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Thailand news, politics, business, crime, lifestyle, and tourism—stay updated with breaking news and in-depth analysis from Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pattaya, and beyond.
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Sponsored Planning to extend your Thai visa? Why health insurance is more important than ever
If you plan to stay longer in Thailand, having health insurance is now more important than ever. Thai immigration often asks for proof of medical coverage when you apply to extend your visa. This applies to many types of visas,...
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Bangkok sting results in seizure of 221 kilograms of marijuana
Talk about being left holding the bag… police in Bangkok’s Nongjok district confiscated bricks of dried marijuana weighing 221 kilograms on Friday. According to officers at the Lam Phak She Police Station, officers, the raid was a followup to a sting operation that resulted in in the arrest of 46 year old Manop Buakareem, who had delivered a kilogram of…
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Cambodia discharges last Covid-19 patient, no new cases in a month
Thailand’s neighbour Cambodia has had no new Covid-19 cases for a month and its last patient has recovered and left hospital, leaving the country with 0 cases. But no easing of restrictions related to the virus, including school closures and border entry checks and quarantines, was mentioned in the statement from the Cambodian Ministry of Health. Cambodia’s last reported new…
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Bangkok City Hall allows 10 more types of business to reopen
The Bangkok Municipal Administration, aka. City Hall confirms that more businesses in the city will be allowed to reopen today, including most shops at malls, in keeping with the second phase of the nationwide relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions. A BMA spokesman says its communicable disease control committee had eased restrictions on 10 business types. The businesses allowed to reopen are……
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PM looks for an exit from the Emergency Decree
Deputy PM Wissanu Kreangam says that PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha is ordering an in-depth comparison of the legal measures that can be used to control Covid-19 if the government revokes the state of emergency. The Emergency Decree, issued back on March 24, gave the PM and the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration extraordinary powers – implementing curfews, travel restrictions, restricting provincial governors…
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Thai PM thanks the 20 billionaires for their support during crisis
The Thai PM has offered his “heartfelt thanks” to a list of Thai billionaires he wrote to a month ago seeking their guidance and ideas at the height of the Thai outbreak of the Covid-19 virus. He thanked them in a Facebook post and commented on their willingness to “offer a helping hand”. “All of them had responded energetically to my…
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Ban on international travel into Thailand extended until June 30
The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand has today announced an extension of their current ban on international travel another month, until at least the end of June, 2020. The current ban on scheduled international flights was extended last month to cover May, up to May 31. But now the CAAT have announced the extension for at least another month. There…
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Woman arrested in Chon Buri for false police report
Police in the Si Racha area of Chon Buri province have arrested a 31 year old woman who they say has confessed to filing a false police report about her gold necklace being stolen. Wanida Srinuan alleged that, earlier in the week, she was walking by the Noen Krabk Temple when an unidentified Thai man drove by and snatched the…
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Official list of businesses permitted to reopen tomorrow (Sunday)
Further to a story in The Thaiger yesterday, PM Prayut Chan-o-cha, in his capacity as head of the CCSA, has listed the business and leisure activities which can resume from tomorrow, in the second phase of Covid-19 lockdown relaxations. The list, published in the Royal Gazette yesterday so becoming law, includes… Food and drink shops or stalls in restaurants, canteens,…
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Pattaya pickup is pursued by two men after it causes pregnant woman to fall off motorbike – VIDEO
A video has gone viral showing foreigners driving a pickup truck that was stopped by 2 Thai guys pursuing them after reports that the pickup allegedly sped through a heavily flooded area in Pattaya, near Soi Khao Noi, causing a motorbike with a pregnant woman to get clipped, making her fall off and the motorbike crash. 26 years old Satuek Phu…
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Airports open, quarantine rules and Samui – the latest
Airports of Thailand warns domestic airline passengers to check provincial travel restrictions before they book flights. Currently, there are 5 airports fully operational – Bangkok (Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang), Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, and Hat Yai, but only 4 airlines, namely Nok Air, Thai AirAsia, Thai Lion Air and Thai Vietjet are serving them. Phuket airport was set to reopen…
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Thai public balks at Thai Airways’ 60 billion bail out
A big decision is on the horizon for Thai Airways, the beleaguered national carrier. Crucial decisions are now being discussed which will define the airlines’ future. The airline was still haemorrhaging cash well before the coronavirus crisis started grounding planes from the start of February this year. Thai Airways’ fortunes have been in a death spiral for the past decade,…
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Covid-19 update: 0 new cases, 0 new deaths (May 16)
The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration announced that there no new reported cases of Covid-19 this morning at its daily press briefing, the second time in a week. The national total remains at 3,025 cases reported since the beginning of the outbreak. No new deaths were reported either, leaving the toll at 56. The southern island province of Phuket, which…
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Phuket’s economy is more than just tourism
by Bill Barnett While Phuket’s brand and economic reality is that nearly half of its contribution to GPP (gross provincial product) comes from tourism is true, it’s important to understand that there are other generators that will aid in the island’s post-crisis recovery. The island’s real estate sector, that currently has a market value of over 100 billion baht (according…
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Government urged to investigate forced unemployment claims
A Thai labour rights group is urging the government to investigate whether some employers are abusing labour laws to avoid paying their workers during the Covid-19 crisis. The call was made during an online seminar on unemployment related to the outbreak. Some businesses are allegedly requiring their employees to seek unemployment compensation from the Social Security Fund, when they should…
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Synthetic drugs growing in east, Southeast Asia: UN report
