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Lockdown tomorrow: What to expect in Bangkok and beyond
Though the government won’t use the word, tomorrow sees 10 dark red zone provinces going into, essentially, a lockdown. Here’s a rundown of what to expect during the 2 week period beginning tomorrow (Monday). The restrictions apply to all 10 provinces, but the information below is focused on the lockdown in Bangkok. INSIDE BANGKOK Things are about to quieten down.…
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Bangkok beauty pageant suffers Covid scandal
A formal complaint from the Huai Khwang district office in Bangkok been lodged against the organiser of the “Miss Grand Samut Sakhon 2021” beauty pageant, alleging the show violated the Communicable Disease Act. The complaint, lodged with the Makkasan police, alleges the pageant held on June 26 and June 27 at the Mirin Theatre RCA in the Huai Khwang district…
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New poll shows many have unfavourable feelings toward government’s handling of plastics factory fire
A new poll shows that most respondents have unfavourable feelings over the government’s handling of the fire at the plastics factory in Samut Prakan. The Suan Dusit poll conducted by Suan Dusit Rajabhat University queried 1,266 people in Thailand from July 6 to July 9. Respondents had the option to pick multiple answers. The poll shows: 66.51% – of the…
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Covid UPDATE Sunday: 9,539 new cases, news briefs
Today the public health department reported 9,539 new Covid infections & 86 coronavirus-related deaths. 103 of today’s cases were reported from the Thai prison system. Today’s numbers indicate a flattening of new infections but still much higher than the week before. Provincial totals published just after lunch time. • The ministries of Public Health and Transport have prepared a 5,000-bed…
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80 Bangkok roadblocks to curb Covid-19 spread before lockdown
“The law of unintended consequences has come to be used as an adage or idiomatic warning that an intervention in a complex system tends to create unanticipated and often undesirable outcomes. It is commonly used as a wry or humorous warning against the hubristic belief that humans can fully control the world around them.” – Wikipedia The last time the…
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All Phuket schools closing for 2 weeks amid Covid-19 fears
Ah, Thailand, where one city can simultaneously be reopening and reclosing. While the arrival numbers aren’t anywhere close to early predictions, the Phuket Sandbox has had relatively little Covid-19 issues and the people arriving are relatively happy. But the same cannot be said about schools in Phuket where, after numerous schools started closing due to infections, Governor Narong Woonciew announced…
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Preparing for Bangkok lockdown measures from today on
The CCSA announced yesterday sweeping new Covid-19 lockdown measures for Bangkok and surrounding provinces, as well as 4 southern provinces, and now people and businesses are scrambling to prepare before provisions go into effect from now until Monday. Airlines have quickly implemented emergency measures for domestic travellers to handle the wave of cancellations and rescheduling due to Bangkok and other…
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All Thai AirAsia July flights cancelled; airlines cope with lockdown
In light of Bangkok’s new Covid-19 lockdown measures, Thai AirAsia has cancelled all their domestic flights in Thailand, while Bangkok Airways, Nok Air, Thai Smile, and Vietjet have introduced emergency measures for flight rescheduling. AirAsia, the popular budget airline based in Malaysia, has suspended all domestic flights operated by Thai AirAsia effective immediately. They hope to resume service on August…
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Samui and Phangan reopening: bars open, 5,000 baht Covid tests
Koh Samui and the surrounding islands of Koh Phangan and Koh Tao are preparing for their Samui Plus reopening beginning July 15. The rules for the reopening are more stringent, with 3 full days of quarantine required and then 4 days of being allowed to travel only on sealed routes to specific tourist destinations before finally being allowed to travel…
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Indonesia’s Sri Mulyani: A reformer working for women’s rights
She expected the path to power to be difficult. More difficult than for men. “The world is not fair for women,” Sri Mulyani said. And yet she has come a long way: In 2005 she was appointed Indonesia’s first female finance minister – a pioneer in the conservative, Muslim-majority country and since then a role model for countless women. DW…
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Phuket daily Covid-19 hits 10, 3 short of Sandbox threshold
As Covid-19 surges throughout Thailand and the provinces in the south and around Bangkok enact curfews and other lockdown measures, Phuket has been relatively safe with just a trickle of infections. Yesterday for the first time in weeks though, Phuket recorded double-digit new Covid-19 infections, edging closer to the threshold for reconsidering the Sandbox scheme. Phuket Provincial Public Health Office…
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Sandbox tourist forced to stay in ASQ hotel after fellow passenger on her flight tests positive
Stefanie came to Phuket as a kick start to a new adventure and a long term stay in Thailand. The Phuket Sandbox option would allow her to visit around the island for 14 days before heading off to other destinations in Thailand. But it didn’t work out as planned. Now, she’s stuck in a small room for up to 14…
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1 million AstraZeneca vaccines from Japan for elderly in Bangkok
Japan recently donated just over 1 million AstraZeneca vaccines to Thailand in hopes of battling the surging Covid-19 outbreaks hammering the country, and today the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration announce plans to give those vaccines to the elderly in Bangkok. The 1.05 million vaccines that arrived today from Japan will be earmarked for senior citizens, both Thai nationals and…
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Niger’s Bazoum: We need technological assistance
Mohamed Bazoum was sworn in as president in April in Niger’s first democratic transfer of power. He now leads the country ranked as the world’s poorest on the UN’s 2020 Human Development Index. Niger also is being ravaged by violence from Islamic extremists and armed groups active in the border regions with Mali and Burkina Faso. While in Germany to…
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Traditional meets modern with Buddhist NFTs CryptoAmulets
Thailand is often a curious mixture of old and new. Ancient style architecture in temples share neighbourhoods with ultra-modern skyscrapers. Modern life is blended with traditions a century old or older. And now, old meets new again with the launch of CryptoAmulets, digital Buddhist amulets that are combining the ancient Thai tradition of carrying Buddhist good luck charms with the…
