Thailand News
Discover the most recent and relevant news from across Thailand on The Thaiger’s National News page. Covering a wide range of topics, including politics, business, crime, and lifestyle, our dedicated team brings you breaking news, in-depth analysis, and exclusive stories from Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pattaya, and beyond.
Stay informed about the latest developments in Thai society, economy, and culture, as well as updates on travel, tourism, and expat life. With The Thaiger, you’ll never miss out on the essential news that matters to you.
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Sponsored Boost your business in Thailand: 5 powerful benefits of using BoostedByPeople
As a business owner in Thailand, you know how tough it is to stand out online. Ads get skipped, scrolled past, or flat-out ignored. People are more sceptical than ever about what they see on their feeds. And even when...
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Covid UPDATE Saturday: 9,326 new infections, news briefs
Today the public health department has announced 9,326 new infections and 91 Covid-related deaths. 192 of the cases are from Thai prisons. The number, whilst only slightly higher than yesterday, is a continuation of the upward trend in cases, almost doubling over the past 2 weeks. The number of deaths reported today is a steep and concerning increase. • Following…
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Traditional meets modern with Buddhist NFTs CryptoAmulets
Thailand is often a curious mixture of old and new. Ancient style architecture in temples share neighbourhoods with ultra-modern skyscrapers. Modern life is blended with traditions a century old or older. And now, old meets new again with the launch of CryptoAmulets, digital Buddhist amulets that are combining the ancient Thai tradition of carrying Buddhist good luck charms with the…
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Sinovac not effective against Delta variant, AstraZeneca is
A new study released today seems to have confirmed what many have feared: the Sinovac vaccine has little effectiveness in stopping the Covid-19 Delta variant. The Delta strain, first identified in India, is particularly dangerous as it has found to be much more contagious and is spreading rapidly throughout Thailand. It has been predicted that the variant will be the…
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Lawyers Association accuse DDC failure over Sinovac
The chairman of the Lawyers Association of Thailand has said the government has failed its duty to protect the health of the Thai people by ordering more Sinovac vaccines instead of pursuing brands more effective against the Delta variant of Covid-19 fast becoming the dominant strain in Thailand. The accusation comes as the Department of Disease Control defends Thailand’s Cabinet’s…
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Health officials concede to using rapid antigen tests
Health officials are conceding to using rapid antigen tests on top of using the RT-PCR method to detect cases of Covid. The public Health Ministry is eager to use the rapid antigen test to determine possible infections as Covid cases incessantly rise. Thai media reports that the RT-PCR method would still be employed. The Director General of the DMS, Dr…
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Breaking: Travel restrictions and curfew to be set in Bangkok, “dark red” provinces
UPDATE: The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration’s daily press briefing has been rescheduled to 4pm today. More details will be reported following the briefing. Travel restrictions and a nightly curfew will be set in Bangkok and provinces classified as “dark red” zones for the high rates of Covid-19 infections, the government’s news bureau confirmed today. In this morning’s Centre for…
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Isolation centres being set up in Bangkok to provide basic care to Covid-19 patients
To help reduce overcrowding in Bangkok hospitals, Thai authorities have decided to allow Covid-19 patients with mild symptoms, or who are asymptomatic, to stay at home or at a community isolation centre rather than a hospital or field hospital. Public hospitals in the capital have been at capacity and Covid-19 cases are expected to continue to rise due to the…
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Sangkhla Buri district in Kanchanaburi enters 14 day lockdown
The Sankhla Buri district in Kanchanaburi, a western Thai province is locking down for 14 days and people are ordered to remain at home from 10 pm to 4 am to help prevent Covid outbreaks. The order was signed by Governor Jirakiat Phumsawat, who also acts as chairman of the provincial communicable disease control committee. Other restrictions include barring the…
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67,000 Phuket residents try to register for Moderna, web portal crashes
Yesterday, nearly 70,000 people tried to apply for the Phuket Moderna vaccine reservations. The web portal crashed instead. The 67,000 hopeful vaccination registrants would have had their vaccines provided by Bangkok Hospital Phuket and Bangkok Hospital Siriroj. The crash did not sit well with many who had already found the registration process slow and rife with system failures and an…
