12 curfew breakers were arrested in Pattaya City last night just before midnight after a black Hyundai van vehicle broke through a police curfew checkpoint. Reports suggest that the black Hyundai van ran through the checkpoint, causing Banglamung and Pattaya officers to give chase before eventually catching the suspects at an intersection in North Pattaya.

4 Thai nationals, all under the age of 20, were found inside the vehicle, claiming that they broke through the police checkpoint, as they panicked.

The group claimed that one of the arresting officers had allegedly injured 1 of the teenagers and had to be taken to a local hospital. Therefor 3 of them were taken to a police station for further processing while the other individual was taken to a hospital for an evaluation. Officers then discovered that 8 friends were at a rented villa in a private housing estate on Sukhumvit Road.

Police raided the villa as parties and gatherings are in violation of the current strict Emergency Decree. In total, 12 young Thai nationals were arrested during the event, 8 at the house party and 4 from the earlier vehicle incident. All the teenagers face at a minimum of 2 years imprisonment and up to a 100,000 baht fine for violating the emergency decree.

According the police officers, some of the suspects have allegedly admitted that they had taken Ketamine drugs before the arrest.

All 12 suspects were tested for drugs and will be facing further legal action and charges in addition to the violation of emergency decree rules, according to Banglamung Police.

SOURCE: The Pattaya News

Today the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration announced 2 new confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Thailand with 1 additional death. The 2 new cases consist of 1 imported case, a Thai woman repatriated from Russia last Wednesday who is currently under state quarantine in Chon Buri province.

The other is a 49 year old Chinese citizen, the wife of an Italian who has been confirmed infected. She travelled from China to Phuket on March 9 and remained on the island due to the lockdown. She lives in Cherngtalay with her husband and 3 children aged 15, 10 and 7. She shows no symptoms at this stage. Cherngtalay is the tambon bordering Bang Tao, a hotzone for new cases during April and early May.

Thailand’s total number of confirmed cases is now 3,042 with 57 deaths since the outbreak began in January. 2,928 of those have fully recovered and been released from hospital, with an additional 7 new discharges overnight.

Only 57 people remain under medical care for the disease nationwide, and the recovery rate is 96%.

The additional death was a 68 year old Thai woman in Chumphon, southern Thailand. She was reported to have “many personal health issues and the cause of death was due to failure in her lungs and an infection in her bloodstream.”

“She had been in the hospital fighting Covid-19 for about a month and she finally passed away yesterday, minutes after midnight.”

Chon Buri province has had no new confirmed cases in 31 days, with Pattaya 10 days further ahead with no new confirmed cases for 41 days.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post | The Pattaya News

Chon Buri province passed a milestone today: 30 consecutive days without a new confirmed case of Covid-19. The Chonburi Communicable Disease Committee made the announcement this morning. Pattaya, which is part of the province, has reached 40 days. Not a single locally infected patient remains under treatment in the province.

There is a state quarantine centre in the province (Sattahip) for Thai nationals returning from abroad, which still has several people waiting to fulfil their 14 day mandatory quarantine. They arrived from overseas and were sent directly to the hospital and never mingled with the general population. They do not pose a health risk to the public, according to the Chon Buri government.

Chon Buri has had a total of 87 cases since the start of the outbreak, with 2 deaths. The deaths were both foreign nationals who were considered imported cases and had recently travelled from other provinces or countries.

Despite the case numbers, tens of thousands of businesses remain closed in the province, leaving thousands of residents out of work visiting food lines on a daily basis in Pattaya City and other parts of the province. This is due to the government’s “one size fits all” reopening plan for businesses, regardless of the number of active cases of Covid-19 in the area.

Pattaya is famous worldwide for its nightlife and tourist industry and normally attracts millions of visitors a year. The vast majority of its businesses, in the hospitality and entertainment sector, remain shuttered by government order and their staff either trying to survive in the city or already headed back ‘up country’ to their family homes.

The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration has indicated that entertainment venues will likely be allowed to open, but with strict new rules, sometime in June.

SOURCE: The Pattaya News