Thailand
4 health care workers in Bangkok test positive for Covid-19

4 health care workers tested positive for Covid-19 after working at alternative state quarantine facilities and hospitals in Bangkok. The medical personnel, ages 25 to 40, tested positive on December 4 and 5 after reporting symptoms of a fever and headache.
Public health officials are investigating the cases to see if there were any slip-ups in quarantine protocols. Medical personnel working at ASQ facilities typically get tested for the coronavirus every 3 days.
Health officials have tracked down 280 close contacts with 51 people at “high risk” and 228 at “low risk.” So far, all the contacts at high risk have tested negative for the coronavirus. Results are still being processed for those at low risk.
Along with the 4 health care worker cases, the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration reported 7 cases from Thai women returning from Myanmar and 8 cases from people entering Thailand from overseas. Thailand’s total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases is raised to 4,126 with 3,874 recoveries and 60 deaths. 192 people are currently receiving medical treatment for the coronavirus.
Covid-19 cases from Myanmar:
6 Thai women tested positive for Covid-19 while in quarantine after returning to Chiang Rai from Myanmar where they had worked at entertainment venues. The women, ages 24 to 37, all reported coronavirus symptoms including loss of smell, muscle ache, diarrhoea, sore throat, fever and a runny nose. They were sent to Chiang Rai Prachanukroh Hospital.
A 21 year old Thai woman also tested positive for Covid-19 after returning from Myanmar. However, the woman entered the country illegally, evading quarantine. She entered Thailand on November 29 and tested positive for the coronavirus on December 5. She was asymptomatic.
Covid-19 cases from overseas:
A 32 year of Thai woman, who is a prison inmate, tested positive for Covid-19 after returning to Thailand from Bahrain. No other details on her case have been released.
Other cases from overseas, detected in quarantine, include a 38 year old Thai woman travelling from Turkey, a 65 year old Swiss man travelling from the United Kingdom, a 62 year old Thai man and 61 year old Thai woman travelling from the United States, a 73 year old Danish man travelling from Denmark and a 24 year old Thai woman travelling from Morocco.
SOURCES: Nation Thailand | Bangkok Post
Catch up with the latest daily “Thailand News Today” here on The Thaiger.
Keep in contact with The Thaiger by following our Facebook page.
Never miss out on future posts by following The Thaiger.
Coronavirus (Covid-19)
Thai DJ Celebrity party is likely to be “super spreader” event

The birthday party of Techin Ploypetch, better known as “DJ Matoom”, is now considered a super-spreader source of Covid-19, with 19 people already found infected after attending the event. According the CCSA spokesperson during the daily briefing today, “Transmissions in Bangkok should be highlighted. They show the possibility of a person becoming a super-spreader”.
The birth of the super spreader birthday party started with a guest to the DJ’s party who had visited a well-known entertainment venue in Chiang Mai between January 1 and 4. He sought a Covid-19 test on January 5 following news that infected people had visited the pub, but tested negative. He should have self quarantined for 14 days, but he still flew to Bangkok and then attended the DJ celebrity’s birthday party on January 9.
DJ Matoom says he met the guest, one of his friend, on January 9, but that friend didn’t know he was infected until January 19 in which he told Matoom.
According to Dr Tanarak Plipat, now acting inspector-general of the Public Health Ministry, an infected person can transmit disease to two others on average, while a “super spreader” will transmit to multiple people.
DJ Matoom and the party’s guest were criticised of violating the disease control measures.
SOURCE: Thai PBS World
Keep in contact with The Thaiger by following our Facebook page.
Never miss out on future posts by following The Thaiger.
Thailand
Thailand’s tourism targets film production to gain revenue during Covid-19 crisis

Thailand’s tourism officials have a new idea to draw in visitors: film production. The Tourism and Sports Ministry is aiming to generate around 3 billion baht from foreign film crews and is targeting projects with an investment over 100 million baht, hoping to compensate for the loss of revenue due to the lack of international tourists during the coronavirus pandemic.
Foreign tourism revenue drastically dropped nearly 83% in 2020, going from nearly 40 million tourists in 2019 to only 6.7 million tourists in 2020.
