Thailand
Thailand News Today | No ‘tourism’ until Q2, Tiger smuggling, Win drivers jailed | Dec 1
Thailand will remain closed to general tourism until at least the 2nd quarter of 2021
Kiss any resemblance of general tourism to Thailand goodbye, at least until march next year, at the earliest.
That’s the outlook for Thailand’s beleaguered tourism industry from the usually optimistic Minster for Sports and Tourism.
So, apart from the STV and the modified 60 day Tourist Visa, and a few other options – all involving quarantine and a lot of red-tape for now – there’s not much good news on the horizon for people wishing to get back to Thailand right now. The minister’s outlook wipes out any hope of any tourism resurgence for the 2020/2021 high season.
The Thai Hotel Association and The Thailand Travel Agents Association have been lobbying, even demanding, the Thai government to drop its mandatory quarantine provisions and urgently negotiate travel bubble with provinces in China and other nations that are currently “low risk” for Covid-19, including Singapore, Vietnam, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and Taiwan.
As always The Thaiger will keep you up to date with any changes in the visa situation.
18 Bangkok motorbike taxi drivers get prison for 2019 mass brawl killing a bystander
18 motorbike taxi drivers have been sentenced to prison for their involvement in a mass street fight in June last year where a bystander was killed by a stray bullet. A Bangkok court handed down prison sentences ranging from 5 years to more than 27 years.
The fight broke out between two gangs of win drivers in Bangkok’s Bang Na district, south of the city centre. Around 50 to 60 drivers attacked 20 to 30 drivers from a rival Win gang with knives and other weapons, apparently because Soi 2 drivers, who were unregistered and operated without the proper orange identification vests, took customers away from the other group.
A 20 year old Kerry Express courier, was caught in the crossfire and was shot and killed when a stray bullet struck him in the head. The drivers who were directly involved with the murder were sentenced to the longest prison terms.
Tigers and tiger body parts seized from Thai zoo investigated for alleged wildlife smuggling
In a crackdown on suspected wildlife trafficking, the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation seized 5 tigers from a private zoo in the Isaan province Mukdahan.
DNA tests confirmed that at least 3 of the 5 tiger cubs are not related to the tigers in the Mudka Tiger Park & Farm, leading officials to believe the wildcats were smuggled in.
Some of the tigers seized were not alive and photos of a severed tiger head have been posted by various Thai news websites.
Apparently, this isn’t the first time the Mukda Tiger Park & Farm has been investigated, having come to the attention of officials in the past for wildlife trafficking transgressions.
Isaan woman saves her husband from elephant attack
A woman saved her husband from a wild elephant attack by screaming and banging objects together, driving the elephant away with the loud noises.
The 33 year old, a rubber tapper in the Isaan province Bueng Kan, is being treated at a local hospital. Luckily, his injuries from being stomped by the elephant are not too bad.
His 37 year old wife says the elephant in the area caught her and her husband off guard, adding that wild elephants don’t typically roam in that area.
No lockdown in Chiang Mai after local Covid-19 cases
There will be no lockdown in Chiang Mai after the recent Covid-19 case where 3 women have tested positive at a local hospital after returning from Myanmar.
Director general of the Public Health Ministry’s Department of Disease Control says the locals in Chiang Mai are taking proper health precautions and he doubts the case will cause a wider outbreak.
“Widespread Covid-19 transmission is unlikely because people in Chiang Mai are still predominantly wearing masks on a daily basis. The ministry will continue monitoring the situation for a further 14 days.”
You can follow the details of that story at thethaiger.com
Suvarnabhumi expansion being reviewed in line with “new normal” expectations
The 44 billion baht northern expansion of Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport is being revised and refined, to meet “new normal” requirements.
The AOT president says the process of review will take 1 or 2 months to complete.
The airport’s new northern terminal will have the capacity to handle 30 million passengers a year. The Satellite Terminal 1 should be completed in 2022, increasing the airport’s capacity by an additional 15 million passengers a year.
All we need is the flights and the tourists to return.
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Thailand
Efficacy of Covid-19 vaccines will drop during mass inoculations: Thai virologist

