Phuket
- Covid-19 News
Phuket’s tourist-driven economy faces crisis – Phuket Chamber of Commerce
Phuket’s tourism-driven economy is facing what one city official calls a crisis, comparing the economic impact to what it was after the 2004 tsunami. Phuket’s economy has become increasingly focused on tourism and hospitality over the past 2 decades. The Phuket Chamber of Commerce President Thunusak Phungdet said at a meeting last Thursday that Phuket has no income right now.…
- Covid-19 News
Thai provinces put on alert to screen anyone travelling from Phuket
Phuket’s on a blacklist of sorts, at least as far as the Interior Ministry is concerned. Thailand’s provincial governors have been put on alert to screen everyone arriving from the island province of Phuket. They also been instructed to quarantine anyone suspected of being infected with Covid-19. Chalerm Promlet, the Interior Ministry’s permanent secretary, issued the instructions to provincial governors…
- Tourism News
Thailand’s hotels face more pain after European tour group asks to defer debt
Hotels in Thailand, particularly in Phuket and some surrounding regions, have been hit with a double whammy. First the whole Covid-19-related wipe-out, now a cash-flow problem brought about after the TUI Group – an Anglo-German multinational travel and tourism company – has stalled repayments for hotel rooms. The amount owed to Thailand hotels is believed to exceed 2 billion baht. TUI is…
- Covid-19 News
New scheduled departure times for people leaving Phuket
While Phuket officials have allowed tens of thousands of people to leave the island to head back to their home provinces, the Phuket provincial government only allowed Phuket residents to leave the island in their own vehicles on April 30 and May 1, being the ‘first round’ and ‘second round’ of the mass exodus. But on the first day there…
- Covid-19 News
“Arrivals from Phuket have been screened for virus” – Interior Ministry
Following concerns raised in a number of destination provinces, the Interior Ministry has moved to reassure people that everyone leaving the island of Phuket to head home to the provinces has been screened for the Covid-19 virus. The Bangkok Post reports that a number of citizens elsewhere in the country became concerned when seeing footage of heavy traffic and long…
- Covid-19 News
Rush for fit-to-travel documents for people leaving Phuket
Authorities announced yesterday that those who want to leave Phuket by road must register online no later than Friday, May 8, to obtain fit-to-travel certificates. While the southern province of Phuket remains closed to entry, authorities have begun allowing people to leave. Tens of thousands, both tourists and Thais from other provinces, have been trapped on the island since it…
- Covid-19 News
Phuket’s Bang Tao tambon erupts over continued restrictions
Angry villagers gathered in The Bang Tao subdistrict of the southern province of Phuket today to protest continued travel restrictions on their tambon and demand the right to travel more freely, like much of the rest of Phuket. The Muslim-majority beachside community of Bang Tao has become the island’s hotzone for Covid-19 infections since the closure of the Patong municipality…
- Hot News
Surat Thani governor confirms that residents coming back from Phuket will be quarantined
With the exodus of people from Phuket heading back to their home provinces, officials from Surat Thani have confirmed that they will be quarantined at home for 14 days when they arrive. Surat Thani is about a 3-4 hour drive northeast from Phuket. The Surat Thani governor Witchawut Jinto has ordered all district chiefs in the province to quarantine visitors…
- Covid-19 News
Mass exodus as 40,000 people departing Phuket
Since the announcement that people in Phuket could leave the island and return to their home provinces, people have been spilling out of the island since 5 am this morning (the daily curfew lifted at 4am) creating long traffic jams and queues at Tha Chatchai checkpoint. After registrations on Wednesday, over 40,000 people have signed up for the mass exodus…
- Covid-19 News
32 domestic flight routes approved for May as Thais take to the air again
