Coronavirus

  • Covid-19 News

    Effectiveness of government contact tracing app called into question

    As shopping centres around Thailand re-open for business, questions are being asked about the effectiveness of the contact-tracing procedures rolled out by the government. Most shoppers are now required to register their presence by providing their phone number each time they enter or leave a mall or store. Sometimes manually by a shop assistant physically writing down your phone number…

  • Covid-19 News

    Thai company steps up to ease condom shortage

    A shortage of condoms is one thing. A shortage of condoms while people around the world are stuck at home is another. Since a top condom manufacturer in Malaysia halted production due to the coronavirus pandemic, a Thai company is now stepping up to fill the gap. Thai Nippon Rubber Industry, the country’s biggest condom manufacturer, is increasing production by…

  • Việt Nam

    Cập nhật tình hình COVID-19 tại Việt Nam (Chiều T2 18/5): Ghi nhận 4 ca nhiễm nCoV mới, 2 bệnh nhân là tiếp viên hàng không

    18h ngày 18/5, Bộ Y tế ghi nhận thêm 4 ca nhiễm nCoV mới. Tổng số ca nhiễm COVID-19 toàn quốc là 324 người, trong số đó, 263 người đã khỏi bệnh, 61 người đang tiếp tục điều trị. Như vậy, tính đến hết ngày 18/5, Việt Nam ghi nhận: Tổng số ca nhiễm: 324 Số ca khỏi bệnh: 263…

  • Covid-19 News

    Bangkok officials conduct spot checks on 200 shopping centres and retailers

    Following the further easing of Covid-19 restrictions, officials in Bangkok are carrying out inspections on shopping malls, shops and restaurants to ensure the guidelines governing the “new normal” are being adhered to. Nation Thailand reports that the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration has assigned officers to conduct the checks across 50 districts in the capital. They will be checking that adequate social…

  • Việt Nam

    Cập nhật tình hình COVID-19 tại Việt Nam (Sáng T2 18/5): 32 ngày không lây nhiễm nCoV trong cộng đồng

    6h ngày 18/5, Bộ Y tế không ghi nhận thêm ca nhiễm nCoV mới. Tổng số ca nhiễm COVID-19 toàn quốc là 320 người, trong số đó, 260 người đã khỏi bệnh, 60 người đang tiếp tục điều trị. Như vậy, tính đến sáng ngày 18/5, Việt Nam ghi nhận: Tổng số ca nhiễm: 320 Số ca khỏi bệnh: 260…

  • Covid-19 News

    New Zealand social distancing rules see PM turned away from café

    New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern has been turned away from a café due to restrictions she put in place as part of the country’s response to the Covid-19 virus. When the café, in the capital city of Wellington, reached the maximum number of customers permitted under social distancing rules, it was forced to turn away the PM, who had arrived with…

  • Covid-19 News

    250 Thai citizens repatriating from UK and Ireland today

    The Royal Thai Embassy in London has confirmed that 250 Thai nationals are to be repatriated from the UK and Ireland today. The UK has recorded Europe’s highest number of deaths from the Covid-19 virus, currently standing at 34,636. Nation Thailand reports that once the returning citizens arrive in Bangkok, they will be required to enter a 14 day mandatory quarantine…

  • Northern Thailand News

    Dengue fever on the rise in Isaan

    While the country is slowly getting a handle on containing the coronavirus pandemic, the Isaan region is tackling a bout of dengue fever. There’s been a rise of the mosquito-borne illness in Nakhon Ratchasima with 737 cases. Local health volunteers have ramped up initiatives to prevent the further spread of the disease. Abate sand granules are being used to kill mosquito…

  • Covid-19 News

    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……

  • Covid-19 News

    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…

  • Việt Nam

    Cập nhật tình hình COVID-19 tại Việt Nam (Chiều T7 16/5): Thêm 4 ca dương tính nCoV ngoại nhập. Tổng số ca toàn quốc là 318 người

    18h ngày 16/5, Bộ Y tế ghi nhận thêm 4 ca nhiễm nCoV mới, đều là người từ nước ngoài về. Tổng số ca nhiễm COVID-19 toàn quốc là 318 người, trong số đó, 260 người đã khỏi bệnh, 58 người đang tiếp tục điều trị. Như vậy, tính đến hết ngày 16/5, Việt Nam ghi nhận: Tổng số ca…

  • Covid-19 News

    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,…

  • Việt Nam

    Cập nhật tình hình COVID-19 tại Việt Nam (Sáng T7 16/5): Thêm 1 ca dương tính nCoV. Tổng số ca toàn quốc là 314 người

    Đến 6h ngày hôm nay 16/5, Bộ Y tế ghi nhận thêm 1 ca dương tính nCoV mới. Tổng số ca nhiễm COVID-19 toàn quốc là 314 người, trong số đó, 260 người đã khỏi bệnh, 54 người đang tiếp tục điều trị. Như vậy, tính đến 6h ngày 16/5, Việt Nam ghi nhận: Tổng số ca nhiễm: 314 Số…

