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.
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Sponsored Do foreigners get free healthcare in Thailand?
Thailandās healthcare system is well-regarded across Southeast Asia, with options ranging from public hospitals to world-class private facilities. But when it comes to foreign residents or tourists, healthcare access isnāt as straightforward. So, do foreigners get free healthcare in Thailand?...
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Thai virologist says vaccinating 40 million Thais next year will be a challenge
A prominent Thai virologist has admitted that vaccinating 60% of the population against Covid-19 next year will not be easy. Dr Yong Pooworavan says this is because 40 million people receiving 2 doses each means the country needs access to 80 million doses. Yesterday, it was confirmed that Thailand hopes to begin production and administration of the AstraZeneca/Oxford University vaccine…
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Thailand eyes first half of 2021 for production of AstraZeneca vaccine
Thailand hopes to begin production and administration of AstraZenecaās Covid-19 vaccine during the first 6 months of 2021. As part of a technology-transfer agreement signed by the Thai government, Siam Bioscience will be provided with the information for vaccine production. It then hopes to register the vaccine with Thailandās Food and Drug Administration within the next 6 months. The pharmaceutical…
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Thailand may have to wait for US vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna
As news that US may acquire its first shipment of Covid vaccines in mid-December, Thailand may have to wait to share the vaccines as they will likely be made available to the US and Japan first, before the rest of the world. Pfizer and Moderna recently announced their vaccines were about 95% effective, with some countries starting to preorder the…
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Pandemic has washed away Pattayaās āsoapyā massage parlours
While the Covid pandemic has hit Thailandās businesses hard, it has also washed away its not-so-legal soapy massage parlours after tourism has dried up its clientele. Such places, known as glorified brothels, have left many masseuses out of work as boards have barricaded the once booming establishments. Soapy Massage (Ć ap-Ć²p-nĆ»at, ąøąø²ąøąøąøąøąø§ąø, literally bath, steam, massage)… These are the bigger massage parlours where…
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UPDATE: Coming to Thailand? Check your insurance and ASQ fine print.
A concerned reader sent us this information, based on his experiences in the ASQ when he arrived in Thailand. We publish them with good faith but would urge everyone to check their insurance situation, whether they’re currently in ASQ or might be in the near future, to check your individual circumstances. AXA has also responded to the comment, we provide…
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2 Thai Covid-19 vaccines to proceed to human testing
Out of Thailandās 7 potential Covid-19 vaccines, 2 have successfully completed the animal testing stage and will proceed to human testing. Dr Nakorn Premsri from the National Vaccine Institute says the 2 vaccines are the mRNA vaccine from the Chula Vaccine Research Centre and BioNet-Asiaās DNA vaccine. The Chula VRC candidate vaccine is expected to begin human trials in April…
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China imposes community lockdowns in 3 cities with small Covid outbreaks | VIDEO
Millions of people are now being tested in China, with new lockdowns and some districts shutting down schools. On Sunday there were 11 new cases, yesterday another 22 across the country. After a relatively low number of local transmissions for several months now, locally transmitted Covid-19 cases are popping up in 3 cities across the country – Tianjin, Shanghai and Manzhouli.…
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New Thailand Plus app for tourists will help officials track their whereabouts
A new app, named Thailand Plus, for tourists has been created to help officials track their whereabouts more precisely once they have arrived in Thailand. The app was developed by Sompote Arhunai, the CEO of the Energy Absolute Company, which also developed the āMor Chanaā application. Sompote says the app will send information to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and…
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US may receive first Covid vaccine doses by mid-December
The head of the US government’s covid vaccine effort is saying that the first vaccine doses may be shipped by mid-December. Moncef Slaoui, the head of a federal vaccine development program, made the comments just 2 days after Pfizer and BioNTech applied for emergency vaccine use approval from the US Food and Drug Administration, after their versions of the vaccines…
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US approves emergency Covid antibody therapy, G20 nations push for vaccine availability
US drug regulators have approved an emergency Covid antibody therapy as cases surpass 12 million, keeping the country as the highest in the world for the level of new Covid cases. Meanwhile, G20 nations are pushing for vaccine availability as more areas in the world are experiencing closures due to spikes in the amount of virus cases. The antibody therapy…
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Burmese refugee tests positive for Covid in Tak province
A Burmese refugee in the Phop Phra district camp, of Thailand’s northern Tak province, has tested positive for Covid, joining 10 more infections that have been reported today. 48 year old refugee Soga Ne, had reportedly sneaked back into Myanmar through a natural border crossing and then returned to the camp in Thailand using the same route. Ne had been…
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10 new cases of Covid today in Thailand, all in quarantine
Thailand has 10 new cases of Covid-19 reported today by the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA). The infections were from those arriving from 8 different countries, with all being in quarantine. The new cases bring the total to 3,902 with the death toll remaining at 60. Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Belgium, the Netherlands, US and India were the…
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The Thai tourism new normal, learning to live with the pandemic
OPINION by Julian Spindler Thailandās world-class tourism industry, one of the twin drivers of our economy, is in a deep, coronavirus-induced coma, close to death. No life support is currently available. Pandemic paranoia has gripped the nation, freezing our bio-security risk management in full containment mode, meaning zero tolerance for local Covid-19 transmission. The socio-economic, and some might add political, impacts…
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South Australia lockdown to end early, after man lied about how he contracted virus
A strict 6-day lockdown for South Australia will end early, as officials reveal an infected pizza parlour worker lied about how he contracted the virus. South Australia Premier, Steven Marshall, says a chef employed at a pizza business that was found to have a cluster of infections, misled officials. The worker told contact-tracers that he was a customer of the…
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Vaccine could be ready by the end of next month – BioNTech/Pfizer
