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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  • Monk killed in hit and run

    Monk killed in hit and run

    Phra Charan, a 70 year old monk, was killed in a hit in Bangkok, yesterday. Phra had been a monk for years at the Wat Son temple. 30 metres from the monk’s body pieces of a “black car” were recovered, presumably from the car that struck Phra. When rescue workers arrived at the scene they found Phra’s head and leg…

  • Siam Bioscience declares AstraZeneca vaccine ready to deliver

    Siam Bioscience declares AstraZeneca vaccine ready to deliver

    Much anticipated news came from Siam Bioscience yesterday, as the company announced that they are ready to begin deliveries of the AstraZeneca vaccine to the Thai government. The company was scheduled to provide over 60 million vaccines over the course of the year. The welcomed announcement came amidst frequent reporting of problems and delays in the production of the Covid-19…

  • Emirates and Etihad announce July Phuket flights

    Emirates and Etihad announce July Phuket flights

    Joining in support of reopening Phuket, Emirates Airlines and Etihad Airways have both announced flights resuming in July. Etihad Airways will start back up flights from the United Arab Emirates capital of Abu Dhabi on July 1, while Emirates Airlines will resume flights from Dubai on July 2. Qatar Airways had announced yesterday that they will be resuming flights to…

  • Covid UPDATE Thursday: 3,886 new infections and 39 deaths, provincial totals

    Covid UPDATE Thursday: 3,886 new infections and 39 deaths, provincial totals

    3,886 new Covid-19 cases and 39 coronavirus-related deaths were reported by the CCSA. Since April 1, the latest wave of infections in Thailand, the CCSA has recorded 140,485 Covid-19 infections with more than 40,000 of those infections in Bangkok. The capital is still recoding nearly 1,000 new cases each day. Phuket, racing towards its July 1 ‘reopening’ reported another 6…

  • 11 million Sinovac doses to arrive in Thailand over the next 3 months

    11 million Sinovac doses to arrive in Thailand over the next 3 months

    Over the next 3 months, Thailand will import 11 million doses of China’s Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine. The locally-produced AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine is the primary vaccine planned for Thailand’s mass coronavirus immunisation campaign. Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul says the additional Sinovac doses will help reach the goal of obtaining 100 million doses. So far, Thailand has received 5.5 million doses…

  • Phuket bust nabs 2 men with drugs valued at 5.3 million baht

    Phuket bust nabs 2 men with drugs valued at 5.3 million baht

    2 men in Phuket town were arrested on Tuesday for allegedly possessing methamphetamines and crystal valued at around 5.3 million baht. The men allegedly had 14,000 methamphetamine pills (also known as yaba, which roughly translates to “crazy drug”) and about 3 kilograms of crystal meth (also known as ice, tina, or speed). The news of their arrest was announced at…

  • American expats to US government: give us vaccines!

    American expats to US government: give us vaccines!

    With the visit of US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy R. Sherman, a collection of high-profile American expats living in Thailand released an open letter asking for Covid-19 vaccines. The letter pled with the US government to include arrangements to guarantee vaccines to all US expats in the kingdom. “Don’t abandon us! The US continues to have a growing vaccine…

  • US Deputy Secretary of State pledges Covid-19 aid

    US Deputy Secretary of State pledges Covid-19 aid

    PM Prayut Chan-o-cha met with United States Deputy Secretary of State Wendy R. Sherman yesterday to discuss the Covid-19 vaccine situation. The US representative acknowledged Thailand’s struggle to procure and distribute vaccines to everyone in the country, observing that many countries are grappling with similar issues. She declared that the US has been pursuing a policy of procuring excess supplies…

  • Lat Phrao shopping centres insist they are not the source of new Covid clusters

    Lat Phrao shopping centres insist they are not the source of new Covid clusters

    Central Plaza Lat Phrao, Imperial World, and Union Mall located (mostly) in Bangkok’s Lat Phrao district, deny they are the shopping centres the CCSA was referring to on Wednesday when the CCSA said there was a “Covid cluster from a mall”. The confusion stems from the fact that the CCSA did not specify which mall was responsible for the cluster.…

  • Patong Thieves cite unemployment for theft

    Patong Thieves cite unemployment for theft

    Yesterday morning in Patong, a town in Phuket, 2 men, 42 year old Samran Luiprasert and 34 year old Amphon Boonchuaynamphon, were arrested by Patong police for stealing a coffee machine and 2 televisions from a restaurant. The men said they needed money to survive. In the police report, it was said the alleged criminals were found after the owner…

