Covid-19 News & Updates

[hhinner]

British variant is here. Wonder what the government response will be.

https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30404631

"Samples collected from entertainment venues in the Thong Lor area carried the British strain, which spreads 1.7 times faster than the normal strain and the viral load in the patient is far higher."

[caller]

I cannot find an update, but the Thais might have miscalculated in one respect. And that is what foreign Countries may require of a tourist destination, before it's citizens are allowed to travel there.

In yesterdays Times, 'Govt. sources' indicated that the intended destinations vaccination record would be a factor. So France would get a big fat 'non', but Israel a 'yay'!

Where that would leave Thailand is anyone's guess.

[Big Boy]

Do you know what area of Bkk? I am heading there on Thursday

I'm not 100% of the validity of this yet, but it is posted on an 'official' Covid page. I'm reading that PKK is following several other provinces, stating people entering Prachuap from areas on the list posted by Pete will need to do 14 days quarantine. Of course saying it, and policing it are 2 completely different things.

What I'm saying caller is if you go, be sure you can get back.

[caller]

What I'm saying caller is if you go, be sure you can get back.

I take your point BB, and of course the Government are saying the complete opposite.

It really is a case of keeping an eye on what happens.

Last time, when the red zones appeared, I was in Khon Kaen and whilst there, the other half's father passed away, so that meant our stay there was extended. When we finally headed back to Bkk via Korat, a designated red zone, there were no road blocks any where and neither were there as we headed into Bkk. The next day (I think), I drove from Bkk, via Petchaburi to Hua Hin, also both red zones, and whilst I saw a road block at Khao Yoi and on the Hua Hin by-pass,they were unmanned.

Does it give any info where quarantine should take place? I could just go home.

The recent case of the Doctor in Khon Kaen becoming infected at a concert impacted on family, as a friend who was with the Doctor at the concert is a friend of the other half's nephew and they met up the following day. He was then told he had to self isolate for 14 days pending the outcome of his friends test. He just moved into one of the apartments they own. I haven't had an update, so I assume all was well.

[Big Boy]

It doesn't say, or if it does I haven't spotted it. I must say, I have been assuming the quarantine should be no more than self-isolation, reporting to a hospital if symptoms happen.

[buksida]

Pubs, clubs in Bangkok, 40 other provinces to shut for 2 weeks
All entertainment places in 41 provinces, including Bangkok, will be ordered to shut their doors for at least two weeks, as Covid-19 cases spawned by the Thong Lor cluster spread rapidly across the nation.

Taweesilp Visanuyothin, spokesman for the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration, said on Thursday the closure would take effect when Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha signs the order at a meeting on Friday.

Health and security officials agreed in talks on Thursday that a blanket closure in all provinces was not necessary. They opted for what Dr Taweesilp called "target therapy" in provinces with the potential to spread Covid-19.

The 41 provinces where all entertainment venues - bars, pubs, clubs and karaoke bars - will be closed are:

Bangkok
Ayutthaya
Buri Ram
Chachoengsao
Chaiyaphum
Chanthaburi
Chiang Mai
Chiang Rai
Chon Buri
Chumphon
Kanchanaburi
Khon Kaen
Lamphang
Loei
Lop Buri
Nakhon Nayok
Nonthaburi
Nakhon Pathom
Nakhon Ratchasima
Nakhon Si Thammarat
Narathiwat
Pathum Thani
Phetchabun
Phetchaburi
Phuket
Prachin Buri
Prachuap Khiri Khan
Ratchaburi
Ranong
Rayong
Sa Kaeo
Samut Prakan
Samut Sakhon
Samut Songkram
Saraburi
Songkhla
Suphan Buri
Surat Thani
Tak
Udon Thani
Yala

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/ge ... or-2-weeks

[PeteC]

Pubs, clubs in Bangkok, 40 other provinces to shut for 2 weeks

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/ge ... or-2-weeks

All entertainment places in 41 provinces, including Bangkok, will be ordered to shut their doors for at least two weeks, as Covid-19 cases spawned by the Thong Lor cluster spread rapidly across the nation.

Taweesilp Visanuyothin, spokesman for the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration, said on Thursday the closure would take effect when Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha signs the order at a meeting on Friday.