As Thailand starts to open doors and get people back to work again, the Department of Airports director general has announced the opening of 14 airports across Thailand. But the airline industry, basically grounded over the past month, has a long road ahead. From the start of May, only 32 domestic flight routes will be allowed to operate under the…
- Covid-19 News
7 new cases in Phuket today, total 214 (Tuesday)
There has been 7 new cases announced in Phuket today. The island has had the highest, per capita, number of reported cases in Thailand. 5 more people been allowed to return home in the past 24 hours, 39 remain in hospital under treatment with 2 in a critical condition. 127 people remain as ‘high risk personnel’ and are under observation. 6 of…
- Covid-19 News
97 year old Phuket woman recovers from Covid-19
And now for the good news … A 97 year old “granny” from Bang Tao, Phuket, has been discharged from hospital, having recovered from the Covid-19 virus. The news was shared on social media by Nattapon Chueasaman who credited excellent medical care coupled with the elderly lady’s will to add some more digits to her great age. Bang Tao and…
- Covid-19 News
Phuket reports 4 new Covid-19 cases, all in Bang Tao (Sunday)
The southern province of Phuket reports 4 new confirmed Covid-19 cases today, all in the Bang Tao area of the island’s Cherngtalay subdistrict, bringing the total in Phuket to 206 since the outbreak began in January. One more patient has recovered, bringing that total of recovered patients to 161. 45 cases are still in hospital of which 4 are ‘severe’.…
- Covid-19 News
Phuket adds 4 Covid-19 cases, 3 in Bang Tao (Saturday)
4 new Covid-19 cases have been confirmed in the southern island province of Phuket today. The island has the highest rate of infection and the second highest number of cases, after Bangkok. A single new case was reported this morning, bringing the total there to 202: a 60 year old Thai woman who lives in Witchit, Phuket Town. She fell…
- Covid-19 News
Many farangs chipping in to help their stricken communities – VIDEO
Thai media are reporting that foreigners, together with their their Thai friends, are doing great work in Chiang Mai to ease the economic hardship felt by many due to the Covid-19 pandemic. MCOT reports that a group of foreigners as well as Thais outside a shop near the Chang Pheuak gate have been handing out 300 – 400 ready meals…
- Covid-19 News
Phuket eyes lifting restrictions on Tambons that are virus-free for 14 days
Phuket’s outgoing governor Pakkapong Tawipat recently extended emergency measures in the southern province until April 30, including severe travel restrictions on the island. Now there is speculation the incoming governor, Narong Namsouw, currently the governor of the northeastern Chaiyaphum province, will extend them, though there has been no confirmation of this. Governor Pakkapong says the provincial government is seeking opinions from…
- Covid-19 News
Phuket new Covid-19 cases up to 3 (Wednesday)
In a small jump, the southern island province of Phuket today confirmed 3 new Covid-19 infections, bringing the total to 5 since last Thursday. 1 case was reported yesterday and 1 on Friday. Previous to yesterday there had been 3 consecutive days without any infections. The announcement will likely prevent Phuket from being part of a wide-scale lifting of nationwide…
- Covid-19 News
Phuket reports one new case, an 83 year old Italian
Phuket has added 1 new case today, taking the total number of cases up to 193 in the Province. The latest cases is 83 year old Italian man who had a history of going out into Bangla Road and have recently been to private hospital where he exhibited no specific symptoms relating to Covid-19. 17 people are said to be at…
- Covid-19 News
Food donors must maintain proper social-distancing procedures
Yesterday police deputy spokesman Kissana Phattanacharoen announced that officers at Phlapphla Chai 2 police station have investigated an incident that took place on April 12 when dozens of people had gathered to receive charitable food near Hua Lamphong railway station in Bangkok. Bangkok police have pressed charges against food donors for allegedly failing to submit any social gathering precautions. The…
- Tourism News
The China Bounce – are the Chinese packing their bags ready to come back to Thailand?
