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.
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Sponsored 9 most common health issues covered by insurance for expats in Thailand
Thailand is a popular destination for expats due to its affordable lifestyle and excellent healthcare system. However, settling in a new country often brings health concerns. To ensure you’re covered for the most common medical needs, understanding what expat health...
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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…
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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,…
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More than 1,000 people file damage complaints related to Samut Prakan chemical fire
More than 1,000 residents in Samut Prakan’s Bang Phili district have filed damage complaints relating to the Ming Dih Chemical Company explosion and massive fire last week which took more than 24 hours to control. Helicopters were deployed to spray fire retardant foam. Residents within a 5 kilometre radius were told to evacuate. Toxic black smoke billowing from the chemical…
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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…
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Bangkok construction workers infected with both Alpha and Delta strains
Some workers at a Bangkok constructions camp have tested positive for both the Alpha and Delta variants of Covid-19. The Bangkok Post calls it a “mixed infection” while both Nation Thailand and Thai PBS say the workers tested positive for a hybrid strain of the 2 variants. Thailand’s Medical Sciences Department director-general Dr. Supakit Sirilak announced the findings today saying…
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Rapid antigen tests to be made available to Bangkok public to relieve pressure on hospitals
The Public Health Ministry has approved in principle for rapid antigen tests to be made available for the public to purchase from Bangkok clinics and pharmacies. The idea is to relieve the pressure on hospitals struggling to meet an increasing demand for PCR tests as infections rise. According to a Pattaya News report, officials will meet today to confirm the…
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UPDATE: Beauty pageant scandal leads to Covid cluster, participants face potential prosecution
The beauty pageant women who participated in “Miss Grand Samut Sakhon” last month are possibly facing criminal charges for not wearing masks, say police. This, coming after a 22 person cluster arose after the show. 13 of the contestants’ tests positive for Covid, as well as 9 “others”, say police. Piya Tawichai, deputy commissioner of the metropolitan police told the…
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Protesters run “car mobs”, focus on eroding coalition parties | VIDEO
Anti-government protesters have continued their demands for the resignation of PM Prayut Chan-o-cha and his Senate appointments (the entire upper house/Senate in Thailand – 250 members – were hand-picked by the former NCPO military government). But this weekend they’ve added some new protest techniques and tactics. With lockdown and surging Covid-19, they have taken to car mobs, assembling vehicles to…
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Bangkok beauty pageant suffers Covid scandal
A formal complaint from the Huai Khwang district office in Bangkok been lodged against the organiser of the “Miss Grand Samut Sakhon 2021” beauty pageant, alleging the show violated the Communicable Disease Act. The complaint, lodged with the Makkasan police, alleges the pageant held on June 26 and June 27 at the Mirin Theatre RCA in the Huai Khwang district…
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80 Bangkok roadblocks to curb Covid-19 spread before lockdown
“The law of unintended consequences has come to be used as an adage or idiomatic warning that an intervention in a complex system tends to create unanticipated and often undesirable outcomes. It is commonly used as a wry or humorous warning against the hubristic belief that humans can fully control the world around them.” – Wikipedia The last time the…
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Preparing for Bangkok lockdown measures from today on
The CCSA announced yesterday sweeping new Covid-19 lockdown measures for Bangkok and surrounding provinces, as well as 4 southern provinces, and now people and businesses are scrambling to prepare before provisions go into effect from now until Monday. Airlines have quickly implemented emergency measures for domestic travellers to handle the wave of cancellations and rescheduling due to Bangkok and other…
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1 million AstraZeneca vaccines from Japan for elderly in Bangkok
Japan recently donated just over 1 million AstraZeneca vaccines to Thailand in hopes of battling the surging Covid-19 outbreaks hammering the country, and today the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration announce plans to give those vaccines to the elderly in Bangkok. The 1.05 million vaccines that arrived today from Japan will be earmarked for senior citizens, both Thai nationals and…
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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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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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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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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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Residents near burned-out factory return home, environmental concerns remain
The Pollution Control Department has confirmed that residents within 2 – 5 kilometres of a factory that burnt down in the central province of Samut Prakan can now return home. The air quality in the surrounding area has been tested and deemed safe. However, a number of environmental concerns remain. According to a Bangkok Post report, governor Wanchai Kongkasem says…
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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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Whispered but not proposed – could a lockdown be coming?