Health and security officials agreed in talks on Thursday that a blanket closure in all provinces was not necessary. They opted for what Dr Taweesilp called "target therapy" in provinces with the potential to spread Covid-19.

Their prime concern was the spread of the UK variant of the virus, with cases detected in Thailand for the first time.

"It would be unfair to prescribe a strong dose to all provinces," the CCSA spokesman said.

The target provinces were those plagued by new infections and those at risk because they were a gateway, or main passage, for travellers, he said.

The decision comes ahead of the long Songkran holiday next week, when millions of people will hit the roads for vacations or family reunions.

New cases linked to pubs, bars and clubs in Thong Lor area have leapt from Wednesday's report of 291 in 15 provinces to 504 cases in 20 provinces on Thursday, according to CCSA figures, which track infections since March 22.

The 41 provinces where all entertainment venues - bars, pubs, clubs and karaoke bars - will be closed are:

Bangkok
Ayutthaya
Buri Ram
Chachoengsao
Chaiyaphum
Chanthaburi
Chiang Mai
Chiang Rai
Chon Buri
Chumphon
Kanchanaburi
Khon Kaen
Lamphang
Loei
Lop Buri
Nakhon Nayok
Nonthaburi
Nakhon Pathom
Nakhon Ratchasima
Nakhon Si Thammarat
Narathiwat
Pathum Thani
Phetchabun
Phetchaburi
Phuket
Prachin Buri
Prachuap Khiri Khan
Ratchaburi
Ranong
Rayong
Sa Kaeo
Samut Prakan
Samut Sakhon
Samut Songkram
Saraburi
Songkhla
Suphan Buri
Surat Thani
Tak
Udon Thani
Yala

All 20 provinces hit by the Thong Lor cluster are included in the 41-province list.

The CCSA spokesman said there would be no U-turn on the closure decision. The centre decided to make it public ahead of the signing of the order on Friday so that businesses could prepare in advance.

The meeting on Friday would also announce a work from home policy for state agencies and encourage private firms to allow their employees to also work from home.

There had been 405 new infections registered, 391 of them local transmissions, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 30,310, the CCSA said on Thursday. No new deaths were reported.

Bangkok led the list with 48 cases reported by hospitals and 47 from mass testing. Fourteen cases were imported - from the United Arab Emirates, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Turkey.

The latest outbreak has already prompted two provinces, Buri Ram and Bung Kan, to issue orders that people coming from Bangkok, Pathum Thani, Nonthaburi, Samut Prakan and Nakhon Pathom must observe self-quarantine after arrival in the province. Buri Ram is on the list of 41 provinces; Bung Kan, which borders the Mekong River, is not.

[PeteC]

Virologist: UK Covid variant may have arrived from Cambodia

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/ge ... m-cambodia

The UK Covid variant now spreading through Thailand might have been brought into the country from Cambodia, either by Thais crossing the border or migrant workers, a noted virologist said on Thursday.

Prof Yong Pooverawan, of the faculty of medicine, Chulalongkorn University, said the UK variant was found in people from India and China who entered Cambodia in February.

The first cases were reported there on Feb 15, he said in a post on his Facebook page.

The UK variant had spread in Cambodia since then.

Cambodia has reported 2,915 confirmed Covid-19 cases and 22 deaths, according to the worldometer website.

A spokeswoman for the Cambodian Health Ministry, Or Vandine, on March 11 expressed concerned about the spread of the UK strain there. "The fast-transmitting UK variant is now active in Cambodia, especially in Phnom Penh," VOA quoted her as saying.

Thai health authorities reported the first local transmission of the same variant on Wednesday. It was found in a cluster of infections spreading rapidly from pubs in Bangkok's Thong Lor area.

"I have no idea how it slipped into Thailand, and through our quarantine programme," Dr Yong told reporters on Wednesday.

The rapid spread of the latest outbreak to provinces far from Bangkok has led to authorities announcing they will shut down all entertainment venues in 41 provinces for at least two weeks, starting on Friday.

[buksida]

Police told to work from home after 42 test positive

The Royal Thai Police (RTP) on Thursday asked about half its staff at its head office to begin working from home and other units to adopt the same measure wherever possible.