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Supreme Court rules against former red-shirt leader
Former red-shirt leader Jatuporn Prompan has been ordered to serve back-to-back sentences in 2 defamation cases, according to a Supreme Court ruling. The Bangkok Post reports that Jatuporn will now spend another 11 months and 16 days in prison after a 2009 defamation case brought against him by former PM, Abhisit Vejjajiva. The activist was found guilty of defamation in…
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Friday Covid Update: 9,276 new infections and 72 deaths
9,276 new Covid-19 cases and 72 coronavirus-related deaths were reported today by the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration. With the spread of the highly transmissible Delta variant, the CCSA expects daily cases to soon hit 10,000. While today’s case count is an uptick over the past several weeks. Thailand hit a record high in new cases in mid-May with 9,635…
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Bangkok’s Bumrungrad Hospital opens registration for Moderna vaccine
Bumrungrad Hospital in Bangkok has opened an online booking system for the Moderna vaccine, with priority going to healthcare workers and people who remain unvaccinated. The Bangkok Post reports that the vaccine will cost 1,650 baht per dose. Chief Executive Artirat Charukitpipat says the hospital has not been able to receive the number of vaccines it would have liked and…
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Stricter Covid restrictions likely for Bangkok, other “at-risk” provinces
The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration meets today to consider a number of tougher restrictions aimed at flattening the curve of new infections in Bangkok and a number of other provinces. Yesterday, cases reached a record high of 7,058, with 75 Covid-related deaths. According to a Bangkok Post report, PM Prayut Chan-o-cha says the government, which is still resisting the…
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Troubled vaccine registration site replaced by hospitals
Abraham Lincoln famously advised people not to change horses midstream, but with the ever-changing vaccine rollout, the Thai government seems intent on test-driving the entire herd in the middle of the flood. A Tourism Authority of Thailand press release today confirmed the Department of Disease Control announcement of yet another new Covid-19 vaccine registration plan for foreigners. After the Thailand…
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Thailand ranked 3rd to last worldwide on Covid-19 handling
In a display of just how far you can fall, Thailand, once ranked as one of the top countries in the world for Covid-19 handling is now almost at the bottom of the rankings, number 118 out of 120. The Nikkei Asia Covid-19 recovery index calculated data from 120 countries worldwide and ranked Thailand third from last. The study combines…
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Thursday Covid Update: Record high of 75 deaths; new infections in all 77 provinces
A record high of 75 Covid-related deaths was reported today by the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration, raising the pandemic’s death toll in Thailand to 2,462. An uptick of 7,058 new Covid-19 infections was recorded today with new cases in all of Thailand’s 77 provinces. The latest and most severe wave of the virus continues to rise due to the spread…
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Pathum Thani governor donates 3 months’ salary to help residents during pandemic
The governor of Pathum Thani, just north of Bangkok, is donating 3 months of his salary to support the community as Covid-19 cases rise. An announcement was recently made on a Facebook page run by the provincial government saying governor Chaiwat Chuenkosum donated his salary to help Pathum Thani residents. A Covid-19 hotline has been set up to help those…
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CCSA to consider travel restrictions, other disease control measures
Travel restrictions are likely to be imposed over the next few days. The Public Health Ministry is proposing stricter measures, including limits on interprovincial travel, to control the spread of the Covid-19 following the emergence of the highly transmissible Delta variant. The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration is set to meet tomorrow morning and discuss disease control measures. Along with limits…
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Woman infected with Covid-19 dies at home after waiting 6 days for hospital treatment
A 50 year old woman infected with Covid-19 died at her home in Bangkok’s Huai Khwang district after waiting for nearly a week for a hospital bed to become available. She died at 3am yesterday morning, just hours before an ambulance was scheduled to take her and her infected family members to the hospital, a source told the Bangkok Post.…
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Pair arrested in Pattaya for allegedly running “romance scam”