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Pakistan: Why RSF deems PM Khan a ‘press freedom predator’
Daniel Bastard, Asia-Pacific director at Reporters Without Borders (RSF), told DW that Pakistani authorities are trying to censor and intimidate journalists who dare not to toe the government’s line. SOURCE: DW News
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Vietnam to gain as EU-China investment pact stalls
In geopolitics as in business, one person’s loss is another’s gain. As such, Vietnam could be set to benefit from an increase of investment from EU states after European leaders intimated in early June that their investment pact with China is now off the table. However, recent data suggests that this remains more of an aspiration than reality right now,…
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Pakistan: PM Khan is the ‘first helper of the military to harass journalists’
Daniel Bastard, the Asia-Pacific director of Reporters Without Borders (RSF), told DW why the organization labeled Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan as a “press freedom predator.” SOURCE: DW News
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Sinovac not effective against Delta variant, AstraZeneca is
A new study released today seems to have confirmed what many have feared: the Sinovac vaccine has little effectiveness in stopping the Covid-19 Delta variant. The Delta strain, first identified in India, is particularly dangerous as it has found to be much more contagious and is spreading rapidly throughout Thailand. It has been predicted that the variant will be the…
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Lawyers Association accuse DDC failure over Sinovac
The chairman of the Lawyers Association of Thailand has said the government has failed its duty to protect the health of the Thai people by ordering more Sinovac vaccines instead of pursuing brands more effective against the Delta variant of Covid-19 fast becoming the dominant strain in Thailand. The accusation comes as the Department of Disease Control defends Thailand’s Cabinet’s…
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Bangladesh factory fire takes 52 lives
Today, a cataclysmic fire ravaged a factory in Rupgang, Bangladesh. 52 people have been confirmed dead, trapped by searing walls of fire that made some workers jump from upper floors in an effort to escape, says Bangladeshi police. At least 30 people have been injured and hundreds of family members, workers wait with extreme apprehension as the fire kept blazing.…
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2,500+ in Phuket Sandbox, flight and hotel numbers increasing
Despite the first international Covid-19 case of the Phuket Sandbox and the subsequently quarantined passengers requesting to leave Thailand, increasing numbers of international travellers continue to arrive each day in the reopening scheme. Yesterday 125 more travellers arrived on flights from Singapore Airlines and Etihad Airways from Abu Dhabi, with 11 more flights scheduled for the next 2 days. That…
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Health officials concede to using rapid antigen tests
Health officials are conceding to using rapid antigen tests on top of using the RT-PCR method to detect cases of Covid. The public Health Ministry is eager to use the rapid antigen test to determine possible infections as Covid cases incessantly rise. Thai media reports that the RT-PCR method would still be employed. The Director General of the DMS, Dr…
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Breaking: Travel restrictions and curfew to be set in Bangkok, “dark red” provinces
UPDATE: The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration’s daily press briefing has been rescheduled to 4pm today. More details will be reported following the briefing. Travel restrictions and a nightly curfew will be set in Bangkok and provinces classified as “dark red” zones for the high rates of Covid-19 infections, the government’s news bureau confirmed today. In this morning’s Centre for…
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Sangkhla Buri district in Kanchanaburi enters 14 day lockdown
The Sankhla Buri district in Kanchanaburi, a western Thai province is locking down for 14 days and people are ordered to remain at home from 10 pm to 4 am to help prevent Covid outbreaks. The order was signed by Governor Jirakiat Phumsawat, who also acts as chairman of the provincial communicable disease control committee. Other restrictions include barring the…
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12 Sandbox travellers in quarantine request to leave Thailand
The strict rules and closed entertainment venues have discouraged many potential tourists from coming to the Phuket Sandbox just yet, but many who have arrived have expressed happiness to be enjoying the beauty of Thailand, even with the complex process and limitations on the ground. But predictably, one group of Sandboxers who have are in quarantine after one traveller tested…
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South Sudan: Dashed hopes after 10 years of independence
The euphoria following South Sudan’s independence from Sudan on July 9, 2011 was short-lived. Less than a year and a half later, the resource-rich country was plunged into a brutal civil war, at a cost of almost 400,000 lives. As a result of the civil war, 1.6 million people of the country’s 11 million people are currently displaced within South…
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2 More schools close in Phuket after infections found
2 more schools are being closed in Phuket after infections were discovered. The 2 school closures in Phuket town follows a staff member and a parent having close contact with a high risk person. The schools announced they will be closed to clean and sanitize their facilities. The schools are: Darasamuth Phuket School Kajornrangsan Municipal School The Darasamuth school announced…
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Supreme Court rules against former red-shirt leader
Former red-shirt leader Jatuporn Prompan has been ordered to serve back-to-back sentences in 2 defamation cases, according to a Supreme Court ruling. The Bangkok Post reports that Jatuporn will now spend another 11 months and 16 days in prison after a 2009 defamation case brought against him by former PM, Abhisit Vejjajiva. The activist was found guilty of defamation in…
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Vietnam issues final extension of stay for stranded travellers
Foreign nationals who’ve been stranded in Vietnam can now avail of an automatic final extension of stay issued by the country’s Immigration Department. The automatic extension allows foreigners who arrived on visa waivers, e-visas, and tourist visas from March 1, 2020, to remain in Vietnam until July 31 and to depart the country without applying for an extension of stay.…
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