raw materials from other countries if it is to survive causing a stink in the farming industry. Thailand’s manufacturing industry and supply chains continue to bear the brunt of lockdowns in China’s major cities. China is the nation’s largest supplier of raw materials…
-
Changes to Thailand’s Covid-19 restrictions to take effect June 1
From next month, a number of Covid-19 restrictions will be eased in Thailand, although in the case of some rules, it will vary by province. Nation Thailand reports that at the latest meeting of the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration, it was agreed to categorise all provinces as either yellow (highest surveillance), blue (tourist zones) and green (low surveillance). There…
-
Japan government says masks not needed outside if you don’t talk too much
Japan’s government is saying it’s not necessary for people to wear masks outside, as long as they aren’t talking to others a lot. On Friday, Health Labor and Welfare Minister Shigeyuki Goto, said that even indoors, masks aren’t necessary if people are not talking a lot, and they can properly socially distance. The recent change to the Japanese government’s position…
-
Thailand target reopening of bars on June 1
The Thai PM Prayut Chan-o-cha today sits down with a virus task force that includes the Center for Covid-19 Situation Administration, and Ministry of Public Health to consider the reopening of pubs, bars and restaurants in Thailand’s green zones. A Ministry of Public Health source revealed that as the pandemic situation is getting better, health officials were contemplating introducing green…
-
Thai deputy health minister expects Covid-19 to be over by the end of the year
Thailand’s deputy health minister says he hopes to see an end to Covid-19 by the end of this year, despite the risk of new variants. Satit Pitutecha made his prediction yesterday, saying Thailand is proceeding with its plan to declare the virus endemic. The World Health Organisation has yet to make any recommendation on according the virus endemic status. According…
-
PM defends government’s performance, wants to move Thailand forward
The Thai PM has defended his government’s performance since seizing power in a military coup 8 years ago. According to a Bangkok Post report, PM Prayut Chan-o-cha says he’s led Thailand through “crisis after crisis” and is doing his best to move the country forward. The PM says at the time he seized power, the nation was deeply divided and…
-
Proposal for new “green zone” provinces goes before CCSA today
Thailand’s Public Health Ministry has submitted a proposal to classify some provinces as “green zones”. The proposal will be considered by the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration when it meets today. Kiattiphum Wongrajit from the health ministry says the proposal involves adjusting the Covid-19 colour-coded zoning, which currently has provinces listed as yellow (high surveillance) or blue “tourism” zones. The…
-
Prominent Thai lung specialist dismisses claim that mRNA boosters cause lymphoma
A leading lung specialist at Bangkok’s Vichaiyut Hospital has completely dismissed claims that mRNA boosters against Covid-19 can cause ‘lymphoma’. According to a Nation Thailand report, Dr Manoon Leechawengwongs has rubbished the claims as “fake news”, urging Thais not to believe them, citing a long list of evidence of the vaccines’ efficacy and no credible reports linking the mRNA vaccines…
-
Health Ministry to propose “green zones” where bars, nightlife could re-open
Bars and entertainment venues are demanding the right to re-open for business, with reports the Public Health Ministry could allow this in some provinces it would designate as “green zones”. The Bangkok Post reports that owners of nightlife venues will meet with Supoj Malaniyom from the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration today. According to Khathawut Thongthai from the Association of…
Don't forget to check out some other things to do in Thailand - get help starting a business or finding a job in Thailand, buy Thailand property, rent a yacht or book a medical procedure worldwide.