Jonathan Fairfield

British Embassy Consular Services unavailable in March ahead of move to new location

 

 

The British Embassy in Bangkok has announced that some of its consular services will be unavailable for a short period later this month.

 

Full story: https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1153020-british-embassy-consular-services-unavailable-in-march-ahead-of-move-to-new-location/

 

British Embassy Consular Services unavailable in March ahead of move to new location

 

 

The British Embassy in Bangkok has announced that some of its consular services will be unavailable for a short period later this month.

 

The announcement, posted on the UK in Thailand Facebook page on Wednesday, reads:

 

From Wednesday 25th – Tuesday 31st March (inclusive) we will be unable to offer any notarial appointments. There may be delays to services requested by post.

 

We will be unable to issue Emergency Travel Documents, except for very urgent travel to the United Kingdom. 

 

Emergency support for British Nationals in Thailand will continue 24/7. If you need help call 023058333. 

 

Wednesday 1st April onwards is business as usual in our new offices at AIA Sathorn Tower.

 

For the latest announcements from the British Embassy in Bangkok, follow the UK in Thailand on Facebook.

 

 

British teenager continues to fight for his life after motorbike accident in Hua Hin

 

 

A British teenager remains in a serious condition in hospital as he continues to recover from injuries suffered after a motorbike accident in Hua Hin.

 

Full story: https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1152907-british-teenager-continues-to-fight-for-his-life-after-motorbike-accident-in-hua-hin/

 

British teenager continues to fight for his life after motorbike accident in Hua Hin

 

 

A British teenager remains in a serious condition in hospital as he continues to recover from injuries suffered after a motorbike accident in Hua Hin.

 

Aelfin Michel,16, who lives in Hua Hin with his mother and attends a local school, had been to a concert in the town on 30 December when he was involved in a motorbike accident.

 

Aelfin was rushed to ICU where doctors discovered he had suffered catastrophic injuries to his skull. 

 

He then underwent the first of many bouts of surgery including an emergency craniotomy - the surgical removal of part of the bone from the skull to expose the brain - and reconstruction of both his upper and lower jaw. 

 

Doctors told his mother, Emma, that he had no more than a 50 percent chance of surviving.

 

Following the surgery, Aelfin’s condition deteriorated considerably when a blood clot on one of his lungs caused him to have five consecutive heart attacks. Doctors administered emergency treatment for seven hours before Aelfin’s heart started to beat normally again. 

 

And if Aelfin’s situation couldn’t get any worse, he later contracted pneumonia while in hospital.

 

 

Last month, Aelfin was transferred to a hospital in Bangkok where he remains in ICU.

 

While he has made incredible progress - he is now walking, doing physio and talking in English and Thai - he still needs considerable rehabilitation and another major surgical procedure on his skull known as a cranioplasty.

 

The cost of this operation is 1,500,000 baht (nearly 40,000 GBP). 

 

A friend of Aelfin's family told Thaivisa: "Aelfin is making progress and he is truly a miracle to survive 5 heart attacks, pneumonia, dehydration and 5 operations (2 additional operations due to a misdiagnosed fraction in his head that cause air on the brain. We will have a long and arduous road ahead".

 

"Aelfin has to do a great deal of re learning.  He is currently receiving cognitive and physio therapy and this will need be in place for at least the next year.  As well, it looks as though he will permanently loose his sense of smell due to the head injury.  He is currently struggling to control his swallow reflex and is having to learn how to eat by mouth. He is currently receiving 99.5 % of all his nutrition via an NG tube".

 

While Aelfin’s family have paid for his medical bills to date, friends have set up a GoFundMe page to help raise money to meet costs of the cranioplasty and rehabilitation.

 

The page was launched on 7 February and has raised £7,720, with the aim of reaching £50,000.

 

Aelfin’s fundraising page can be found here.

 

Apologies, Thaivisa is not accepting comments on this topic. 

 

 

 

 

Confirmed infections toll climbs to 59

 

 

The number of confirmed Covid-19 infections in Thailand has risen to 59 with the announcement of six more on Wednesday (March 11) – and none of the new cases involves Thai migrant labourers just returned from South Korea.

 

Full story: https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1152857-thailand-confirms-6-new-covid-19-infections-59-cases-in-total/

 

Confirmed infections toll climbs to 59

 

 

The number of confirmed Covid-19 infections in Thailand has risen to 59 with the announcement of six more on Wednesday (March 11) – and none of the new cases involves Thai migrant labourers just returned from South Korea.

 

The Public Health Ministry said the newly confirmed cases are:

 

• A 21-year-old Immigration official stationed at Suvarnabhumi Airport who began showing symptoms on Sunday and was confirmed as infected in two lab tests

 

• An employee of the same airport, age 40, who fell ill on Saturday. These people did not work in the same area.