Thai virologist Dr. Yong Poovorawan from Chulalongkorn University, has spoken about claims that the efficacy of every vaccine available today, including Covid-19 vaccines, tend to lower after being used in mass inoculations, compared to the findings from the laboratory during human testing trials.
He recommends that people should not rely solely on the vaccines alone because uncertainty will remain during the roll out phase of the new inoculations.
“The best way to protect themselves is to practice basic safety standards as we usually do today… wearing face masks all the time when going outside and in crowded venues, regularly washing hands, and maintain social distancing.”
On his Facebook page, Dr. Young cited the case of Hepatitis B vaccines that claimed between 94-95% efficacy. But after use on mass populations, its efficacy dropped to about 80%. He believes this trend will be the same as Covid-19 vaccines.
“Although the manufacturers claim the vaccines’ high efficacy, that is just the laboratory results. In practice, several variables may cause lower effectiveness of the vaccines.”
He also says that the real effectiveness of Covid-19 vaccines, both the American from Pfizer and the Chinese from Sinopharm will be known soon after the populations of Israel and UAE have been inoculated in large numbers already.
SOURCE: Thai PBS World
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Thailand
1.5 million Thais approaching poverty line

A new report by the World Bank has indicated that 1.5 million Thais are approaching the poverty line after Covid-19 ravaged the tourism-dependent economy. In 2020, the report says the poverty ratio in Thailand increased to 8.8%, compared with 2019’s figure of 6.2%.
The report is troubling as the Thai economy already passed rock bottom in the 2nd quarter of 2020, with the the 2nd wave of Covid hitting just before the year end. Now, as many provinces have essentially went into lockdown from domestic and foreign tourism, workers are out of jobs, whereas before, domestic tourism was serving as a way to help businesses survive.
The government stimulated the economy by spending the equivalent of 13% of the gross domestic product, but the World Bank is predicting it may take 2 more years for Thailand to return its economic situation to its pre-Covid state. But the news is not all bad as the World Bank expects the Thai GDP to grow by 4% this year, instead of declining by 6.5% last year.
Such reasoning is due to the expectations of the Covid-19 vaccine being rolled out, and global economic growth. But if the Covid-19 situation becomes more severe, the expected economic growth would decline to 2.4%. Political instability in Thailand is another risk factor as months of protests have shaken views on Thailand’s government, which has invoked the lese majeste defamation law on protesters who were criticising the Royal family. Human rights organisations have issued statements that condemned the government as it began charging minors with the law.
Today, Thailand reports 309 new cases of Covid-19, with 80 being locally transmitted. Most of the cases were due to active testing and 12 were from those already in quarantine. Thailand is expected to receive 50,000 doses of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccinesby the first week of February. The shipment is part of the first lot of 26 million doses on the agreed purchase in October of last year.
SOURCE: TNA
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Thailand
CCSA Update: 309 new Covid-19 infections in Thailand

The CCSA’s daily briefing today started with an update about a NBT news presenter who has attended the daily briefings at the CCSA studio and testing positive for Covid-19. The CCSA spokesman then announced that all people working in the CCSA studio, including himself, are defined as a “low risk” group for infections.
The CCSA spokesman says he, together with all those involved with any risk, will take a swab test this afternoon and will report the test results to the public later on. The infected NBT newscaster has been sent to the hospital already.
Today, 309 new Covid-19 cases were announced from the last 24 hours. The majority of the infections were detected from active case testing, accounting for 217 cases. Most of them were migrant workers. 80 were local transmission, while 12 cases were detected in state quarantine.
According to the CCSA spokesman, key measures to be rolled out next week will be the acceleration on proactive testing in Samut Sakhon and the outer western areas of Bangkok where the infection rate is still high. Numbers and reports from the active findings are expected to be complete by the end of next week will serve as key factors for a review of the current restrictions in place.
SOURCE: CCSA Daily Briefing
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Jason
Tuesday, December 1, 2020 at 6:27 pm
Thailand has local cases in Chiang Mai??? But there are no local cases inThailand….. only imported cases! Or are there??????? No testing…no cases…. It’s like flying an aeroplane….blindfolded…. So it looks like Thailand’s plan is to act like the virus is only in quarantine and tell everyone that here will be no attempt at international tourism till Q2 (at least according to a Minister, who has spoken to the media without consulting their own government). So what should tourist read intothis report…no international tourism till 2022. It’s a good thing I didn’t depend on going to Thailand for a holiday! I feel so badly for local Thais who have to see their livehoods ruined!!!
Tracey
Wednesday, December 2, 2020 at 11:26 pm
Start the tourism sectors and open borders. Thailand economy is gone for toss.you will see more crimes next year