Bangkok News

Bangkok news, politics, business, crime, and nightlife—stay updated with breaking stories, events, and expat updates from Thailand’s capital. Get the latest from The Thaiger, your trusted Bangkok news source.

  • “Withhold Intubation” for certain older Thammasat Hospital patients | Thaiger

    “Withhold Intubation” for certain older Thammasat Hospital patients

    Thammasat University Hospital, overwhelmed with Covid-19 infections, has decided to implement a fatal “Withhold Intubation Rule” for patients over 75 years old with severe conditions like incurable cancer and AIDS. The hospital is experiencing an extreme shortage of ventilators and together critical life-saving equipment, and was forced to make the tough decision that will inevitably lead to unnecessary deaths. The…

  • Bang Sue vaccination centre open for expats 60+, under must wait | Thaiger

    Bang Sue vaccination centre open for expats 60+, under must wait

    Bangkok’s Central Vaccination Centre at Bang Sue Grand Station is open to expats 60 years old and up for their first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine, a spokesperson for the CCSA reiterated today, adding that some younger foreigners had been showing up to the centre seeking a Covid-19 vaccine. Photos of the vaccination centre show the area packed with people…

  • Online registration site up for interprovincial travel permission | Thaiger

    Online registration site up for interprovincial travel permission

    Those travelling between provinces, especially from “dark red” zones under maximum control, are advised to fill out a registration form online for permission to travel. A QR code will then be scanned by relevant authorities at checkpoints. Click HERE for a registration form in English. Many interprovincial transportation services in “dark red” zones, including Bangkok and surrounding provinces, are suspended until…

  • BMA plans to open 53 “community isolation centres” | Thaiger

    BMA plans to open 53 “community isolation centres”

    The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration has announced their intentions to open 53 “community isolation centres”…early next month. The centres will be for people who Covid and are waiting to be admitted to a hospital, says governor Aswin Kwanmuang, today. It is reported that City Hall is hoping to open 23 centres “right away”. There will be 3,390 beds for people who…

  • Parks, hair salons and other additional closures in Bangkok until August 2 | Thaiger

    Parks, hair salons and other additional closures in Bangkok until August 2

    More venues and businesses in Bangkok are ordered to close for the next couple of weeks to curb the spread of Covid-19. Parks, sports fields and courts, museums, hair salons, barbershops, and tattoo studios must close until August 2. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration ordered the closures following a recommendation from the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration. The order, in addition…

  • 2 people infected with Covid-19 rally in Bangkok to demand medical care | Thaiger

    2 people infected with Covid-19 rally in Bangkok to demand medical care

    A small group of people, including 2 who claimed they were infected with Covid-19, held a rally outside the Government House in Bangkok yesterday evening, calling for the Thai government to provide proper medical treatment for coronavirus patients. 25 police officers dressed in personal protective equipment, or PPE suits, were called to monitor the rally. Just 7 people attended the…

  • 3 bodies found in Bangkok streets, 2 positive for Covid-19, result pending for third | Thaiger

    3 bodies found in Bangkok streets, 2 positive for Covid-19, result pending for third

    Netizens have slammed Bangkok police, claiming that the bodies of 3 men who died separately on the streets of the capital were left uncollected for hours. The Metropolitan Police Bureau has called for understanding, insisting that the claims on social media are untrue. According to a Bangkok Post report, spokesman Piya Tawichai says 2 of the 3 bodies have tested…

  • Firefighter in this month’s factory fire dies suddenly of Covid-19 | Thaiger

    Firefighter in this month’s factory fire dies suddenly of Covid-19

    One of the brave firefighters who battled the recent factory fire in Samut Prakan July 5 was diagnosed today with Covid-19, just hours before he died from the virus. Naruphon Wongyaem was among the teams that responded to the explosion at the Ming Dih Chemical Co factory just south of Bangkok in Samut Prakan’s Bang Phli district. After putting out…

  • CCSA recommends closure of 10 more places and venues in “dark red” zones | Thaiger

    CCSA recommends closure of 10 more places and venues in “dark red” zones

    The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration is recommending the closure of 10 more places and venues in “dark red” zones as additional measures to combat the spread of Covid-19. Provincial authorities in each of the 13 “dark red” zones, including Bangkok, can decide whether to follow the CCSA’s recommendation. The measures in “dark red” zones currently in place include a…

  • Locked in a construction worker camp in Bangkok – Thailand’s hidden Covid tragedy | VIDEO | Thaiger

    Locked in a construction worker camp in Bangkok – Thailand’s hidden Covid tragedy | VIDEO

    Friso Poldervaart and Greg Lange, founders of the Bangkok Community Help Foundation, spoke to The Thaiger this week about the critical problems emerging in some of the worker and construction camps. Some 80,000 people – mostly Burmese, Cambodian and Thai workers – have been isolated in these shanty towns, basically imprisoned. They are guarded by Thai police and army. Some…