The tourism department’s director-general Anant Wongbenjarat says that Thailand welcomed 176 international film productions to the country last year, generating 1.73 billion baht for the local economy. But this is a sharp decrease compared to the previous year where the 740 foreign film crews generated 4.86 billion baht.
In August, the CCSA decided to grant special entry permission to film productions. 53 film production projects were based in Thailand during August and December, contributing 1.14 billion baht to the economy. Those entering Thailand must still undergo a 14 day quarantine.
“International productions can proceed and generate income for locals despite the tourism slowdown.”
Anant also says there are 4 more film production projects underway, and it is forecasted to generate 186 million baht, bringing the total to 57 projects. In the first half of this year, there will be nine more productions expected to come in and help create at least 800 jobs for locals.
SOURCE: Bangkok Post
Keep in contact with The Thaiger by following our Facebook page.
Never miss out on future posts by following The Thaiger.
Video & Podcasts
Thailand News Today | Thailand’s vaccination roll-out | January 26

Bangkok restaurants may soon be allowed to stay open a little later. Health officials are considering easing up Covid-19 prevention measures by extending restaurant dine-in closing times to 11pm. If the proposal gets the green light, it may lead to the lifting of the alcohol ban.
After the order of shutting entertainment venues and banning alcohol sales in Bangkok, Samut Prakan, and Chonburi, the revenues in the alcohol beverage business plummeted. Under disease control measures, restaurants in Bangkok were ordered to stop dine-in services at 9pm and all alcohol sales banned at restaurants to limit gatherings.
According to the president of the Thai Alcohol Business Association, the current ban on alcohol is estimated to cost about 90 billion baht in revenue for businesses.
The Thai Chamber of Commerce says the Cabinet might review the proposal on closing hours tomorrow and act immediately to provide relief to restaurant operators as well as those in the alcohol beverage business.
At least 19 Covid-19 cases have been tracked back to 2 parties – a 5-day New Years celebration in Chiang Mai and a birthday party in Bangkok for a famous TV and radio host Techin Ployphet, aka DJ Matoom, on January 9.
A senior police officer in Bangkok is the latest case possibly linked to the Bangkok “party cluster.” The officer tested positive for Covid-19 after coming in contact with someone who attended the celebrity’s birthday at the Vertigo restaurant and bar on top of the Banyan Tree Hotel.
After the party, the actor, as well as other attendees, later tested positive for Covid-19. DJ Matoom also attended a New Year’s celebration in Chiang Mai from January 1 to 5, which is also linked to a number of cases.
In the ongoing investigation into the k-based drug cocktail linked to 11 deaths in Bangkok, police have arrested a man who allegedly mixed large amounts of narcotics to make the drug cocktail known as “K powdered milk.” Police say the cocktail includes ketamine mixed with methamphetamine, heroin and over-the-counter pills for anxiety and sleeping.
A 38 year old Taiwan national was arrested yesterday after police raided his condominium in Bangkok’s Ratchathewi district. Chou allegedly admitted to mixing the drugs to make “K powdered milk” and police say the formulas for the drug mixture were found on his mobile phone.
Earlier this month, 11 people died after taking the drug cocktail and dozens of people are still in hospital after consuming the illegal concoction. Police have arrested numerous suspected drug dealers who ran small scale and large scale operations.
The government plans to begin Thailand’s 3-phase vaccination plan on February 14, starting with healthcare and frontline workers as well as vulnerable groups.
The Public Health Minister says the first phase of inoculations starting next month will target 19 million Thai people in 4 priority groups…
– health workers in both public and private sectors.
– 6 million people with underlying conditions.
– 11 million people aged over 60.
– Covid-19 task force who are in close contact with infected patients.
The vaccine’s availability remains limited at this stage and only target groups who are at high risk of infection will be vaccinated during the first phase of the vaccination plan. Importantly, the vaccines will be free and are not compulsory.
The AstraZeneca vaccine, developed in partnership with Oxford University, was approved by the Thai government for emergency last week. The first batch of 50,000 doses are expected to arrive next month. Thailand also expects 200,000 doses of China’s Sinovac Biotech vaccine to arrive next month.
In a landmark decision, the Thai Senate has approved amendments to Thailand’s abortion laws allowing women to terminate their pregnancy during the first trimester and also lessening the punishment for women who have an abortion after 12 weeks of pregnancy.
