Thailand News
Thailand news, politics, business, crime, and lifestyle—get breaking updates from Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pattaya, and beyond. Stay informed on Thai society, economy, tourism, and expat life with The Thaiger.
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Sponsored See the best of Northern Thailand this winter on a budget
The Thaiger key takeaways Peak season brings higher prices, but smart planning and local know-how can help you experience Northern Thailand affordably. Chiang Mai, Pai, and Chiang Rai offer plenty of free or low-cost attractions, from temples and canyons to...
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Wellness counselling an added benefit with expat health insurance
During this unpredictable time with the Covid-19 pandemic, taking care of one’s mental health is equally important, as mental and physical health directly affect each other. As people worldwide have lost jobs, family members, friends, and their “old normal,” the spotlight on wellness has grown brighter. But what about those who are expatriates in another country, such as Thailand? Not…
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Police raid Hat Yai restaurant and arrest 10 people for drinking alcohol
Police arrested 10 people for gathering and drinking alcohol in Songkhla’s Hat Yai district, a violation of the local disease control measures banning alcohol consumption at restaurants. A local had called police reporting people were having a party at the restaurant last night. Hat Yai district chief Chawakit Suwankhiri says police went to the Khru Pattakhan Ban Thung restaurant immediately…
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Koh Samui set to reopen on July 1, 50% of residents vaccinated so far
Koh Samui is hoping to also reopen to vaccinated foreign tourists on July 1. At this stage it’s a proposal that will need to be approved by the CESA and CCSA. So far, 57,000 residents on the popular Gulf of Thailand island have been vaccinated, making up 50% of the population on Koh Samui, according to the president of the…
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Grab driver with disability killed in car accident
Yesterday, a Grab driver with a disability was killed after his motorbike was hit by an SUV in Nonthaburi, a province northwest of Bangkok. 25 year old Danai Chainarao, whose right leg had previously been amputated, was declared dead on Tiwanon Road. His passenger was seriously injured and taken to a local hospital for medical attention. Police say the deceased’s…
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Vaccination history made, says PM
Thailand vaccinated its most people to date with yesterday’s 300,000 doses successfully administered. The Prime Minister, Prayut Chan-o-cha, says it was a historic day for Thailand fighting back against Covid-19. By 4 pm, over 300,000 doses had been given, says the permanent secretary of public health, Kiattiphum Wongrajit, who also says that figure does not include doses given in Bangkok.…
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Private hospitals ordering 10 million doses of Moderna, expected to arrive by October
Private hospitals in the Kingdom are planning to buy up to 10 million doses of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine through the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation. The Private Hospital Association expects to take delivery of the vaccines by October. Paiboon Eksaengsri from the PHA says progress was made at a meeting with Moderna importer, Zuellig Pharma. The price has also been set…
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Billionaire couple in Koh Tao drowned, preliminary autopsy results show
A preliminary autopsy results suggest the billionaire couple died from drowning at the Koh Tao resort pool. Water was found in both their lungs and medical examiners at the Police General Hospital say the couple died from lack of oxygen. More tests are being done and police are still investigating. Last Friday, the Thai-Indian couple Anshoo and Rakeshwar Sachatamakul, 55…
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Bangkok’s vaccine rollout brings a sense of optimism to the capital
Mass inoculation against Covid-19 has finally kicked off in Thailand and the sense of relief in Bangkok, epicentre of the latest wave, is palpable. The Bangkok Post reports on the rollout at Bang Sue Grand Station, now serving as a temporary vaccination centre. It’s where 78 year old U-ree Dechdamrong received her first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine yesterday. A retired…
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235 people in 10 Thai provinces infected with Covid variant first found in India
235 people in 10 of Thailand’s 77 provinces have tested positive for the Covid-19 variant first found in India. Most of the cases are linked to an outbreak at a construction camp in Bangkok’s Laksi district. Thailand’s Department of Medical Sciences tested samples from 3,964 Covid-19 patients to detect mutated variants of the virus. 235 of the samples were positive…
