All residents living in the southern province of Phuket are being directed to stay in their homes for at least two weeks, starting next Monday, April 13. The provincial governor announced the measure last night to fight the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus on the island, which now has the highest rate of infections in Thailand and is the second worst hit province, after Bangkok

The “request” will last from April 13 to April 26, “or until the situation improves.”

The document itself, officially asks residents “to cooperate” by staying indoors. But an official at the Covid-19 Centre for Phuket, Vanida Yaprang, told Khaosod English on the phone today that the directive “amounts to an order, enforceable with a penalty” (we are chasing further clarification of her comment).

“It is an order. People can still come out if really necessary but only within each sub-district. Exceptions are medical staff, government officials and state enterprise workers. It is an order and those who violate it could face punishment.”

The order, seen below, lists 6 conditions and says violators face up to one year of imprisonment and/or a maximum fine of 100,000 baht. House-to-house testing is now being conducted around sections of the island.

Phuket has already announced travel restrictions between its 17 tambons, or subdistricts. Many other provinces have announced similar measures. Under these conditions residents are not permitted to travel between districts without important reasons to do so. Medical and food supplies, police and emergency services are exempt.

According to the order, people can only leave their homes only when absolutely necessary, such as to buy food and other essentials. In the area of Patong, where the infections are particularly high, food and water will be delivered to residents barred indoors.

Hotels and resorts on the island were ordered to shut down earlier this month. The latest order says that in cases where there’s a need for staff to stay on for necessary tasks, such as ledgering or maintenance, they must be housed on the premises to avoid commuting.

The announcement comes after the governor sealed the popular tourist island on March 29 and ordered the airport closed as of today.

As of Friday noon, 170 people in Phuket have now been infected by the coronavirus, with the bulk concentrated on entertainment areas around Patong.

The Thaiger will follow any further clarification of this dramatic new ramping up of the situation in Phuket.

SOURCES: Khaosod English | xinhuanet.com

The southern province of Phuket today (Thursday) confirmed 21 new Covid-19 coronavirus cases, up from 14 yesterday. All the new cases are Thai citizens and are centred around Patong’s Bangla Road or Bang Tao.

Today’s new cases bring the total in Phuket to 161 cases since the start of the outbreak in January.

Phuket has become a hotbed for new cases and many districts now have restricted access. The government has announced new travel restrictions for the island that go into effect Monday.

Phuket has no reported deaths from the virus in the past 24 hours.

Here are the details of today’ new cases…

Case 141: A 23 year old unemployed Thai man who had contact with confirmed case 104. He fell sick on March 29 and 3 people are considered at high risk and are being sought by authorities.

Case 142: An 18 year old Thai woman, a vendor who lives with case 119 in Bang Tao. She got sick on April 1, 2 people are considered at high risk.

Case 143: A 6 year old Thai girl who lives with case 117 in Bang Tao. She shows no symptoms, but 4 people are considered at high risk.

Case 144: 40 year old Thai man, a hotel worker who also lives with case 117 in Bang Tao. He became sick on April 2, 2 people are considered at high risk.

Case 145: A 50 year old Thai woman, a maid who had close cotact with cconfirmed case 119. She shows no symptoms, but 2people are considered at high risk.

Case 146: A 35 year old Thai woman who works in the Bangla Road red ligh area. She fell sick on March 25, 6 people are considered at high risk.

Case 147: A 23 year old Thai woman who also works in Bangla Road at the same place as case 146. She got sick on April 7, 1 person is at high risk

Case 148: A 32 year old Thai man who works in Bangla Road at the same place as case 73. He became sick on March 21, 1 person is at high risk

Case 149: A 39 year old Thai woman who works in Bangla Road with case 148. She fell sick April 2, but no one is considered at high risk.

Case 150: A 27 year old Thai woman, a receptionist a Patong hotel, the same hotel as cases 113 and 135. She fell sick on March 30, 1 person is at high risk

Case 151: A 28 year old Thai woman who works in Bangla Road, also with case 148. She fell sick on March 29, 11 people are considered at high risk.

Case 152: A 30 year old Thai man, working in Bangla Road also with case 148. He became sick on April 6, 2 people are considered at high risk.

Case 153: A 44 year old Thai woman living in Patong, a masseuse who had close contact with case 131. She got sick on April 3 and 4 people are considered at high risk.

Case 154: A 30 year old Thai woman who works at the same massage shop as case 153. She also had close contact with case 131. Though she shows no symptoms, 4 people are considered at high risk.