This week Thailand’s complicated relationship with Covid-19 finds the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration open to considering a lockdown. The CCSA indicated they would consider possible proposals from the Ministry of Public Health to stop the spread of Covid-19, up to and including a lockdown. National Security Council Secretary-General Natthapon Nakpanich clarified today that there are no official proposals currently,…
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Bangkok doctor in critical condition after being stabbed by patient, blood donations needed
A doctor at a Bangkok hospital is in critical condition after she was stabbed in the chest by a psychiatric patient. B positive blood donations are urgently needed to treat the Chulalongkorn Hospital doctor. Donations can be made directly at the hospital or through the Thai Red Cross Society. Police say a 24 year old psychiatric patient a the hospital…
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More than 80,000 people affected by chemical factory fire in Samut Prakan
The massive fire at the chemical factory on the outskirts of Bangkok, billowing toxic gas into the air, affected around 80,000 people. An explosion at the Ming Dih Chemical polystyrene factory in Samut Prakan, just outside the capital, led to a chemical fire that took more than 25 hours to put out. Those in Bangkok could see the smoke. A…
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Tuesday Covid Update: 5,420 new cases; provincial totals
Thailand’s Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration reported 5,420 new cases and 57 coronavirus-related deaths, raising the total case count since the start of the pandemic last year to 294,653 and the Covid death toll to 2,333. The latest and most severe wave of the virus in Thailand, first recorded on April 1, has accounted for 265,790 of the total confirmed…
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Thailand low on Covid-19 vaccines, priority given to at-risk groups
Thailand is running low on vaccines, the spokesperson for the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration acknowledged today. With the most severe wave of Covid-19 continuing to rise, and the emergence of the more transmissible Delta variant, health officials are giving priority to those most at risk of a severe infection. The elderly and those with certain underlying health conditions, particularly…
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Bangkok’s Siriraj Hospital closes emergency room until further notice
Yesterday, Siriraj Piyamaharajkarun Hospital in Bangkok declared that it has to temporarily close its Emergency Room, until… further notice, as there are more patients than there is room. The hospital played coy as to when the ER will resume normal operations. However, they did apologise to people for the inconvenience. Another hospital, Rajavithi Hospital announced they would be stopping general…
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Covid alert issued for Thai smile flight from Bangkok to Phuket, arrived last Thursday
Phuket officials have issued an alert for all passengers who were on the Thai Smile flight WE201 that went from Bangkok to Phuket on Thursday, July 1. The passengers are being asked to get tested for Covid-19 ASAP at the nearest government hospital. The alert extends to any customers that went into 2 different Starbucks at the Floresta and Festival…
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Pro-democracy, Covid-19 protesters merge at Government House
A confluence of protesters merged in Bangkok today as multiple causes overlapped and demonstrated at Government House. Several groups protesting the government and calling for the dissolution of the Senate and the resignation of PM Prayut Chan-o-cha crossed paths with those that were rallying against the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and the lack of assistance for many sectors desperately…
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Father commits suicide after daughter dies of Covid
An octogenarian father jumped off his condominium in Bangkok not long after his daughter had died of Covid. He jumped either last night or early this morning. Early this morning, police discovered 84 year old Peng Ki’s body in Bangkok’s Ratchathewi district after he jumped to his death. His daughter’s body, 57 year old Pranee was found in a bed…
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Taxi explodes after hitting truck, driver burns to death
Early this morning, a taxi cab in Bangkok hit a freight truck. The taxi then exploded, trapping the driver inside who burned to death. The incident happened on “On Nut Road”, says Pornprasit Malamai, investigation chief at Prawet police station The fire ripped through the cab taking fire crews over 20 minutes to extinguish the blaze. The fire was so…
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