  • Police open murder investigation after worker’s body found underneath home | Thaiger

    Police open murder investigation after worker’s body found underneath home

    Police have opened a murder investigation after the remains of a 42 year old building contractor were found under a home he was doing construction on. The man’s face was severely injured and his skull cracked open, police say. The body had been stripped down to the underwear and wrapped in a curtain. The body was decaying and officers suspect…

  • Motorbike taxis allegedly hiking up fares at Bangkok’s Bang Sue station | Thaiger

    Motorbike taxis allegedly hiking up fares at Bangkok’s Bang Sue station

    Yesterday, the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the police, Damrongsak Kittipraphat, said motorcycle gangs have been offering people who are attempting to use Bangkok’s Bang Sue Grandstation’s parking lot rides at exorbitant prices. Damrongsak says the duplicitous drivers claimed the parking lot is full and then offered people rides at inflated rates. The commander says they have made multiple arrests pertaining to the…

  • Calls mount to boycott Foodpanda following plans to fire rider/protester | Thaiger

    Calls mount to boycott Foodpanda following plans to fire rider/protester

    Foodpanda is being excoriated today following the food delivery service’s announcement that it was going to fire an employee for attending a pro-democracy protest. Users and restaurants of the service say they will boycott the service. The boycott (or pandacott) come after the service said it planned to fire a rider who was photographed at a protest. The company says…

  • Tear gas, rubber bullets deployed against anti-government protesters in Bangkok | Thaiger

    Tear gas, rubber bullets deployed against anti-government protesters in Bangkok

    Police in Bangkok resorted to using tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse anti-government protesters yesterday, after hundreds of people rallied in the capital. A report in the UK’s Guardian newspaper recounts how activists used cars and motorbikes to avoid spreading Covid-19. Yesterday’s protesters had 3 demands: the resignation of PM Prayut Chan-o-cha, a reduction in the military and monarchy’s…

  • Foreigners over 75 can get a vaccine at Bang Sue Bangkok | Thaiger

    Foreigners over 75 can get a vaccine at Bang Sue Bangkok

    Foreigners of a certain age got some good news today as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that expats over 75 years old living in Thailand are now eligible to receive a Covid-19 vaccine in Bangkok. The announcement made this evening goes into effect tomorrow when Bang Sue Central Station will begin to accept qualified foreigners living in Thailand for…

  • Despite ban, protests call for removal of PM for Covid-19 failure | Thaiger

    Despite ban, protests call for removal of PM for Covid-19 failure

    Despite new restrictions banning gatherings of more than 5 people in dark red zones including Bangkok, increasingly angry protests are calling for the removal of PM Prayut Chan-o-cha amid his government’s Covid-19 failures. The government enacted a prohibition on gatherings, saying that skyrocketing Covid-19 infections motivated the rule, though many question the timing of the order on the eve of…

  • Gatherings prohibited due to Covid-19 before planned protests | Thaiger

    Gatherings prohibited due to Covid-19 before planned protests

    For the safety of its citizens and to protect from the spread of Covid-19, the greater Bangkok area Covid-19 command centre has banned any activities or gatherings that involve more than 5 people. The ban on gatherings comes coincidentally just hours before planned mass anti-government protests in the capital, scheduled for today. The ban went into effect for Bangkok, Samut…

  • US, NZ, Oz, Austrian citizens’ brief shot at Covid-19 vaccines | Thaiger

    US, NZ, Oz, Austrian citizens’ brief shot at Covid-19 vaccines

    Good news! Several foreign governments including the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and Austria announced they would offer vaccines for their citizens currently in Thailand. But bad news – supplies ran out long before most people received any notification of the opportunity. Many countries had claimed it was impossible to assist their expats in Thailand in getting vaccines, while France…

  • 200+ teams go door-to-door to find Covid-19 around Bangkok | Thaiger

    200+ teams go door-to-door to find Covid-19 around Bangkok

    As Covid-19 infections continue to surge in Thailand, passing the 5-figure 10,000 mark for daily infections today, PM Prayut Chan-o-cha has deployed over 200 teams to do door-to-door Covid-19 testing in the most at-risk areas of Bangkok. The rapid deployment troops will be made up of a coalition of national police and Thailand armed forces, and the teams are attempting…

  • Bangkok’s Chatuchak weekend market closed July 16 to 29 | Thaiger

    Bangkok’s Chatuchak weekend market closed July 16 to 29

    The weekend is finally here! Maybe a day off work, time to relax… but if your plans included a trip to the weekend market, you’re in for some bad news. Bangkok’s world-famous Chatuchak weekend market has been closed from July 16 to 29 in an effort to avoid Covid-19 infection spread. The popular weekend market has been determined to present…