Case 155: A 35 year old Thai man working in Bangla Road, also with case 148. No symptoms but 8 people are considered at high risk.

Case 156: A 29 year old Thai man, a designer at a tailor shop in Patong. He fell sick on March 30, 5 people are considered at high risk.

Case 157: A 40 year old Thai woman, a masseuse at the same shop as case 131. She had contact with case 153. No symptoms but 4 people are considered at high risk.

Case 158: A 39 year old Thai man working in Bangla Road, also with case 148. He fell sick April 5, 2 people are considered at high risk.

Case 159: A 23 year old Thai man, a hotel chef, living with case 119 in Bang Tao. He fell sick April 4, 12 people are considered at high risk.

Case 160: A 43 year old Thai woman, a maid with a history of visiting Bangla Road and close contact with foreigners. She fell sick on March 28, 1 person is at high risk.

Case 161: A 30 year old Thai man, a food worker who lives in Bang Tao. He got sick on April 4, 13 people are considered at high risk.

SOURCE: Newshawk Phuket

Following up from yesterday’s report there has been no action taken to remove a Facebook page advocating violence against “shit tourists” stranded in Phuket. ‘Spotlight Thailand’, usually a ‘whistleblower’ for local corruption and fuelled by the admin’s political views, has nearly 600,000 followers.

Now this week’s posts are going viral, spreading a disturbing message from local Phuket ‘vigilantes’, commenting about the original post, that is likely do irreparable harm to the holiday island’s reputation as a safe place to visit in the future. The posts advocate violence against tourists, the ones still stuck on the island, who have been venturing out during curfews or not wearing face masks, and asks followers to take matters into their hands. The thrust of the campaign is that the tourists are ‘partying’ whilst the local Thais suffer.

The posts, perhaps intended as a bad joke, incites local Thais, disgruntled with losing their jobs and being cooped up during curfew hours, to take matters into their own hands and use a slingshot and rocks to ‘pick off’ tourists if seen outdoors.

The disturbing posts, shared and liked thousands of times, started on Monday. The Facebook page posted photos of ‘farang’ tourists driving around or visiting Phuket locations in a ‘shame file’, and calling the page’s followers to shoot them with slingshots.

Followers responded with photos, armed and ready with their own slingshots. There was also, mostly, overwhelming support in the comments under the posts, for the direct citizen action. There were also many detractors of the posts, deriding the author’s and their vivid images of people with slingshots.

The general theme of the comments is that ‘white’ or ‘farang’ tourists are responsible for bringing the Covid-19 scourge to Thailand and, therefore, responsible for the economic pain and hardships they are enduring.

This makes me pity myself and my eight employees. We’ve been indoors since March 18, none of us going outside except to get supplies for the 9 of us at Makro. We run a massage shop at Patong, Meanwhile the tourists are having fun.”

Complaints have been made about the page’s posts to local consulates, the Phuket Governor, and copies of the posts sent to police and government officials in Bangkok. The Thaiger has received hundreds of messages from concerned local expats and worried tourists who have ended up stranded on the island.

One local hotelier called The Thaiger and said that the few tourists they have left at their resort (who were resident before the order to close Phuket’s hotels) said they were “very worried” and were astonished that the locals would want to fire rocks at them.

A consular official contacted us and confirmed they had made representations to Phuket’s Governor about the posts.

The localised outrage and suspicion against ‘farang’ (caucasian westerners) comes weeks after Thailand’s Health Minister, Anutin Charnvirakul, was captured on video threatening to kick out “damn farangs” for not wearing facemasks (when offered to them at a PR event at the Siam BTS station in Bangkok).

He later described Western tourists as “dirty”, asserting that they “never showered” on Twitter. The tweets were deleted but not before they had been shared thousands of times and reported in media around the world.

Thailand, like every other country at the moment, is on ‘pause’ as it battles the Covid-19 gremlins but, at some stage, will re-open and want to welcome back tourists. Tourism accounts for up to 17% of Thailand’s GDP. In places like Pattaya and Phuket, it’s almost the sole driver of the local economies.

These posts, and the simmering anti-foreigner tone, calling on public outbursts of vigilantism, whether intended as a joke or not, will do little to help attract the tourists back to places like Phuket that survive on tourist patronage, and their dollars.

The Thaiger has reached out to the person behind the posts (we’ve interviewed him in the past) but have not yet had a response to our requests for comment.