Thailand News
Discover the most recent and relevant news from across Thailand on The Thaiger’s National News page. Covering a wide range of topics, including politics, business, crime, and lifestyle, our dedicated team brings you breaking news, in-depth analysis, and exclusive stories from Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pattaya, and beyond.
Stay informed about the latest developments in Thai society, economy, and culture, as well as updates on travel, tourism, and expat life. With The Thaiger, you’ll never miss out on the essential news that matters to you.
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Sponsored 8 Pneumonia prevention tips for expat families in Thailand
With World Pneumonia Day on November 9, it’s the perfect time to consider how you can protect your family from this serious illness, especially in Thailand, where unique climate and seasonal factors come into play. Pneumonia can be especially dangerous...
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Candidate for Bangkok’s governor says he has no plan to move the capital if he wins
Following the naming of Indonesia’s new capital by President Joko Widodo to replace sinking Jakarta, the candidate for Bangkok’s governor position in the upcoming election Suchatvee Suwansawas, wrote on his Facebook page that he had no plans to relocate the country’s capital due to the decades-long flooding that has hit Bangkok, and believe it or not, Bangkok is also sinking.…
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First Thai rice export on Laos-China railway, step toward strengthening bilateral trade
The Lao-Chinese railway to Chongqing delivered its first Thai rice shipment of 1,000 tonnes, boosting hopes to strengthen bilateral trade and benefit the economy. More rice exports, and other farm exports, will follow, says the advisor to Thailand’s Agricultural Minister. The advisor added that the Thai government is looking into exporting fruit, orchids, rubber, cassava, palm oil as well as…
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3 million doses of Pfizer allocated for children to arrive in Thailand next week
The first batch of Pfizer vaccines allocated for children will arrive in Thailand on January 26. A total of 3 million doses of the vaccine is expected to be given to children at the age of 5 to 11 years old starting on January 31, starting with children who are diagnosed with congenital diseases. The Deputy Director-General of the Department…
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No early election, no Cabinet reshuffle says Thai PM
The Thai PM says he has no plans to call an early election or to reshuffle his Cabinet after 21 MPs loyal to him were pushed out earlier this week. The Bangkok Post reports that Prayut Chan-o-cha has also distanced himself from the ouster of Thamanat Prompow and 20 other MPs, who have been accused of sowing division within the…
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Tourism operators want cost of PCR tests reduced when Test & Go resumes
Following the CCSA’s decision yesterday to resume Test & Go from February 1 (with some changes) tourism operators are urging the government to make PCR testing more affordable. The revamped Test & Go entry scheme now requires overseas arrivals to book a hotel on day 1 and again on day 5 of their stay – and to take a PCR…
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Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand says Thai 5G is not an issue
After a wave of flight cancellations and airline schedule and equipment reshuffling in the US, the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand spoke up to reaffirm that 5G signals in Thailand do not have any conflicts or negative effects on aircraft or flight equipment. The CAAT explained that, in Thailand, 5G bandwidth is on a different wavelength than anything used in…
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Dr Yong says hurrying for a fourth vaccine is wasteful
Dr Yong Poovorwan is almost always the go-to person for explanations and opinions about Covid-19 as Thailand’s top virologist. And now he is saying that it would be wasteful for people in Thailand to race to get a fourth vaccine as many places are discussing and launching second booster programs. As the head of the Centre of Excellence in Clinical…
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20 baht bills getting a modern polymer update on March 24
Money enthusiasts, get ready! On March 24 the 20 baht bill is getting a radical new update. The Royal portrait will still be prominent but the flimsy, green paper the bills have been printed on for decades is being replaced with a modern new polymer with a glossy, plasticky feel. Starting on March 24, the new, more durable polymer 20…
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Thailand’s Test & Go registration reintroduced for travel starting February 1
Test & Go is back on, and vaccinated travellers will be able to register for (almost) quarantine-free entry to Thailand re-starting February 1. There have been slight revisions to the rules, now requiring travellers to have proof of their hotel booking on the first and fifth day of their stay in Thailand when they will undergo RT-PCR tests. In the…
