Thailand
Covid hotspot Samut Sakhon adds 541 more Covid cases to today’s total

Thailand’s Covid hotspot of Samut Sakhon is adding 541 more Covid cases to the total amount of infections reported today. On the province’s Facebook page, it says 455 migrant workers and 86 Thais were found this afternoon to be infected with Covid-19, raising the total amount of cases in the province to 2,401 since the 2nd wave broke out in mid-December.
Now, a shrimp vendors’ group has announced today an indefinite postponement of the resumption of trade at the Thalay Thai fresh market, due to the outbreak of Covid infections that are thought to have originated from the market.
A Royal Thai Army spokesman, Santipong Thampiya, is also reporting that today a retired army officer who visited the Office of the Secretariat of the Army on December 29 has tested positive for Covid in the 1st screening and is now isolating at home pending a 2nd test.
Santipong says the retiree travelled to Rayong province on December 20 with friends and they ate lunch at a restaurant in Map Ta Phut district. The retiree developed a cough on December 27 and went to be tested at a private hospital the next day. Santipong says he ordered the tracing of the retiree’s close contacts for health screenings and observations, but has not signaled a need to close the Secretariat’s office as it had already been disinfected.
Earlier today there were 294 new, locally transmitted infections of Covid-19 reported with 21 new imported cases, which brought the total to 7,694 cases since the pandemic began. But then Chon Buri added 62 more cases to that total, and now Samut Sakhon has added even more.
SOURCE: Thai PBS World
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Coronavirus (Covid-19)
The Thai government threw a tourist party (sound of crickets) | VIDEO

The Thai Government, flushed with the success of their containment of Covid-19, decided to market the Land of Smiles to the world as the safe place to travel. With the annual wet season starting to weaken the tourists would flock back to the S E Asian country that had such a remarkable success containing, then almost eradicating itself, of the coronavirus.
Then they came up with the STV – the special tourist visa which would have the world’s eager travellers packing their sun cream for up to 270 days of Thai tourism.
There were promises of plane loads of tourists and even published flights and carriers. A few flights arrived, most didn’t.
In fact, since the start of the STV, the Special Tourist Visa, with its long list of restrictions and requirements, was floated, along with a re-vamped Tourist Visa, less than 400 people have arrived per month, on average, since the end of October. In the October and November of the year before more than 3 million people arrived in Thailand. Even the government’s limit of 1,200 new tourist arrivals per month was even slightly tested.
The government had bought all the streamers and a pretty new dress for the party but no one came.
What went wrong?
Where was the much-anticipated pent-up demand and people banging on the doors of the world’s Thai embassies?
It was the European winter and the ‘snowbirds’ would surely be back to soak in some Thai sun rays. But no.
The first problem was there wasn’t much for them to come back to. They would have the beaches of the islands all to themselves, they wouldn’t have to wait in line for anything, the domestic airlines were still selling low fares to Tavel anywhere around the country.
But otherwise there wasn’t a lot for them to do. The tourism magnets were a shadow of their former selves. Walking Street, Bangla Road, tours and tour boats, all the tourist strip restaurants. The buzz of the crowds was gone and more than 90% of the tourist-related business had closed up.
Their staff, their families, their bank loans, their stock and investments – all on hold and forced to find come other means to make ends meet. 931 of some of the larger official tourism operators have now gone out of business, according to Bloomberg News. There would be thousands of the smaller family operations that have also been swept aside by the Thai government’s responses to the world pandemic.
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Coronavirus (Covid-19)
Covid-19 travel pass to pilot on Etihad and Emirates Airways flights

A travel pass for passengers inoculated against Covid-19 or who have tested negative will be piloted on flights for Dubai’s Emirates and Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways. With the travel pass issued by the International Air Transport Association, passengers can keep control of their data and share their test results with airlines and authorities for travel.
The travel pass will be offered on selected flights from Abu Dhabi in the first quarter, and will expand the pass to other destinations of the trail is successful. Emirates is going to implement phase 1 of the travel pass in April for flights departing from Dubai.
Recently, the IATA travel pass programme has been also tested in International Airlines Group and Singapore Airlines.
SOURCE: Reuters
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Coronavirus (Covid-19)
Outbreak in Samut Sakhon is “worrying,” CCSA spokesperson says