  • Fire in Rayong kills 1, injures 6

    Fire in Rayong kills 1, injures 6

    Yesterday morning in Rayong, a province on the Gulf of Thailand, a fire broke out in an entertainment venue that was under renovation. 1 worker was killed and 6 workers were reportedly injured. Around 8 am yesterday morning the Rayong fire department showed up at the scene, after being alerted to the fire. The fire department discovered a large one…

  • PM moved vaccine funds from Health Ministry to Central Fund in case of “urgent need”

    PM moved vaccine funds from Health Ministry to Central Fund in case of “urgent need”

    The PM has been re-jigging the government coffers, saying he transferred funding for Covid-19 vaccines from the Health Ministry to the Central Fund – in case of urgent need. Prayut Chan-o-cha was addressing MPs yesterday, the last day of a 3-day debate on the 3.1-trillion-baht national budget for 2022. In particular, the PM was responding to criticism from the coalition’s…

  • Thailand’s quarantine hotels consider move to hybrid model

    Thailand’s quarantine hotels consider move to hybrid model

    Hotels currently operating as alternative state quarantine facilities are considering moving to a hybrid model, as bookings drop ahead of Phuket’s re-opening. ASQ hotels say reduced demand means they may adopt a model whereby they accept both quarantining guests and regular guests from the second half of the year. Prin Pathanatham from the ASQ-ALQ Club Thailand says bookings have started…

  • Vaccination of foreigners kicks off next week

    Vaccination of foreigners kicks off next week

    It’s the moment you’ve all – okay, many of you – have been waiting for. The Thai government says that from Monday, foreigners living in the Kingdom who have registered for Covid-19 inoculation, will start to receive the vaccine. It’s been a long road of anxiety, confusion, and chaos to get to this point and there are probably many who…

  • Thursday Covid Update: 3,886 new cases and 39 deaths

    Thursday Covid Update: 3,886 new cases and 39 deaths

    3,886 new Covid-19 cases and 39 coronavirus-related deaths were reported by the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration. Since April 1, the latest wave of infections in Thailand, the CCSA has recorded 140,485 Covid-19 infections with more than 40,000 of those infections in Bangkok. Out of the new cases, 1,230 were detected in correctional facilities. Over the past month, thousands of…

  • Another 700 7-Eleven stores to open across Thailand

    Another 700 7-Eleven stores to open across Thailand

    The operator of the 7-Eleven chain of convenience stores has confirmed it will open another 700 shops in the Kingdom this year. According to a Bangkok Post report this morning, CP All plans to spend between 11.5 and 12 billion baht on expansion in 2021. The company has opened 155 new 7-Eleven stores so far this year, meaning there were…

  • WHO assigns alternative names for Covid variants based on Greek alphabet

    WHO assigns alternative names for Covid variants based on Greek alphabet

    After criticism over naming new variants of Covid-19 based on the country it was first detected, the World Health Orginisation has announced alternative names for the “variants of concern” based off the Greek alphabet… Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, etc. Last week, media outlets in the UK released reports last week saying more than 100 people had tested positive for the…

  • ONCB to investigate transnational drug trafficking operations with routes in Thailand

    ONCB to investigate transnational drug trafficking operations with routes in Thailand

    Following the news of the Thai national arrested in South Korea for allegedly smuggling methamphetamine into the country, Thailand’s Office of Narcotics Control Board is now investigating transnational drug trafficking operations with routes in Thailand. Thailand’s Justice Minister Somsak Thepsutin ordered for the investigation, advising authorities to investigate to see if drug traffickers in Thailand have been involved in operations…

  • KLM to introduce Amsterdam – Phuket flights from October

    KLM to introduce Amsterdam – Phuket flights from October

    KLM has announced an expansion to its network from this coming winter, including flights from Amsterdam to Phuket, with a touchdown in Kuala Lumpur. The southern Thai island is one of 6 new destinations being introduced, the others being Mombasa in Kenya, Orlando in the US, Cancun in Mexico, Bridgetown in Barbados, and Port of Spain in Trinidad and Tobago.…

  • Arrest warrant issued for murder suspect who became a minor celebrity during the investigation

    Arrest warrant issued for murder suspect who became a minor celebrity during the investigation

    A murder suspect, who became famous in Thailand during the investigation, now has a warrant for his arrest over the death of his 3 year old niece. With the continuous and overdramatised media coverage on the case, the 44 year old suspect Chaiphol Wipha became a minor celebrity and gained a fan base, some who have raised donations to help…