BioNTech has announced the candidate Covid-19 vaccine, the German company is developing with US pharmaceutical company Pfizer, could be released for public distribution before the year, at least in the US and Europe. BioNTech co-founder Ugur Sahin says that both companies plan to apply for “emergency use authorisation” of their candidate vaccine in the US today (US time), while European regulators…
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South Australia heads into major lockdown to control Covid cluster
The Australian state of Victoria, with its capital Melbourne, locked down for nearly 3 months, eventually cutting new cases down to zero. Now the next-door state of South Australia, with its capital Adelaide, has begun one of the worldās toughest lockdowns. Even outdoor exercise, dog-walking and basic errands are banned. The state of 1.7 million will now aim to contain…
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Thai PM extends Emergency Decree to January next year
The government will extend a nationwide emergency decree until at least January 15 next year. The PM has cited the need to prevent a resurgence in coronavirus infections during the peak New Yearās travel period. The impasse with protesters was not brought up as a reason to extend the current Emergency Decree. The CCSA chaired by PM Prayut Chan-o-cha has…
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Thai government earmarks 6 billion baht for 26 million doses of AstraZeneca Covid vaccine
The Thai Cabinet is to put aside over 6 billion baht to procure 26 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca, in conjunction with researchers at Oxford University in the UK. Nation Thailand reports that the National Vaccine Institute will be given 2.38 billion baht to reproduce the vaccine, in an effort to reduce the cost from…
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3 new Covid-19 cases in quarantine, all asymptomatic
3 new Covid-19 cases were detected in quarantine, according to the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration. All the cases were asymptomatic. The total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Thailand is raised to 3,878 with 3,724 recoveries and 60 deaths. 94 people are currently receiving medical treatment for the coronavirus. A 20 year old Indian cargo ship member travelling from…
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Thailand’s Covid-19 task force to debate quarantine reduction proposal tomorrow, again
After deciding in last week’s meeting to continue on with the mandatory 14 day quarantine, the issue of a reduction from 14 days to 10, is back on the table. The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration will meet tomorrow to discuss a proposal, again, to reduce mandatory quarantine from 14 days to 10, for arrivals from low-risk countries. But, again,…
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More positive news in Covid fight as second vaccine found to be nearly 95% effective
Health officials around the world are sounding more cautious notes of optimism, with news that US company Moderna has found its Covid-19 candidate vaccine to be 94.5% effective in clinical trials. Following results last week that a vaccine developed by US firm Pfizer, in conjunction with its German partner BioNTech, had an effectiveness rate of 90%, both developments would appear…
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In the middle of the Covid pandemic “now is the winter of our discontent”
In the northern hemisphere anyway, winter is on the way, a dangerous time for authorities trying to mitigate the sudden surge of new cases and deaths from Covid-19 in parts of Europe, the UK and the US. With a vaccine timeline still ‘flexible’, the only cushioning to a further spread of the pandemic is more social distancing, face-masks, attention to…
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WHO praises Thailand for being successful model of Covid containment
The director of the World Health Organisation is praising Thailand for being a successful model of Covid-19 containment. Dr. Panprapha Yongtrakul, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Public Health says the WHO director noted that despite Thailand having a population of 70 million with many densely populated cities, the total number of cases is less than 4,000 with only 60…
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8 new imported cases – Thai Covid update
The CSSA in Thailand has reported 8 new imported cases of Covid-19 over the past 24 hours, bringing the total amount of coronavirus infections since the pandemic began to 3,874. No additional deaths have been reported. 4 Thai nationals, 3 Indians, and 1 Egyptian made up the new imported cases, all identified whilst in quarantine. One Thai returnee from Belgium…
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Reduction in mandatory quarantine back on the table again
After initially saying a plan to reduce the mandatory quarantine period was being shelved due to public concerns, Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has announced it’s back on. A proposal to reduce quarantine for foreign arrivals from 14 days to 10 is being submitted to the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration next week. A report in the Bangkok Post says Anutin…
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9 new Covid-19 cases in quarantine, 2 reinfections
9 new Covid-18 cases were detected in quarantine, according to the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration. All the cases are asymptomatic and 2 cases are apparent reinfections. The total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases is raised to 3,861 with 3,697 recoveries with 60 deaths. 104 people are currently receiving medical treatment for the coronavirus. 3 people travelling from Switzerland tested…
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Thai health officials investigate South Korean military officer Covid-19 case
Thai health officials are trying to determine how the South Korean military officer, who tested positive for Covid-19 after returning home from Thailand’s annual Cobra Gold training, became infected with the virus. So far, it’s a mystery. Local health authorities investigating the case are asking South Korean authorities for more information about the officers whereabouts to figure where exactly the…
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5 new Covid-19 cases in quarantine, 2 reported symptoms
5 new Covid-19 cases were detected in quarantine with 2 reporting symptoms of a fever, according to the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration. The total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases is raised to 3,852 with 3,693 recoveries and 60 deaths. 99 people are currently receiving medical treatment for the coronavirus. A 30 year old Thai student travelling from Sweden tested…
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Minister says lack of foreign visitors will have knock-on effect for domestic tourism
The Tourism Minister says Thailand can expect a significant drop in domestic tourism unless international tourism is revived. According to a Bangkok Post report, Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn says local tourism figures are 40% of what they were in 2019, and are expected to drop further once the domestic travel stimulus scheme ends at the end of the year. The scheme has…
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Public concern prompts government to shelve 10-day quarantine plans
The Public Health Minister says concern from members of the public have led the government to shelve plans to reduce quarantine for overseas arrivals from 14 days to 10. Anutin Charnvirakulās statement comes after a number of infections that have left officials a bit perplexed. One involves a woman recently returned from France who tested positive for Covid-19 after sheād…
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