by Bill Barnett of c9hotelworks.com The results of a comprehensive new survey of consumers in Mainland China’s first tier cities concludes that 53% of respondents would like to travel internationally sometime this year. Citing the opportunity, the most popular months for trips abroad for the remainder of the year are, specifically, August, October and December. Thailand is one of the…
- Covid-19 News
Thailand’s new Covid-19 infections drop to 32 today, 0 deaths reported
A spokesman for the Thailand Covid-19 Coronavirus Situation Centre announced a total of 32 new cases of Covid-19 at this morning’s daily press briefing, down from yesterday’s 33, bringing the national total to 2765 since the start of the outbreak in January. No new deaths were reported, and the toll remains steady at 47. The spokesman told reporters that an…
- Covid-19 News
Phuket’s bars and entertainment industry closes up shop
Shutters down today in Phuket. Well, officially anyway. Bars, clubs and entertainment venues on the island will now remain closed for at least 14 days in the island’s latest efforts to curb the spread of Covid-19. Phuket’s Governor Phakaphong Tavipatana made the formal announcement yesterday after 24 hours of conjecture and confusion. The Phuket Communicable Disease Committee resolved to issue…
- Covid-19 News
Phone booths get new lease on life as ‘Covid boxes’
Move over Clark Kent, there’s a new Superhero in town in need of your dressing room. The Digital Economy and Society Ministry is converting TOT phone booths into Covid-19 testing kiosks to help lower the infection risk faced by healthcare workers due to the shortage of personal protective equipment. At a cost of less than 1,000 baht to repurpose, selected…
- Phuket News
Seized tuna trawler catches fire on Phuket’s east coast
Last night a fire was reported to the Phuket Police around 9:30pm on an old tuna trawler I (1 of the 7 unregistered fishing trawlers seized 3 years ago) along the mangrove forest on the island’s east coast. When emergency units arrived at the scene, the vessel was completely engulfed in flames 100 metres away from the Asia Marina pier…
- South Thailand News
Medical team from Songkhla come to Phuket to help during Covid-19 outbreak
Phuket health workers have welcomed a special team of much-needed medics from southern Thailand’s Songkhla Nararin Hospital. The 50 medics arrived in Phuket yesterday to assist with Covid 19 cases and testing on the island. The team, led by the Nararin Hospital director, set up a field hospital to assist patients suffering from Covid 19. Phuket currently has the second…
- Crime News
Kratom Food Panda-monium in Phuket
Phuket Police have arrested Grab and Foodpanda delivery drivers for transport and possession of kratom. Yesterday morning, two men were riding together on a motorbike with one clad in a Grab delivery uniform while his passenger carried the green insulated Grab delivery bag. Officers stopped and searched the two after suspecting the men were acting suspiciously. Conducting a search, officers…
- Covid-19 News
Phuket’s Covid-19 new cases fall to 3
Health officials in Phuket today reported just 3 new Covid-19 cases, substantially fewer than yesterday’s 10 and the continuation of a generally encouraging downward trend. Yesterday was the first time new cases reached double digits since 10 were reported on April 5. 13 cases were reported on April 3. All yesterday’s cases were from the Bang Tao beach community. Travel…
- Covid-19 News
Mass-testing vs contact tracing in Thailand
Yesterday, the Thai government announced that contact tracing (identification of high risk personnel) is the most valid and effective method for battling the Covid-19 outbreak around the country. The spokesperson, and now familiar frontman, of the Centre of Covid-19 Situation Administration Dr. Taweesin Visanuyothin has also revealed that “this is partly because Thailand has limited resources and can not afford…
- Covid-19 News
Phuket’s new Covid-19 cases fall to 2 (Monday)
Phuket has confirmed 2 new cases of the Covid-19 coronavirus today (Monday), half of yesterday’s 4 cases and equal to Saturday’s, as the numbers continue a downward trend. Phuket has virtually sealed itself off, with all roads, ports. As of Friday even the airport officially closed. The governor announced an alcohol ban on Friday night as well, effective until further…
- Covid-19 News
33 new coronavirus infections confirmed, 3 more deaths (Sunday)
33 new Covid-19 coronavirus cases were confirmed in Thailand today (Sunday), and 3 more deaths. The total number of infections in Thailand since the outbreak began now stands at 2551. There have been 38 deaths. A spokesman for the government’s Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration says the deaths were 2 Thai men, aged 74 and 44, and a 65 year…