 

• A company man, 25, whose “mysterious” pneumonia turned out to be Covid-19 infection. He has not travelled abroad, but recently visited a popular Thai tourist attraction. He is being treated at Bamrasnaradura Infectious Diseases Institute. No infection has been found in any of his close contacts so far.

 

• A woman, 27, recently returned from South Korea who began showing symptoms on Sunday. She is being treated at Nopparat Rajathanee Hospital in Bangkok.

 

• Another 40-year-old man who returned from Japan on February 25 and was suspected of being infected while having a broken wrist treated at a private hospital

 

• A Singaporean male, 36, who fell ill on Friday, also admitted to Bamrasnaradura

 

Of the 59 people confirmed as infected in Thailand, 34 have recovered, 23 remain under medical care and one has died.

 

Ministry officials assert that Thailand is still only in the second phase of the contagion, with limited local transmission. The third phase would bring a massive breakout.

 

There are 241 Thai labourers just returned from South Korea – 104 male and 137 female – in quarantine at Sattahip Naval Base. Eight of them were working in the city of Daegu or North Gyeongsang province, which have seen that country’s worst outbreaks. 

 

The 80 labourers who evaded screening checkpoints at Suvarnabhumi on their return from South Korea have all been located, persuaded by relatives and friends to report to health authorities.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30383845

 

 

 

 

Lots of choice on Invade IT: https://www.invadeit.co.th/

 

 

Three new Covid-19 cases confirmed in Thailand

 

 

Three new Covid-19 cases were found in Thailand, taking the total to 53, but all labourers who have returned from South Korea are healthy and there is no case of infection so far, according to the Public Health Ministry.

 

Full story:  https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1152671-three-new-covid-19-cases-confirmed-in-thailand/

 

Three new Covid-19 cases confirmed in Thailand

 

 

Three new Covid-19 cases were found in Thailand, taking the total to 53, but all labourers who have returned from South Korea are healthy and there is no case of infection so far, according to the Public Health Ministry.

 

The 51st victim is a 41-year-old female who was in close contact with the 45th case, a man returning from Italy, and now admitted at Rajavithi Hospital.

 

The 52nd and 53rd victims are a husband and wife pair. The wife, 46, travelled to Italy and started to have Covid-19 symptoms after returning to Thailand and then infected her husband, 47. Both were admitted to a hospital in Nakhon Pathom.

 

Of the 53 confirmed cases in Thailand, 33 have recovered, 19 are under medical care, and one person died.

 

As for Thai labours returning from South Korea, 188 were quarantined at Sattahip navy base; 88 men and 100 women.

 

In this number, eight returned from Daegu and North Gyeongsang province, where Covid-19 attack severely. 20 of them needed dedicated care including five pregnant women and four children.

 

All returners at Sattahip navy base were healthy and test negative by far.

 

Meanwhile, the number of illegal labours who fleed from screening checkpoint, 80-90 per cent were founded and being taken care and monitored by local administration officers, Provincial Health officers and village headmen.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30383765

 

CP Group's $10 billion Tesco deal to test mettle of Thailand's new antitrust watchdog

By Chayut Setboonsarng and Anshuman Daga

 

FILE PHOTO: A Tesco sign outside one of the supermarket group's stores in Altrincham, northern England, April 16, 2016. REUTERS/Phil Noble

 

BANGKOK/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - CP Group's $10 billion deal to buy Tesco PLC's <TSCO.L> 2,000 Thai retail outlets marks the end of a three-way tycoon tussle - and the beginning of the first engagement for Thailand's newly powerful antitrust watchdog.

 

Full story: https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1152514-tesco-agrees-sale-of-businesses-in-thailand-malaysia-for-106-billion-to-cp-group/?tab=comments#comment-15140570

 

CP Group's $10 billion Tesco deal to test mettle of Thailand's new antitrust watchdog

By Chayut Setboonsarng and Anshuman Daga

 

FILE PHOTO: A Tesco sign outside one of the supermarket group's stores in Altrincham, northern England, April 16, 2016. REUTERS/Phil Noble

 

BANGKOK/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - CP Group's $10 billion deal to buy Tesco PLC's <TSCO.L> 2,000 Thai retail outlets marks the end of a three-way tycoon tussle - and the beginning of the first engagement for Thailand's newly powerful antitrust watchdog.

 

The British grocery chain on Monday chose Dhanin Chearavanont's operator of 12,000 7-Eleven convenience stores over the Chirathivat family's Central Group of Companies Ltd - Thailand's biggest retailer by market capitalisation - and beer magnate Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi's TCC Group Co Ltd, said people with direct knowledge of the matter.

 

Interest from the tycoons and their overlapping businesses in a deal only flagged in December has already drawn what sources said was the Thai watchdog's first pre-transaction warning about antitrust compliance.

 

The Office of Trade Competition Commission (OTCC) found its voice after becoming independent under new laws in 2017 with a mandate to block transactions that would create monopolies, at a time of increased public scrutiny of tycoons' business empires.