The amendments will go into effect on February 12.
Abortion – during any stage of pregnancy – has been illegal under Thailand’s Criminal Code, with the exception that the pregnancy poses a health risk for the mother or if the woman was raped.
Yesterday, the Senate approved to amend the Criminal Code to allow abortions performed by a qualified doctor during the first trimester, which is the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. Women would not need to give a reason for the abortion.
The Senate also approved to lessen the punishment for women who terminated their pregnancy illegally.
Breaking Thailand’s record for highest daily spike in coronavirus cases, 959 new Covid-19 cases were reported today at the daily briefing.
The majority of new cases were found in proactive tracking and tracing in Samut Sakhon, which has been increased to test 60,000 people in the province this week. With more diligent testing in the Covid-19 hotspot, health officials expected a spike in reported cases. 848 of the 959 new cases were detected by proactive testing, most in Samut Sakhon and only 4 in Bangkok.
22 of the new cases reported today were detected in quarantine for those arriving to Thailand from abroad.
Keep in contact with The Thaiger by following our Facebook page.
Never miss out on future posts by following The Thaiger.
- Business20 hours ago
The ‘office’ is SO last century. Say hello to the world of remote working.
- North East4 days ago
Ring road collapses leaving at least 10 injured in Nakhon Ratchasima
- Coronavirus (Covid-19)4 days ago
198 new infections, 1 death – Thailand’s Covid-19 update
- Coronavirus (Covid-19)4 days ago
Phuket wants Bangkok arrivals to skip quarantine to help tourism revenue
- Crime4 days ago
Phuket national park officer fired over peeping Tom incident
- Coronavirus (Covid-19)4 days ago
ASQ + Vaccine in Thailand proposal gets the thumbs down
- Bangkok4 days ago
Efficacy of Covid-19 vaccines will drop during mass inoculations: Thai virologist
- Bangkok4 days ago
Courteous thief apologises to Bangkok convenience store: Sorry I’ve a kid
Issan John
Tuesday, December 8, 2020 at 3:00 pm
It could be unfortunate coincidence, but together with the numbers from the Tachiliek episode it looks as if people are becoming a bit too complacent and over-confident.
Thais on social media are certainly far from happy.
Peter
Tuesday, December 8, 2020 at 7:08 pm
You don’t need to worry John, your in your sh1t shack bunker in the middle of nowhere.
The German test and trace system was totally overwhelmed in the second wave of Covid.
It was originally held up as an example to the rest of Europe and was blown to smithereens by the virus in Q3 2020.
All joking aside, i hope this virus doesn’t get a hold in Thailand. It will totally overwhelm the health care system within months.
Thailand has zero herd immunity and apparently 1 in 3 are silent spreaders showing no symptoms.
The UK started its vaccination program this morning, with the 95% effective Pfizer vaccine being administered for the first time globally outside a trial setting.
The NHS will be setting up regional hubs to administer the vaccine.
Hopefully, the AstraZeneca vaccine will get approval within weeks.
The head of the UK vaccine task force thinks by early summer 2021, the UK will be back to near normal.
Best of British luck John.
Mister Stretch
Tuesday, December 8, 2020 at 8:27 pm
If they are far from happy then they should put the damned masks on again.
I, and my Thai family, are always masked when going out, but too much complacency exists, by half…and more than 50% of those out and about are maskless.
I am sick of hearing that people are “tired” of lockdowns, restrictions, masks and safety protocols. They are just weak and should jump off the nearest bridge and save us all from their whining and dangerous behavior.
luca
Tuesday, December 8, 2020 at 4:32 pm
it seems that the Thai shield is starting to lose effectiveness, it would be a hoax if contagion breaks out in the coming months while other countries vaccinate their citizens
Ledi
Tuesday, December 8, 2020 at 8:07 pm
Was it an ASQ hotel? Which one is it?
Ian
Wednesday, December 9, 2020 at 3:29 am
Covid is like water it will find a,way in eventually through the smallest of holes so looks like Thailand’s efforts have all been in vain I dread to think how many more in a month will contract this disease but I’m sure Thailand authorities will say it’s not, may God be with you thailand