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82 year old woman first person to get vaccine in Chiang Mai
An unnamed, nationality unknown, 82 year old woman has become the first person to get a Covid vaccine in Chiang Mai, a northern Thai Province. She received her inoculation of AstraZeneca this morning and did not report any adverse side effects. The woman did not reveal whether she had gotten the vaccine in hopes of winning a cow: as a…
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Mass vaccination campaign starts today, first phase includes foreigners in “at risk” groups
“All foreign nationals on Thai soil are included in the national vaccination programme.” Thailand’s nationwide mass Covid-19 vaccination campaign officially started today. For foreigners living in Thailand, those who are 60 years old and above as well as those with certain underlying health conditions, will be given priority during this phase of vaccinations. In Phuket and Koh Samui, tourist destinations…
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Man arrested for allegedly trying to rob convenience store
An Australian man was arrested this morning after he allegedly tried to rob a Pattaya convenience store. 55 year old Vladisavljevic Alexander was arrested after police were alerted at 3 am to his activities. The alleged break in happened at a Tops Daily convenience store on Naklua Road. A nearby security guard heard noises coming from the store and called…
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Thai-Myanmar border patrol tightens, 11 Burmese migrants caught hiding in containers
In the latest bust by border patrol, officers searched a pickup truck and found 11 Burmese migrants hiding in plastic containers. Over the past few months, dozens of Burmese migrants have been caught in Kanchanaburi for allegedly crossing the Myanmar border illegally, evading checkpoint screening and the mandatory 14 day quarantine for those entering the country. Many migrants who have…
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Train accident leaves 30 dead in Pakistan
2 trains collided in Pakistan’s southeast province of Sindh today. 30 people have been reported dead and dozens more are injured. The Millat Express had derailed and was soon hit by Sir Syed Express. Rescue workers and villagers worked together to remove bodies from the wreckage. Between 15 to 20 people are still trapped inside the trains. Heavy machines are…
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Woman has to be rescued after falling through hole in Samut Prakan
Yesterday, a woman fell down a 2 metre hole. She was reportedly on her phone and did not notice the gaping hole that led to her plunging into a concrete water tank. The hole was located in a construction site in the Bang Bo district of Samut Prakan, the province that sits on the Gulf of Thailand. A local rescue…
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Bodies of couple who died at a Koh Tao pool sent to police hospital for autopsies
Medical examiners at the Police General Hospital will do an autopsy on the bodies of the billionaire couple who were both found dead in a resort pool on Koh Tao, an island in the Gulf of Thailand off the Surat Thani coast. The results on the cause of death will be released in around 2 weeks, Koh Tao police chief…
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Private hospitals in Thailand to confirm price of Moderna Covid-19 vaccine today
The Private Hospital Association is expected to confirm the price of the Covid-19 Moderna vaccine, which will be provided as a paid alternative outside of the government rollout. The Moderna vaccine has been approved by Thailand’s Food and Drug Administration and will be made available for purchase at private hospitals. According to a Pattaya News report, Paiboon Eksaengsri from the…
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Health Ministry insists supply issues won’t affect vaccine rollout
Thailand’s Public Health Ministry says the country’s vaccine rollout will begin today, with 2 priority groups: the elderly and those with 7 underlying health conditions. The Deputy Minister of Public Health, Sathit Pitutecha, acknowledges that many hospitals around the country have postponed vaccination appointments scheduled for today over concerns they had not received enough vaccine doses. “We are aware of…
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Tourism operators pinning hopes on vaccine rollout
Thailand’s tourism operators are pinning all their hopes on the national vaccine rollout, which kicks off today. However, the government’s reputation for vaccine procurement and management has come in for sharp criticism and confidence is not high. Already, a number of provinces have had to postpone their vaccine rollouts after receiving an insufficient number of doses from the Public Health…
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Thailand Foreign Ministry concerned about Myanmar situation
A spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry of Thailand expressed the country’s concern for their troubled neighbour Myanmar and the violence that rages on there. They called for the country, mired in protests and violent skirmishes against the military junta that seized power on February 1, to follow the actions agreed upon by leaders of the surrounding Southeast Asian nations. In…
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Last WWII Thai airman died at 102 years old
World War II ended 76 years ago before many of us were born, but this week, the last Thai airman who actively fought in World War II died at the age of 102. Thai airman Choy Lodethanong died on Wednesday morning. At the age of 102, the death was considered to be of natural causes. Choy was part of the…
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Pride Month celebrates the LGBTQ community in Thailand
In the United States, June is Pride Month – a month to celebrate the LGBTQ community, in memory of the Stonewall riots in June of 1969. It is a month to recognize the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer population in the US. While Pride Month isn’t officially international, some acknowledgement and celebration have been seen in Thailand. In Bangkok,…
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500,000 Sinovac doses reach Thailand
Yesterday, China’s embassy in Thailand announced that the second shipment of 500,000 doses of the Sinovac vaccines given by the Chinese government got to Thailand. This second shipment brings the total donations of Sinovac from China to 6.5 million doses. Globally, China and Thailand have the most doses of Sinovac. Earlier this week, The Thaiger reported that 11 million doses…
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TAT proposes eased restrictions and 10 year visa to key groups
Key word – PROPOSAL. Perhaps tired of piecemeal baby steps to attract tourists while missing the bigger picture, The Tourism Authority of Thailand proposed a sweeping plan to give 4 target groups easy access to live, work and prosper in Thailand for a decade at a time. The radical proposal was presented to PM Prayut Chan-o-cha in a video conference…
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Covid UPDATE Sunday: 2,671 new infections and 23 deaths
There has been another 2,671 new infections of Covid-19 detected across Thailand in the past 24 hours. There’s also been 23 deaths. 604 cases were detected in Thai prisons. Thailand has now registered a total of 148,604 cases, the vast majority since the start of April in what’s being called the third wave, which emerged from the bars, nightclubs and…
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Studio designs solution to online class uniform debate
They say nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool and a controversial school rule for online classes has just proved that to be the case. When school authorities announced the foolproof plan of making it mandatory to wear a uniform even during online classes, the decision was met with backlash from students who didn’t see the need to dress…
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Compensation for side effects or death from Covid-19 vaccine
Though serious side effects and death from vaccination are exceedingly rare, the Thai National Health Security Office will provide compensation for those negatively affected by a Covid-19 vaccine. The plan calls for 100,000 baht compensation for anyone with an adverse vaccine reaction that prevents them from working for a while, up to 240,000 baht for disabilities resulting from vaccination, including…
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Covid Update Saturday: 36 deaths and 2,817 infections
For Saturday the Public Health department has announced 36 new Covid-related deaths and 2,817 infections. 315 of those cases are from prisons. The daily totals have been statistically consistent for over a month now. Bangkok is still the key ‘hot spot’ with clusters around shopping areas, high density housing communities and worker camps. • Alternative state quarantine hotels are aiming…
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Man arrested for allegedly smuggling durian into Thailand
Last night, a man was arrested and charged with smuggling durian into Thailand from Myanmar. 25 year old Pairat Wattanom, a Thai Man from the Thai Province Ranong, which is part of the isthmus that has the Andaman Sea on one side and the Gulf of Thailand on the other, has been arrested and waits for the judicial system to…
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Siam Bioscience delivers 1.8 million local AstraZeneca vaccines
Well, it’s a start. Good news today for Thailand’s snail-paced rollercoaster of vaccine rollout as the Ministry of Public Health has taken possession of the first 1.8 million AstraZeneca vaccines produced domestically. The vaccines were manufactured in the Bangkok by Siam Bioscience and are slated to be an integral part of Thailand’s mass vaccination scheme officially launching next Monday. Siam…
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