The work-from-home order, plus other measures, was ordered by national police chief Suwat Jangyodsuk after at least 42 police officers were confirmed to have contracted Covid-19, said RTP spokesman Pol Maj Gen Yingyos Thepjamnong.

Units around the country had also been instructed to apply the work-from-home policy wherever possible, while still ensuring efficiency, he said.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/ge ... t-positive

I'm sure they'll still be just as efficient at home as they are on the beat ...

[Big Boy]

CCSA have confirmed closure of bars, etc in 41 provinces as expected. However, I think the closure starts tomorrow.

closed.jpg (88.2 KiB) Viewed 500 times

[HHTel]

There's no start date on that. It does say than they should be closed for AT LEAST 14 days, so it could be longer depending on the situation.

[HHTel]

Bangkok, Thailand- The Center for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA), through a spokesperson, announced this morning that entertainment venues, such as bars and nightclubs, must close from tomorrow, April 10th, for fourteen days. This would take the closure through at least April 23rd, 2021. The announcement was made by Dr. Phanprapha Yongtrakul,...

[Big Boy]

The CCSA Tweet stated from tomorrow. I wonder if this is in addition to what local Governors have stated or instead of.

[PeteC]

Meaning midnight tonight I would think.

[PeteC]

One virus death, 559 new cases

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/ge ... -new-cases

The government on Friday reported one new Covid-19 death, bringing the toll to 96, and 559 new cases, 549 of them local infections and 10 imported, raising the total to 30,869.

Panprapa Yongtrakul, a spokesman for the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration, said the 96th death was a Thai man, 60, who was a prison inmate in Narathiwat province. He had tuberculosis and had been in contact with a previously confirmed case.

On March 31, he complained of insomnia, breathing difficulty and fatigue. A lung X-ray found tuberculosis. His condition worsened and he became dependent on a ventilator.

On April 1 he tested positive for Covid-19. His condition deteriorated and he died on Thursday.

Of the 549 new local cases reported on Thursday, 401 were confirmed at hospitals and 148 in communities.

Dr Panprapa blamed the soaring infection rate on people frequenting pubs and the like. He said 214 of the new cases were linked directly to entertainment venues in various provinces - including 85 in Bangkok, mostly of working age, 31 in Samut Prakan, 28 in Prachuap Khiri Khan (Hua Hin district), seven in Chon Buri and five in Chiang Mai.

Thirty-one new cases were people in close contact with the cases from entertainment places, and most of them were family members.

However, the number of new cases not linked to nightspots was also high, at 124 over the previous 24 hours, Dr Panprapa said.

Bangkok alone logged 266 new infections, or 48% of the daily increment. Of these 138 were confirmed at hospitals and 130 through mass testing.

Mass testing detected 17 new cases in Chon Buri and one in Prachuap Khiri Khan.

At hospitals there were 46 new cases in Samut Prakan, 29 each in Chon Buri and Prachuap Khiri Khan, 16 each in Chiang Mai and Sa Kaeo, 12 in Pathum Thani, 10 each in Nonthaburi and Udon Thani, nine in Samut Sakhon and eight in Buri Ram.

Also diagnosed at hospitals were six each in Rayong, Khon Kaen, Ubon Ratchathani, Nakhon Ratchasima and Songkhla; five in Chumphon and Chanthaburi; four each in Ratchaburi, Phetchaburi, Surat Thani and Phuket; three in Lop Buri, two each in Chiang Rai, Phetchabun, Chachoengsao, Saraburi and Chaiyaphum; and one each in Lampang, Nan, Phitsanuloik, Kanchanaburi, Trat, Samut Songkhram, Maha Sarakham, Nakhon Sawan and Nakhon Pathom.

The 10 imported cases were quarantined arrivals from the United Kingdom (1), the United States (1), Indonesia (1), France (1), China (2), Estonia (1), Malaysia (1) and Belgium (2).

Of the 30,869 total cases, 28,128 (91%) had already recovered, including 27 discharged on Thursday, and 2,645 were at hospitals.

This week, new Covid-19 cases were reported in 45 provinces, Dr Panprapa said.

Global Covid-19 cases soared by 737,425 in 24 hours to 134.51 million. The worldwide death toll rose by 13,827 to 2.91 million. The US had the most cases at 31.72 million, up 80,161, and the most deaths at 573,856, up 1,009.