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First meeting of Thailand’s Lower House this year adjourned due to lack of numbers
The first meeting of the year for Thailand’s House of Representatives, which was meant to begin yesterday, had to be abruptly adjourned because the minimum number of MPs required were not present. 227 MPs were present, a number 10 short of the minimum number required to conduct the proceedings. Half of the House’s 473 members were required to attend. In…
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Thammanat Prompow, 21 MPs booted from Palang Pracharat
After a meeting of the executive members of the Palang Pracharat Party yesterday, a shocking 22 MPs including popular but controversial Secretary-General Thammanat Prompow who made headlines after details of an arrest and jail time in Australia came to light recently. Once a rockstar in the ruling party who called himself the main artery of the party, Thammanat was pushed…
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Health Ministry will not shut down schools unless there’s a cluster
Thailand’s Public Health Ministry will not order schools to close down because a few pupils are infected with Covid-19, but only if there are clusters of infections, according to the deputy director-general of the Department of Health. Dr Sarawut Boonsuk explained that the ministry would order the school to close the classroom for three days to clean it thoroughly if…
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Restrictions ease, 25 provinces reclassified as “yellow” zones
Restrictions are easing in 25 provinces following a revision to the colour-coded zoning based on local infection rates. Starting January 24, those provinces will move from “orange” controlled zones to “yellow” zones under surveillance. In the “yellow” and “blue” zones, alcohol sales will be allowed until 11pm. The Centre for Covid-19 Situation decided to relax some measures today at its…
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Thailand extends State of Emergency for another two months
Thailand’s State of Emergency was extended for another two months. The decree, which was first invoked by PM Prayut Chan-o-cha in March 2020, gives the government sweeping powers, through the establishment of the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration, to set restrictions and measures to combat the spread of the coronavirus in Thailand. The decree was last set to expire on…
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Alcohol sales at restaurants in approved provinces will be allowed until 11pm
Alcohol sales at restaurants in approved provinces will be allowed until 11pm, starting January 24. Under Thailand’s colour-coded zoning with corresponding disease control measures, alcohol sales at restaurants until 11pm will be allowed in “yellow” zones under high surveillance and “blue” zones which are approved for pilot tourism programmes. In 44 provinces, classified as “orange” zones, alcohol sales at restaurants…
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21 year old woman found drowned in Phuket pond
Police in the Chalong sub-district of Phuket found the drowned body of a 21 year old woman in the pond of a housing estate yesterday evening. After being notified that a woman had fallen into the pond and drowned, the police rushed to the scene. They, along with a diving team, then spent an hour searching the waters for the…
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Those who don’t report positive ATK results can face penalties – DDC director
Has your at-home Covid-19 test come out positive? If so, report the results to government health officials. Those who do not report their result can face charges. Speaking at a press conference, the director-general of the Department of Disease Control, Opas Karnkawinpong, warned that anyone who finds themselves infected with Covid-19 by using the ATK test and keeps it a…
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Pork price crisis ups demand for poultry, chicken added to price control list
Thailand’s pork price crisis is causing an increased demand for chicken, leading poultry and egg prices to surge. The Ministry of Commerce has now added chickens and chicken meat to their price control list. The ministry now mandates that chicken raisers with over 100,000 chickens, and slaughterhouses with the capacity for over 4,000 chickens a day, disclose their quantity, stocks,…
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Former police chief ‘Joe Ferrari’ says he just wanted to “scare suspect”
A former police chief charged with murder after a drugs suspect died when multiple plastic bags were placed over his head during questioning, says he just wanted to scare the victim. Thitisan Utthanaphon, aka. Joe Ferrari in Thai media, a police chief in the northern province of Nakhon Sawan at the time, told the court that he never intended to…
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Bangkok’s subway introduces new payment methods featuring Visa and Master