  • Wednesday Covid Update: 3,440 new cases and 38 deaths

    Wednesday Covid Update: 3,440 new cases and 38 deaths

    3,440 new Covid-19 cases and 38 coronavirus-related deaths were reported today by the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration. Since April 1, the latest wave of infections in Thailand, the CCSA has recorded a total of 136,599. Out of the new cases, 1,087 were detected in correctional facilities. Thousands of inmates at more than a dozen Thai prisons have contracted the…

  • Thai Navy stands by decision to purchase 3 Chinese tanks

    Thai Navy stands by decision to purchase 3 Chinese tanks

    A spokesman yesterday defended the Royal Thai Navy’s decision to buy 3 Chinese tanks, while the country struggles to purchase an adequate supply of Covid-19 vaccines. According to a Bangkok Post report, Navy spokesman Chettha Chaipiam says the purchase was agreed prior to the arrival of the pandemic. He points out that, the 398-million-baht agreement was signed during the 2020…

  • Body found in water off Patong

    Body found in water off Patong

    Yesterday, a man’s body was found in the sea near Tri Trang Beach, a lesser-known beach between Patong and Paradise Beach, south of Patong. Patong Police are investigating the matter. Rescue workers were called in around 3:40 pm to the Coral Beach Bridge at the southern tip of Patong beach. A local fisherman had reportedly hauled the unidentified corpse ashore.…

  • Countries push back against being associated with variants, new system may be coming soon

    Countries push back against being associated with variants, new system may be coming soon

    It is one thing to hear a foreign country be connected to the name of a virus, it’s another thing when it’s your country. It feels personal. Last week, many Thais were incensed to have their country associated with a Covid variant. Likewise, the Indian government has called for having all references to the “Indian Variant” scrubbed from social media. They…

  • Thai government allegedly ticked-off with Bangkok Metropolitan Administration

    Thai government allegedly ticked-off with Bangkok Metropolitan Administration

    The government is becoming increasingly irritated by the Bangkok Governor and his administration, according to a Thai Enquirer report. The media outlet says senior officials at the Public Health Ministry and at the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration are critical of the governor’s random handling of the pandemic and its associated restrictions. The report is based on feedback from an…

  • Police officers arrested for alleged involvement in Bangkok kidnap

    Police officers arrested for alleged involvement in Bangkok kidnap

    Two high ranking police officers in Bangkok have been arrested for alleged involvement in the kidnap of a 60 year old Taiwanese businessman for a US$3 million ransom. Police say the man was abducted in broad daylight from a restaurant in the Thong Lor district over a failed business deal for rubber gloves. The March 28 incident where 60 year…

  • Government unsure if local administration budgets can be used to buy vaccines

    Government unsure if local administration budgets can be used to buy vaccines

    In what could put yet another spanner in the works, the Thai government is questioning if local authorities can purchase vaccines and whether state-allocated budgets can be used for this purpose. The Bangkok Post reports that officials at the Interior Ministry fear a chaotic rollout, with several local administrative organisations racing to order supplies of Sinopharm, the latest vaccine to…

  • CCSA shuts down order to reopen 5 types of venues in Bangkok

    CCSA shuts down order to reopen 5 types of venues in Bangkok

    Just as Bangkok was about to reopen some venues and businesses, the order was shut down by the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration. After businesses went weeks under a strict closure order, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration agreed to loosen restrictions and decided to reopen 5 types of venues and businesses, with conditions to prevent the spread of Covid-19, but the…

  • Tuesday Covid Update: 2,230 new cases and 38 deaths

    Tuesday Covid Update: 2,230 new cases and 38 deaths

    2,230 new Covid-19 cases and 38 coronavirus-related deaths were reported today by the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration. Since April 1, in the latest wave of cases, the CCSA has reported 133,159 infections. Out of the new cases, 77 were detected in correctional facilities, a drastic decrease in infections at Thai prisons. Thousands of inmates at more than a dozen…

  • Opening Phuket and Thailand to travellers and tourists on July 1 | VIDEO

    Opening Phuket and Thailand to travellers and tourists on July 1 | VIDEO

    If you’re wanting, or able, to come to Thailand at the moment, the best chance is about to happen. It’s called the Phuket Sandbox, but it’s a pilot program for the rest of Thailand’s tourist areas, and eventually the entire country, to reopen safely for travellers and tourism from July 1. There will be changes to the scheme and additional…