More people have been arrested for involvement in an alleged “romance scam”. This time the suspects were busted in the Pattaya area. The man, Robinson Ibuka Ade, from Nigeria, and Thidarat Biraban, a Thai national, were arrested recently on charges of joining to commit fraud and importing forged data into a computer system. Police seized 148,00 baht and $2,000 US…
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Pattaya school for the blind struggling, requests public’s help
Some students are learning online at their homes but they don’t have the basic tools they need to learn A Pattaya school for the blind is reportedly struggling under the Covid pandemic as tourists and visitors that usually assisted the school in their charity and other efforts are now scarce. The school says they need mobile phones and computers to…
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UPDATE: PM calls for urgent meeting, expected to discuss “lockdown” measures
UPDATE: The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration meeting set for 10am tomorrow will address the “worsening situation” in Thailand, according to spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Natapanu Nopakun, who gives the daily CCSA meeting in English. Natapanu says the media has been “predicting the results” of the meeting, but he assures the public that there will not be…
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Hundreds wait outside Bangkok temple overnight for Covid test
Use the rapid antigen test to speed up testing. Last night, hundreds of people waited outside a Bangkok temple for a free Covid test that began this morning. Like an anxiety-ridden new shoe launch, crowds of people were photographed outside the Wat Phra Si Rattana Mahathat temple in Bangkok’s Bang Khen district. Testing began at 8 am and the queuestarted…
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Man believes prostitute pickpocketed him in Pattaya
Last night, a German man lodged a complaint with police about his suspicion that a prostitute pickpocketed him. 68 year old Thomas Hatesaul alerted police at 11:30 pm that he was robbed on Soi 13/1 Pattaya Beach Road in Nongprue. He told police that he was walking by himself, to relax when he was approached by a woman. Thomas says…
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Pattaya looks into September reopening despite uptick in Covid-19 infections
Despite the uptick in Covid-19 infections, Pattaya is planned to reopen to foreign arrivals, possibly in September, under a scheme similar to Phuket and the trio of islands off Surat Thani, where tourists who are vaccinated against Covid-19 can enter without undergoing a 14-day quarantine. Yesterday, Pattaya City Mayor Sonthaya Khunplume met with the deputy mayors and those in the…
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Over 200,000 sign petition calling for mRNA vaccines
Over 200,000 people, including prominent Thai doctors and medical practitioners, have signed a petition demanding the government purchase more effective vaccines and administer them for free. A petition from the Mor Mai Thon (Doctors Won’t Tolerate It) group has been signed by 215,409 medical practitioners, calling on the government to purchase mRNA vaccines. The Bangkok Post reports that the campaign was run…
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Thursday Covid-19 update: 7,058 new infections, 75 deaths
Thailand records a depressing new high today, with a record 7,058 new infections and 75 Covid-related deaths. 68 infections are from Thai prisons. This is the highest number of new cases and deaths this month, as concern grows over the highly contagious Delta variant, which is expected to become the dominant strain in the Kingdom by the end of the…
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Lockdown not out of the question: CCSA
Will they, won’t they – it’s the question on everyone’s lips as Bangkok residents wait to hear if officials will lock down the capital in a bid to curb the spread of the virus. Natthapol Nakpanich from the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration has not ruled it out, saying the CCSA is prepared to consider all options as new cases…
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Phuket governor orders investigation into complaints of taxi drivers overcharging
Taxi fares charged from the Phuket International Airport are now being investigated by provincial authorities. The Phuket governor ordered the probe after criticism over a Facebook post asking if the 900 baht fare from the airport, quoted by a hotel in Patong, seemed too expensive. Taxi prices in Phuket are notoriously high compared to other provinces. On the social media…
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Vaccine Update: With limited doses, Thai government focuses on “at-risk” groups
With limited doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, along with the rapid spread of the Delta Covid-19 variant, the Thai government’s mass immunisation campaign will first focus on using those doses to inculcate “at-risk” groups, starting with those in Bangkok, the epicentre of the latest wave. This month’s order of AstraZeneca vaccine doses was cut in half from 10 million to…
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