The burden of queuing up to purchase your ticket at machines or top-up from ticket booths at Bangkok’s subway is now soon to be gone with MRT introducing new contactless payment methods with Visa and Mastercard, according to its official Facebook post. Passengers will be able to scan there credit card at the gate rather than touching a plastic token…
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Bangkok is blooming: Flora Festival takes over several public parks until July
Sunflowers are blossoming in Bangkok. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration is organising the Bangkok Flora Festival where flowers will be planted in various parks in the capital from now until July. The first garden is a sunflower field at the Vachitabenjatas Park or Suan Rot Fai Park near the Chatuchak Weekend Market. Over 1.5 acres of Suan Rot Fai Park is…
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Department of traditional medicine says it can treat Long Covid with Thai herbs
Long Covid, the often-debilitating series of symptoms some people are left with even after recovering from Covid-19, can be treated with Thai herbs. So says the Department of Thai Traditional and Alternative Medicine, which is offering treatment to Long Covid sufferers. The Bangkok Post reports that practitioners of traditional and alternative therapies have launched a mobile unit offering Thai herbs…
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CCSA says Test & Go could make a comeback soon – with a few tweaks
The government’s Covid-19 task force meets later today to discuss the fate of the Test & Go entry scheme, along with the potential easing of some restrictions. Supoj Malaniyom from the CCSA says Test & Go could make a comeback soon, but will involve stricter monitoring of foreign arrivals’ health. The Bangkok Post reports that the scheme could now require…
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Official population of Thailand 66,171,439, lower than previous figures
An announcement formally published in the Royal Gazette on Wednesday stated that the official population of Thailand as of December 31, 2021, is 66,171,439. That figure is a bit under 1% of the world’s population. Of that population, just 973,656 of those people are not Thai nationals while the vast majority, 65,197,783, are native to Thailand. The data of Thailand’s…
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Foreigners vaccinated in Thailand can apply for a digital vaccine passport for free until March 31
Digital vaccine passports through Thailand’s Public Health Ministry are being issued for free until March 31. Both Thai nationals and foreign residents who were inculcated in Thailand can register for the e-Vaccine Passport on the Mor Phrom application. A 13-digit number is needed to register on Mor Phrom. For Thais, this is their Thai ID number. Foreigners who have been…
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Rail to connect Thailand to China delayed 3 years to 2026
With recent plans fast-tracked to build a bridge to connect Thailand to the Chinese-La0 cargo train route, more rail projects are being focused on. But the plan to create high-speed rail service that travels 873 kilometres from Bangkok into China is now slated to begin operations 3 years later than originally planned. The first leg of the high-speed rail, which…
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Alleged Bengal tiger poachers must remove their homes from national park
Yesterday, rangers at Khao Laem national park in Kanchanaburi ordered the removal of four homes, belonging to five people suspected of hunting and killing two endangered Bengal tigers last week. The suspects and their families, or anyone else currently living in the homes, must leave within 30 days. Those who don’t comply will be charged with violating the National Park…
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Man in Phuket threatens new neighbour with 30 gunshots
A new resident was “welcomed” to the neighbourhood in Phuket with a man firing his gun into the area, saying he wasn’t afraid of anyone. The shooter, identified as “Mr. Yut,” allegedly fired his gun and a pump-action shotgun 30 times in the air. The new resident, Wisa Choo, had just moved into the neighbourhood after purchasing a plot of…
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Wednesday Covid Update: 7,122 new cases; provincial totals
12 coronavirus-related deaths were reported by the CCSA today, raising the pandemic’s death toll in Thailand to 21,968 with 270 of those fatalities since the start of this year. In the 24-hour period since the last count, the CCSA recorded 7,122 new Covid-19 cases and 7,460 recoveries. There are now 81,602 people in Thailand being treated for Covid-19. Out of…
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Roadside bomb explodes on road in Deep South province, damages police truck
An improvised bomb exploded on a road in the Chanae District of Narathiwat yesterday, damaging a police pickup truck. The explosion left cracks in the windshield, and fragments of the bomb were scattered. No injuries were reported. Police Captain Yuthachai Rojsirimontree, a Chanae investigator, said the attack happened on the Chanae-Dusongso road at about 3.45pm. Police believe militants detonated the…
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