  • Police arrest 21 in Thong Lor party: drugs, alcohol, and birthday cake found | Thaiger

    Police arrest 21 in Thong Lor party: drugs, alcohol, and birthday cake found

    Thong Lor has again made the news for people partying. Recently, police raided a hotel room in Thong Lor, Bangkok. They arrested 21 suspects for allegedly taking drugs and breaking the emergency decree that forbids groups from gathering. The Thong Lor police were alerted that a hotel room on Soi Sukhumvit 31 was full of people being loud and not…

  • 3 men arrested in Sinopharm vaccine scam | Thaiger

    3 men arrested in Sinopharm vaccine scam

    A vaccine scam was broken up with 3 men alleged to have pretended to be doctors to sell people Sinopharm vaccines that did not exist. Police have identified and apprehended 3 men they believe to be the perpetrators of the scam that saw men posing as doctors in order to take payments for vaccines appointments that never actually existed. The…

  • Bangkok taxi driver faces fines, license suspension, training classes after passenger complains about ride | Thaiger

    Bangkok taxi driver faces fines, license suspension, training classes after passenger complains about ride

    A Bangkok taxi driver has been fined, has his license suspended, and has to take a training class after his erratic behaviour unnerved a passenger. The passenger posted online about the eccentric taxi ride that was supposed to take them from Victory Monument to Klong 6, Pathum Thani, last Sunday. However, the passenger cut the ride short and got off…

  • Available Covid patient beds at Bangkok hospitals hit “critical level” | Thaiger

    Available Covid patient beds at Bangkok hospitals hit “critical level”

    The available beds at Bangkok hospitals for Covid-19 patients have hit a “critical level” with only 10% of beds now open for those with severe coronavirus symptoms, according to the Public Health Ministry. With the uptick in Covid-19 cases over the past several months and a sharp increase over the past few weeks, said to be due to the spread…

  • CCSA clarifies what shops can and can’t open in Bangkok | Thaiger

    CCSA clarifies what shops can and can’t open in Bangkok

    With the lockdown restrictions launched Monday that shut down all but the most essential businesses, some shops are unsure of if they are essential or not. The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration added some clarification today on what shops could and could not open for lockdown. They released details for Bangkok and the surrounding 5 provinces of Nakhon Phathom, Nonthaburi,…

  • Man allegedly breaks into Bangkok 7/11, argues with police | Thaiger

    Man allegedly breaks into Bangkok 7/11, argues with police

    A man has been arrested after he allegedly broke into a Bangkok 7/11 and rooted around for a bit, early Tuesday morning. According to police, 33 year old Songyot Tharanukan broke a glass door with a brick and then gained illegal entry into the ubiquitous convenience store. Police also say the man was none too happy to have to deal…

  • Man changes Virologist’s Wikipedia to include “Sinovac salesman”, faces charges | Thaiger

    Man changes Virologist’s Wikipedia to include “Sinovac salesman”, faces charges

    Recently, a Thai national allegedly modified the Thai language Wikipedia entry for Thai virologist Dr Yong Poovorawan to include that Dr Yong is also a “Sinovac salesman for the Prayut Chan-o-cha administration”. He is now facing charges such as criminal defamation and maybe computer crimes. On Monday, Bangkok police searched the 24 year old aspiring scribe’s home and seized his…

  • First night of curfew: 299 arrested | Thaiger

    First night of curfew: 299 arrested

    From last night to this morning, police arrested 299 people across 10 provinces. The suspects were allegedly not adhering to the new curfew, says police spokesperson Yingyot Thepjamnong. The breakdown of arrested is as follows: 57 arrested in Bangkok 187 arrested throughout: Samut Prakan, Nonthaburi, and Pathum Thani 7 arrested in Nakhon Pathom and Samut Sakhon 48 arrested in Songkhla,…

  • Bangkok Government Complex provides free Covid testing, registering online first imperative | Thaiger

    Bangkok Government Complex provides free Covid testing, registering online first imperative

    For people who wish to get a free Covid test at the Government Complex, they must register online first, says the National Health Security Office, today. The test will be the rapid antigen test. The testing location is on Chaeng Wattana Road and will be open until July 30. The hours are 8 am and 4 pm, but not on…

  • 5 movie theatres in Bangkok temporarily close | Thaiger

    5 movie theatres in Bangkok temporarily close

    Yesterday, Major Cineplex stated it was closing 5 of its movie theatre locations in Bangkok. They will stay closed until July 25. The move is a precautionary measure against Covid. The movie Major Cineplex theatres closing are: Ratchayothin Rangsit Pin Klao Sukhumvit Esplanade Certain establishments are still open inside the shopping centre, however. They will still be closed at 8…