Phuket

Phuket’s beaches slated to reopen Tuesday

Published

Sunday, June 7, 2020 10:33

Jack Burton

PHOTO: hotels.com

Dust off the swimsuit, grab the umbrella, pick-up some sunscreen on the way. And take your face mask.

Phuket is set to reopen its beaches for the first time since the Emergency Decree was enacted in March, having seen no new Covid-19 infections in 2 weeks. Phuket’s governor made the announcement after chairing a meeting of the provincial communicable disease committee yesterday. As of today he has signed an official order to open all Phuket beaches from June 9 and gradually resume operations at the Phuket Land Transport Office (PLTO) as well as driving schools across the island.

The panel shut all beaches in the province on March 29 as they were seen as places that could attract crowds and increase the risk of Covid-19 transmission. Naturally, visitors will have to strictly abide by rules governing visits to public venues.

Phuket boasts many beaches that are hugely popular with tourists and locals alike, including Patong, Rawai, Kata, Karon, Nai Harn, Freedom Beach, Kamala, Surin, Bang Tao, Mai Khao and many others. But tourists have been few on the island as the country is still closed to international arrivals, and Phuket airport is not scheduled to reopen until at least June 15, and then for domestic travel only.

From January 5 to Friday, there were total of 227 confirmed coronavirus infections in Phuket, more than any other province outside of Bangkok. Of those, 224 recovered and were discharged from hospital. There were 3 deaths.

It doesn’t look like the perfect beach day – it IS wet season after all – but here is the forecast for Tuesday in Phuket…

Phuket's beaches slated to reopen Tuesday | News by Thaiger

But the re-opening of beaches around Thailand hasn’t been completely smooth. Then pent-up demand has seen a rush on beaches and traffic jams in the most popular locations.

Chon Buri’s deputy commander of provincial police yesterday led officers on an inspection tour of Bang Saen beach, which reopened June 1 when the government opened Phase 3 of the easing of the Covid-19 lockdown. The beach opened on Wednesday and later that day they re-closed the beach because of a huge influx of visitors. It re-opened again on Friday.

Police say beachgoers are following social distancing measures as Saen Suk municipality ordered, that seats and beach chairs be set up at least 1 metre apart. Visitors and vendors are wearing face masks, hand sanitisers are provided at shops, and toilets are being cleaned every 2 hours.

Due to the high numbers of visitors, traffic in and around Bang Saen has been rearranged into a one way system. Police say if parking spots along the beach are overwhelmed, the access road to the beach will be closed and visitors will have to park elsewhere and walk to the beach.

A large number of tourists flocked to Bang Saen yesterday, but authorities say they behaved in an orderly and organised fashion due to the strict social distancing rules.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post

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3 Comments

Toby Andrews

Sunday, June 7, 2020 at 10:48 am

It will be like throwing a party when nobody comes.
No foreigners anyway.
The first thing to do when throwing a party is unlock the door. The door is still locked.

Reply
Joseph

Tuesday, June 9, 2020 at 8:54 am

Keep all Phuket Beaches closed until a vaccine is available for the entire population of the island! Why??

Dr. Timothy Brewer, professor of medicine-epidemiology at UCLA: Outdoors will rapidly disperse any viral particles in the air. “In the hospital, when we design a negative pressure room, we want to have at least 12 complete air exchanges in the room to prevent transmission of airborne infections or respiratory droplet infections,” Brewer explained. “If you’re outside, your ventilation greatly exceeds that, so being outside will disperse any viral particles in the air very rapidly.”

Furthermore: One study published in early April by six scientists across several Chinese universities examined 318 outbreaks of COVID-19 in 120 cities in China between Jan. 4 and Feb. 11 and found that outbreaks of three or more cases were largely confined to enclosed spaces, such as home and transportation, and that only one outbreak originated outside.
“All identified outbreaks of three or more cases occurred in an indoor environment, which confirms that sharing indoor space is a major SARS-CoV-2 infection risk,” the researchers concluded.

* If you didn’t already know, (according to Phuket Government Authorities?) Scientific Studies are not actually “factual”!!
Thus they should continue on with their illogical decision making….open up the malls and shopping centers, but god forbid, keep the people off the beaches – especially those Farangs!

Reply
Joseph

Tuesday, June 9, 2020 at 8:56 am

Keep all Phuket Beaches closed until a vaccine is available for the entire population of the island! Why??

Dr. Timothy Brewer, professor of medicine-epidemiology at UCLA: Outdoors will rapidly disperse any viral particles in the air. “In the hospital, when we design a negative pressure room, we want to have at least 12 complete air exchanges in the room to prevent transmission of airborne infections or respiratory droplet infections,” Brewer explained. “If you’re outside, your ventilation greatly exceeds that, so being outside will disperse any viral particles in the air very rapidly.”

Furthermore: One study published in early April by six scientists across several Chinese universities examined 318 outbreaks of COVID-19 in 120 cities in China between Jan. 4 and Feb. 11 and found that outbreaks of three or more cases were largely confined to enclosed spaces, such as home and transportation, and that only one outbreak originated outside.
“All identified outbreaks of three or more cases occurred in an indoor environment, which confirms that sharing indoor space is a major SARS-CoV-2 infection risk,” the researchers concluded.

* If you didn’t already know, (according to Phuket Government Authorities?) Scientific Studies are not actually “factual”!!
Thus they should continue on with their illogical decision making….open up everything indoors for the shopping public, but god forbid, keep the people off the beaches – especially those Farangs!

Reply

Jack Burton

Jack Burton is an American writer, broadcaster, linguist and journalist who has lived in Asia since 1987. A native of the state of Georgia, he attended the The University of Georgia's Henry Grady School of Journalism, which hands out journalism's prestigious Peabody Awards. His works have appeared in The China Post, The South China Morning Post, The International Herald Tribune and many magazines throughout Asia and the world. He is fluent in Mandarin and has appeared on television and radio for decades in Taiwan, Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau.

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