The synthetic drugs market in East and Southeast Asia continues to expand and diversify, and the price of methamphetamine “yaba” tablets has dropped to the lowest level in a decade as the supply has surged. A report released yesterday by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime titled “Synthetic Drugs in East and Southeast Asia: Latest Developments and Challenges”, warns…
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Shopping centres, department stores prepare to reopen tomorrow
Department stores, shopping centres and larger restaurants, as well as other businesses across the nation, will begin gradually reopening tomorrow after nearly 2 months of closures due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the national state of emergency declared to fight it. The decision to go ahead with Phase 2 of the easing of restrictions was announced yesterday, but has yet…
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University hospital unveils robots to assist in Covid-19 cases
A fleet of robots, designed and built with the assistance of Toyota Motor Thailand to reduce contact between Covid-19 patients and medical staff, was unveiled at Bangkok’s Ramathibodi Hospital yesterday. A a neurosurgeon at the hospital and head of the team that came up with the idea, presented them in a media briefing. “A prototype was developed in March, but…
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Police investigating murder of 3 year old found in Mukdahan forest
The body of a 3 year old girl, missing since Monday, was discovered on Thursday in the northeastern province of Mukdahan. A team of detectives is now investigating the and murder. A massive search involving about 500 police, soldiers, local officials and volunteers was launched when the child, Nong Chompoo, was reported missing in the province’s Tambon Koktoom. The team…
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Full list of businesses allowed to reopen this Sunday
Quick. Read it before it changes. The government has announced which types of businesses will be allowed to reopen on Sunday as it begins “Phase 2” of its 4 step plan to slowly unlock and reopen businesses closed across the country due Covid-19. Mind you this is the list published today. There’s a whole day tomorrow for everything to change…
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Thailand News Today – Friday, May 15
Maison Saigon7 new cases, all imported, no new deaths 7 new cases of Covid-19 this morning at the daily press briefing. The new cases bring the national total to 3,025 since the beginning of the outbreak. But today’s new infections are all among Thais returning from Pakistan, 6 men and a woman, aged 17-31. All are now in state quarantine.…
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‘Thai Chana’ app to help track ‘safe’ retailers in a Covid era
The Ministry of Digital Economy and Society revealed the details of “Thai Chana”, (Thailand Wins) a smartphone application to facilitate safety for both customers and establishments during the Covid-19 era. The businesses must register for the QR code and place it in front of the shop on the website. Customers will log in by scanning their QR code. This can…
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Thailand Transport Company plans to restart 16 routes from May 18 onwards
Today a spokesman for the state-run Transport Company Limited, one of Thailand’s biggeest bus operators, announced it will open 7 routes in the northern region and 9 in the northeast and eastern regions from Monday onward “to facilitate the people who need to travel after the Transport Company temporarily ceased service due to the Covid-19 epidemic situation.” Here are the…
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UPDATE: Phuket airport reopening delayed, again
UPDATE: In a surprise reversal, The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand has announced the postponement of the reopening of Phuket International Airport, indefinitely. Just yesterday they announced that the provincial airport was to re-open from tomorrow morning. Although Phuket has gone 13 days with no new Covid 19 infections, it was still considered a risk area that needs to be…
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Military school owner gets death sentence for student’s fatal beating
The owner of a private military school in Nakhon Sawan province, about 237 kilometres north of Bangkok, has been sentenced to death, and his wife and mother-in-law to life in prison, for the fatal beating of a 15 year old student. The provincial court handed down its judgement on Tuesday, ordering capital punishment for Natthaphol Thavornphibun, the owner of Ban…
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Covid-19 update: 7 new cases, all imported, no new deaths (May 15)
The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration announced 7 new case of Covid-19 this morning at its daily press briefing. The new cases bring the national total to 3,025 since the beginning of the outbreak. Dr. Taweesilp Visanuyothin, spokesman for the CCSA, says the new infections are all among travellers/returnees from Pakistan, 6 men and a woman, aged 17-31. All are…
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No sex for a month, Thai disease expert claims
Coronavirus survivors should wait a month before they get ‘intimate’. At least that’s what one Thai medical expert is saying. No sex for 30 days. For some, that may be worse than 14 days of quarantine. “Semen of recovering might carry the virus”, according to Veerawat Manosutthi, senior medical expert at the Disease Control Department, told Khaosod English. The claim is found…
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Government confirms 14.5 million Thais qualify for 5,000 baht state aid
The director of the Fiscal Policy Office and spokesman for the Finance Ministry says 14.5 million Thai citizens now qualify for the government’s 5,000 baht subsidy, having passed the relevant screening criteria. Thai PBS World reports that Lawan Saengsanit says this number includes 4.4 million people who succeeded at a preliminary round of screening and have already received their first…
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Thailand’s latest Covid-19 case was a tattoo artist travelling from Phuket to Chiang Mai
Thailand’s latest Covid-19 case revealed yesterday was a tattoo artist who had travelled from Phuket Province to Chiang Mai Province last Tuesday. Reports suggest that his main goal was to take his wife and son away from Phuket, being a high-risk province, but things didn’t go as planned when he ended up as the one who got infected. The tattoo…
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Singapore nurse leads Covid-19 patients in dance routine – VIDEO
A video posted online shows a Singaporean nurse at a Covid-19 isolation facility leading a group of patients in a morning dance routine. The patients are all migrant labourers now recovering after being treated for the virus. Singapore experienced an unexpected second wave of infections when over 20,000 migrant workers, all living in close proximity, caught the virus, with hundreds of…
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Marijuana valued at over 6 million baht seized in Mukdahan
Yesterday police in the northeastern province of Mukdaham announced the seizure of 616 kilograms of marijuana, valued at more than 6 million baht. Authorities say 5 suspects are in custody, identified as 46 year old Boonchu Sittithong, 20 year old Wilawan Lapphu, 22 year old Kittiphong Uttaprom, 34 year old Keng Sae Song and Somboon Chindalert, aged 43. Police got…
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