Thailand News
Thailand news, politics, business, crime, and lifestyle—get breaking updates from Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pattaya, and beyond. Stay informed on Thai society, economy, tourism, and expat life with The Thaiger.
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Health minister won’t say why quarantine order deleted, Facebook account inactive
Health minister Anutin Charnvirakul yesterday declined to explain why he removed an order requiring people arriving from 9 countries and 2 Chinese territories designated as high risk areas for the Covid-19 virus to be placed in self-quarantine. According to the quickly deleted document posted on his official Facebook page (now inactive), the nine destinations are “disease areas” and people arriving…
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Thailand announces 4 new coronavirus cases, all from Italy or Iran
“There is still no sign of true community spread in Thailand.” Thailand has confirmed four new cases of the COVID-19 coronavirus, bringing its total to 47 since January. All were recent arrivals from Italy or Iran. Suwanchai Wattanayingcharoen, director-general of the Department of Disease Control made the announcement in a news conference today. The new cases are: A 29 year…
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Thai tourism ministry proposes 5 billion baht in tourist stimulus packages
Tourism and Sports Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn says he will propose new domestic travel stimulus packages valued at 5 billion baht this Friday. The Minister says the aim is to cushion the impact of the coronavirus for the tourism service sector across the country. The Minister says that domestic tourism is “the priority during this difficult time. The government should implement…
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Finance ministry announces new stimulus packages and tax breaks
Thailand’s Finance Ministry has announced a raft of new stimulus measures to help prop up parts of the Thai economy suffering under the impact of the coronavirus. They say the measures will assist “all sectors of Thai society currently affected by the Covid-19 situation”, which arrived at the same time as an economic slowdown, an export slump and drought. The…
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Thailand News Today, March 4, 2020
Man arrested with 44 kilograms of marijuana in Phuket A 60 year old man is in custody after he was found collecting 44 kilograms of dried marijuana, valued at about 400,000 baht, from a parcel delivery company in Phuket. Police told a press conference yesterday that officers were tipped off about a large shipment of marijuana arriving in Phuket via…
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Soi Dog Foundation official statement on Covid-19 and the risk to animal health
Sent to us from Soi Dog Foundation by Dr.Alicja Izydorczyk MRCVS… There have not been any cases of suspect COVID-19 infection in dogs or cats in Thailand. At present, there is no evidence to show that companion animals such as dogs and cats can be infected with COVID-19. Additionally, there is currently no evidence that companion animals could be a…
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PM announces urgent measures to handle coronavirus
State agencies will seek the cooperation of private companies to avoid or postpone activities that will see a mass gathering of people, which might expose them to the risk of virus infection. Even as the government announces new travel restrictions and struggles to create a plan to deal with thousands of Thai workers returning from South Korea, Prime Minister Prayut…
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Urgent meeting on thousands of “little ghosts” returning from South Korea
PM Prayut Chan-o-cha has called an urgent meeting today to discuss how to handle thousands – estimates put the number between five and then thousand – of Thai workers preparing to return home from South Korea to escape the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. The announcement comes after the Ministry of Public Health expressed serious concerns about how to handle…
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Buri Ram MotoGP “postponed indefinitely” over virus fears
In a shocking reversal, the Thai MotoGP 2020, scheduled for March 20-22 in Buri Ram province, has been “postponed indefinitely” due to the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus Deputy Prime Minister and Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul made the announcement yesterday. Despite earlier reassurances the race would go on, Anutin said the decision to suspend the event was made at…
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Thai social media frenzy as 5000 set to return from South Korea
Thai social media is abuzz with fears that some of the roughly 5000 Thai nationals preparing to return from South Korea may carry the COVID-19 coronavirus, which has now killed 17 people there and 2979 worldwide. Most of the 5,000 are thought to be Thai prostitutes and agricultural workers among the thousands of Thais who work illegally in the country…
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Mask, hand sanitiser shortages anger people across Thailand
Across the kingdom people are rattled by shortages of face masks and hand sanitiser amid the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak. Public demand has skyrocketed since the announcement of Thailand’s virus-related death. The Private Hospital Association says its medical personnel are being seriously affected by the mask shortage. A new infection was reported yesterday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in…
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Thai Airways announces losses over 12 billion baht for 2019
Thai Airways International and its affiliates incurred a net loss of 12.017 billion baht last year, that’s 448 million baht more than the year before. The airline has been accumulating losses year on year for over a decade. Speaking about the losses at the announcement yesterday, the vice president of finance and accounting Nattaphong Smit-Ampaisal says that the airline was…
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Thai Moto GP in Buriram postponed over outbreak fears
Another casualty of the current coronavirus precautions, one of the biggest sporting events in Thailand – the MotoGP 2020 in Buriram. The event was scheduled for March 20-22 in Buri Ram province, north east Thailand, where it has started to gather a huge local and international following. The Deputy PM and Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul made the announcement this morning.…
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A new case reported in Thailand, total reaches 43 cases and one death
Thailand’s reported coronavirus cases has now reached 43, since first appearing in January. The permanent secretary of the health ministry reports that the new case is a 22 year old Thai woman who had been working as a driver for foreign tourists with another Thai patient. According to the director-general of the Disease Control Department, health officials had located the woman for…
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What is 5G? Everything you should know about the next-gen mobile.
So what is 5G? 5G literally means fifth-generation wireless technology. The successor to 4G, the biggest changes include higher speeds, lower latency, and the ability to connect more devices at once. The benefits of 5G aren’t limited to its use. Qualcomm is predicting a $12.3 trillion economic boost worldwide, with 22 million new jobs thanks to both the infrastructure and…
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Panic, precautions and contradictions over Thailand’s first coronavirus death
Mild panic, and a new raft of precautions pervades the Coronavirus narrative in Thailand as we head into another week. Over the weekend the Health Ministry announced a new range of precautionary measures whilst most of Thailand’s tourist spots remain quiet – a lot quieter than usual. There was also the announcement of the first coronavirus-related death in Thailand over…
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New confirmed patient brings total to 42. Health ministry announce tough new measures.