While the number of daily new Covid-19 cases continues to drop, health officials are still scrambling to contain the virus in the prime hotspot: Samut Sakhon. The outbreak in the coastal fishing province is “worrying,” according to Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration spokesperson Taweesilp Visanuyothin.
Health officials rolled out a proactive mass testing campaign after a spike of Covid-19 cases in mid-December. The vast majority of cases were concentrated around the Central Shrimp Market in the Mahachai fishing hub, which affected a large migrant population. The virus has since spread to 61 of Thailand’s 77 provinces.
With the help of proactive testing, more than 4,000 cases were reported in Samut Sakhon. Field hospitals have been set up on the fly to treat and quarantine those that are infected.
But public health officials are still racing to test as many people in the province as possible with plans to inspect 600 factories and test 50 factory workers per day. There are 12,000 factories in Samut Sakhon and Taweeslip says health officials are speeding up testing to “isolate infected people as soon as possible.”
“The outbreak in Samut Sakhon is worrying. It is difficult to conduct active case-finding there. There are many obstacles, including the number of factories… Meanwhile, factory owners and workers must cooperate. There are more than 10,000 small factories where 1-200 people are employed.”
SOURCE: Bangkok Post
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gosport
Sunday, January 3, 2021 at 6:17 pm
Hard to hold on now. Sad
Frank Leboeuf
Sunday, January 3, 2021 at 6:33 pm
Might be time to put the domestic travel stimulus campaign on hold, maybe?
https://thethaiger.com/hot-news/tourism/thai-government-promises-more-long-weekends-in-2021-travel-bubbles-after-april
Jason
Sunday, January 3, 2021 at 6:40 pm
So the second wave, that would surely come, has come. I only hope that all the scare mongering of the past hasn’t frightened the Thai people. This outbreak can be controlled through strategic lockdowns according to province. To lockdown the whole country, would not be a good decision.” Ring Fencing” the outbreaks seems to work best. It is not a time for panic. It is a time for rationally encircling the virus. Testing is the best defence. Learn from those countries that have successfully constrained the virus. A vaccine (in fact three vaccines) are ready for emergency approval. They have been approved in a number of countries already. The Thai Government will fast track their approval in an emergency…and this is an emergency. My greatest concerned is for the Thai people. I know you have as a country been through hardships and so has my country. But strategic lockdowns do work. I look forward to the day when i can come to reunite with my friends there.
gigi
Sunday, January 3, 2021 at 7:07 pm
I like TAG #FRUTTI DI MARE 🙂
Rasputin
Sunday, January 3, 2021 at 7:39 pm
This is the worst possible news IMO, if covid is not brought under control, while it’s still containable, Thailand need only look to the West to see the disaster that’s heading their way.
Ipaddressfunnycolors
Sunday, January 3, 2021 at 9:55 pm
As in total deaths not increasing year over year. Every day being relabled a covid death. Got it.
Issan John
Sunday, January 3, 2021 at 9:18 pm
The solution’s simple and unavoidable. A national lockdown with limits on inter-provincial travel NOW – a week too late, but better late than never.
The world-wide lessons of the last nine months should have been clear to anyone, and it’s either minor inconvenience now or major issues later.
It’s not a hard choice.
Ian
Monday, January 4, 2021 at 2:10 am
Issan john you taking my message on another post I said exactly the same but I would eat your straw hat if no lockdown in 14 days lol,but seriously it must happen look at my country UK we have messed around with zones 1,2,3,4 part lockdown it doesn’t work a full lockdown is the only solution the river banks have burst Thailand the flood is coming to a home near you but wait hats that on the horizon its the magical farang cure to save you again lol
Long live the Farang