  • Covid-19 News

    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…

  • Covid-19 News

    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…

  • Covid-19 News

    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…

  • Covid-19 News

    100 billion baht fund in the works for small businesses

    A pay cheque might be on the way for small businesses that kept paying their employees, despite loss of business from the pandemic. An up to 100 billion baht fund, or 3 billion USD, is planned to be set up to help Thailand’s small businesses, according to Reuters. Deputy PM Somkid Jatusripitak said assistance from the Finance Ministry will be for…

  • Covid-19 News

    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…

  • Covid-19 News

    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…

  • Covid-19 News

    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…

  • Covid-19 News

    Former Thai PM Thaksin says lock-down was not the way to deal with Covid-19

    Former, and currently fugitive, PM Thaksin Shinawatra says he believes the lock-down introduced in Thailand to stop the spread of the Covid-19 virus was not the way to go. He maintains current restrictions are hurting the economy and their introduction was a mistake. Nation Thailand reports that Thaksin was speaking to BBC Thai when he criticised the measures put in…

  • World News

    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…

  • Covid-19 News

    New app latest weapon in Thailand’s fight against Covid-19

    In line with developments around the world, Thailand’s Covid-19 task force has developed a contact-tracing app as the fight to eradicate the virus continues. Coconuts reports that the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society says the app, known as Thai Chana (Thailand Wins) will be used to track people’s movements in order to easily contact anyone who may have visited…

  • Covid-19 News

    Tourism sector prepares to resume business

    Businesses that have been battered by the Covid-19 outbreak, especially those in the Eastern Economic Corridor (straddling Chonburi, Rayong, and Chachoengsao provinces) that rely mainly on tourism, are in desperate need of support. But the vice chairman of the Thai Chamber of Commerce says it’s still too early to predict when tourism will recover, as it largely relies on arrivals…

  • Việt Nam

    Cập nhật tình hình COVID-19 tại Việt Nam (Sáng T6 15/5): Thêm 24 ca dương tính nCoV ngoại nhập

    Đến 6h ngày hôm nay 15/5, Bộ Y tế ghi nhận thêm 24 ca dương tính nCoV mới. Tổng số ca nhiễm COVID-19 toàn quốc là 312 người, trong số đó, 260 người đã khỏi bệnh, 52 người đang tiếp tục điều trị. Như vậy, tính đến hết ngày 14/5, Việt Nam ghi nhận: Tổng số ca nhiễm: 312 Số…

  • Việt Nam

    Cập nhật tình hình COVID-19 tại Việt Nam (Ngày T5 14/5): Không ghi nhận ca dương tính nCoV mới, thêm 8 bệnh nhân khỏi

    Đến 18h ngày hôm nay 14/5, Bộ Y tế không ghi nhận thêm ca dương tính nCoV mới. Tổng số ca nhiễm COVID-19 toàn quốc là 288 người, trong số đó, 260 người đã khỏi bệnh, 28 người đang tiếp tục điều trị. Như vậy, tính đến hết ngày 14/5, Việt Nam ghi nhận: Tổng số ca nhiễm: 288 Số…

  • Covid-19 News

    Tenants bailing out of pricey Bangkok offices amid pandemic

    Bangkok’s high-end office district is looking more like a ghost town as the coronavirus pandemic seems to have many companies bailing out of their pricey office spaces. The increasing vacancy trend of Grade-A office space is expected to continue, possibly until a coronavirus vaccine is in effect, according to managing director of Phoenix Property Development and Consultancy, Surachet Kongcheep. Business owners have…

  • Covid-19 News

    Suicide deaths during pandemic could exceed virus-related deaths

    Stress with money and other worries, brought on by the pandemic, have led a significant number of people in Thailand to take their own lives. Those who have studied the subject in Thailand say the number of suicide deaths this year could exceed the number of coronavirus deaths. Scholars in Chiang Mai University studied suicide cases that took place between…

  • Covid-19 News

    Thai billionaire urges government to allow tourists to return

    The senior chairman of Thailand’s largest food and agriculture business, Charoen Pokphand Group (CP All), is appealing to the Thai government to open up the country to overseas visitors once more. The Bangkok Post reports that billionaire Dhanin Chearavanont says Thailand needs to start easing travel restrictions in a bid to restart the tourism industry. “Thailand’s economic losses from the lockdown…

  • Covid-19 News

    South Korea asks Thailand to remove it from list of “high risk” countries

    South Korea is asking to be removed from Thailand’s list of “high-risk” countries. The list was drawn up in early March, when South Korea was second only to China for Covid-19 case numbers. It now ranks 40th, and is considered one of the countries most successful at managing the outbreak. To date, none of the 7,000 Thai citizens, who have…