The Thai Public Health Ministry has confirmed a new infection in the country, bringing the national total to 42. 28 patients have already recovered with no deaths recorded in Thailand from the virus. At the same time the health ministry has now designated Coronavirus Covid-19 as a dangerous communicable disease, a designation which takes effect tomorrow. The announcement gives authorities sweeping…
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Tough new coronavirus measures start tomorrow
The Public Health Ministry today confirmed a new COVID-19 coronavirus infection, bringing Thailand’s national total to 42. An announcement from the ministry designating Covid-19 as a “dangerous communicable disease” will take effect tomorrow, strengthening authorities’ ability to combat the spread of the virus. Sukhum Kanchanaphimai, the ministry’s permanent secretary, says the newest victim is a 21 year old salesman, whose…
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Thailand News Today, February 28, 2020. Daily TV news update.
Shots fired in Nontha Buri mall There was another gunman alert in a Bangkok mall yesterday afternoon…. Police rushed to the Central Plaza mall in Nontha Buri province, just northwest of Bangkok after reports of gunshots inside the mall around 4:20 yesterday afternoon. There were no reports of death or injuries. A suspect was arrested and the mall is open…
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Thai minister Thammanat Prompao tells parliament he “never pled guilty” or “served time” over heroin drug charges
The Thai deputy agriculture minister Thammanat Prompao has re-ignited the controversy over his drug convictions in Australia by continuing to insist he “never pled guilty or served jail time for drug charges in Australia”. His claims are contrary to the evidence provided by the Australian courts. The ministers’s denial follows the disbanded Future Forward Party publishing an Australian court ruling on…
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Thailand News Today, Thursday, February 27, 2020
4 Uzbek women rescued from human traffickers in Pattaya Four Uzbek women were rescued in Pattaya yesterday by Uzbekistan embassy officials and Chon Buri Provincial Police Police say they allegedly fell victim to a human trafficking scam. A team of police raided a condominium in South Pattaya. The raid follows Chon Buri police learning from Uzbekistan’s embassy that an Uzbek…
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Opposition MP alleges PM and army behind cyber propaganda
An opposition MP says he’s holding PM Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha responsible for a network of social media that have been allegedly running a cyber campaign against critics of the current government. They accuse the PM and supporters of the government about spreading fake news and derogatory comments about them. An MP of the now-disbanded Future Forward Party, Viroj Lakkana-adisorn, says…
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Chevrolet Thailand says ‘no’ to compensation demands for cars sold before discounts were announced
Yesterday, a group of Chevrolet car buyers submitted a letter to Chevrolet Sales (Thailand) at the company national HQ at Rasa Tower, in Bangkok’s northern suburbs. They were demanding the company should compensate them for having bought their cars at full price, just before Chevrolet announced it was pulling out of manufacturing cars in Thailand. Specifically they were complaining about…
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Two news cases confirmed in Thailand, pushing total to 37
The Thai Public Health Ministry has announced two new Coronavirus cases in Thailand. A 31 year old woman and a 29 year old taxi driver. The two cases pushes the Thai confirmed Covid-19 confirmations up to a total of 37 cases since the outbreak began at the end of December last year. Permanent secretary for health, Sukhum Kanchanapimai, confirmed that…
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Thai Baht on the slide over fears of spread of Coronavirus outside China
What goes up must go down. The Thai baht has continued to weaken against leading international currencies, trading at 31.70 to the US$ in yesterday’s trade. The falls reflect regional concern over the coronavirus spreading beyond China. In the past few days both central South Korea and parts of northern Italy have reported outbreaks of the virus. Kasikorn Research Centre…
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Thai stocks plummet nearly 4% in Monday SET trading
The Stock Exchange of Thailand finished yesterday at 1,435.56 points, a decrease of 59.5 points, or nearly 4% – that’s compared to Friday’s close on the SET. The daily trade volume for Monday was 76.431 billion baht, with an index high of 1,474.12 and a low of 1,435.56. Asian bourses were hammered as confidence was inhibited by rising cases of the…
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Thailand News Today – First episode of a new daily TV program
Thai exports figures rise in January Whilst there’s been plenty of economic challenges around for Thailand, including the high Thai baht and a levelling out of tourist arrivals, exports for January 2020 unexpectedly rose according to ministry figures. It’s the first rise in six months, and an increase of 3.35% from the exports 12 months earlier. Reuters had earlier forecast…
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Top 10 laws to beware of in Thailand
Did you know that it’s illegal in the UK to enter the Houses of Parliament wearing a suit of armor? Or that it’s legal to shoot a Scotsman with a crossbow under certain circumstances? Most countries have outdated laws on the books that seem odd today, but as a visitor to Thailand, there are some laws you should always be…
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Thai exports figures rise in January
Whilst there’s been plenty of economic challenges around for Thailand, including the high Thai baht and a levelling out of tourist arrivals, exports for January 2020 unexpectedly rose according to ministry figures. It’s the first rise in six months, and an increase of 3.35% from the exports 12 months earlier. The customs-cleared export numbers have been boosted by higher shipments…
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Missing moggie rescued in Rayong
A pet cat was rescued this week in Rayong province, near Pattaya, after being stuck between walls for two days. Rescue workers were notified of an emergency at a building in central Rayong. They arrived at the scene to find a cat stuck in a narrow gap between two walls. It took about 10 minutes to pull the cat up.…
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