 

The first deal the watchdog has to rule on is the country's second-biggest after Charoen Pokphand Group Co Ltd (CP Group) paid $9.4 billion for a minority stake in Ping An Insurance Group Co of China Ltd <601318.SS> <2318.HK> in 2012, Refinitiv data showed.

 

"The transaction pits one of the most influential family conglomerates against a newly empowered regulator," said Ben Kiatkwankul, partner at consultancy Maverick Consulting Group. "The asset's size and increasing public sentiment versus tycoon dominance in the economy will make the OTCC's task challenging."

 

CP Group runs its 12,000 7-Eleven convenience stores through CP All PCL <CPALL.BK> and about 80 cash-and-carry stores under Siam Makro PCL <MAKRO.BK>.

 

The firm on Monday said, upon antitrust approval, the deal will give it "a complementary retail business ... and enable the company to operate a wider range of outlets."

 

It will gain control of 1,965 stores Tesco operates in Thailand - much of which the British firm bought from CP Group during the 1997-8 Asian financial crisis. Included are 200 Tesco Lotus hypermarkets and 1,600 Tesco Lotus Express convenience stores. It will also buy 74 outlets in Malaysia.

 

OTCC Chairman Sakon Varunyuwatana previously told Reuters the watchdog set up a committee to rule on the deal and which is able to provide a preliminary review of each proposed Tesco bid upon suitor request - though none had been received.

 

"We are ready with a committee and have mapped out several scenarios," Sakon said. "The committee is comprised of economists, academics related to the retail business, competition law experts and our own officers and experts."

 

"We can tap into information across other agencies to support our investigation," he said.

 

Under the 2017 law, proposed mergers that could lead to market dominance or monopoly must be reviewed by the OTCC committee, which approves or rejects the proposal based on business necessity and its impact on consumers and the economy.

 

Dominance is defined as having a market share of over 50%, or 75% when combined with two peers.

"The question is how antitrust is defined," said a banker familiar with the deal. "Will 7-Eleven stores be included to calculate market share?"

 

In 2018, the energy regulator blocked Global Power Synergy PCL's <GPSC.BK> proposed $4 billion merger with Glow Energy PCL over monopoly concerns regarding industrial estates. It finally approved the deal on condition Glow sold a power provider.

 

The likely outcome for the Tesco deal is regulatory approval with broad conditions - and with a very public explanation, said Jirapong Wriwat, Partner at Nishimura & Asahi (Thailand).

 

"The Thai public is not afraid to express strong opinions towards tycoons. These views have been echoed in parliament and could gain momentum in other industries," said Kiatkwankul.

 

"The OTCC's mandate is to protect public interest and market competition and so it will have to set a clear precedence."

 

(Reporting by Chayut Setboonsarng in Bangkok and Anshuman Daga in Singapore; Editing by Jennifer Hughes and Christopher Cushing)

 

COVID-19: Thai Consulate in Penang requires some foreigners to provide medical certificate

 

 

The Thai Royal Consulate in Penang Malaysia has announced that some foreigners are now required to provide a medical certificate together with their visa application.

 

Full story: https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1152518-covid-19-thai-consulate-in-penang-requires-some-foreigners-to-provide-medical-certificate/

 

Impatient motorcyclist killed by train

 

PATTAYA:--A motorcyclist too impatient to wait for an oncoming train was killed by it in Pattaya.

 

Full story: https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1152323-impatient-motorcyclist-killed-by-train/

 

4 Chinese held for killing compatriot in Pattaya over online gambling debts

PATTAYA:--Four Chinese gamblers are being held for killing a Chinese man and his girlfriend whose bodies were bound, stuffed in a suitcase and dumped in a northern Thailand river.

 

Full story: https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1152322-4-chinese-held-for-killing-compatriot-in-pattaya-over-online-gambling-debts/

 

Tour bus rolls down Bang Saray hill into parked vehicles

 

Bang Saray:Brake failure is being blamed for a tour bus that rolled down Sukhumvit Road, plowing into three vehicles in Bang Saray.

 

Full story: https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1152321-tour-bus-rolls-down-bang-saray-hill-into-parked-vehicles/

 

‘Official’ Songkran events canceled, but Pattaya’s water wars likely will go on

 

PATTAYA:--Pattaya’s government-sponsored Songkran celebrations have been canceled as a precaution against the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, but the week-long Thai New Year’s water party will be hard to stop.

 

Full story: https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1152320-‘official’-songkran-events-canceled-but-pattaya’s-water-wars-likely-will-go-on/

 

70-80 Thai workers returning from South Korea 'have fled quarantine'

 

File photo

 

Deputy Health Minister Satit Pitutecha said on Saturday (Mar 7) that all Thais returning from South Korea from Sunday (8 March) will be transferred to the Sattahip Army Base in Chonburi province, to screen for Covid-19 symptoms. Those having fever will be sent to a hospital.

 

Full story: https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1152327-70-80-thai-workers-returning-from-south-korea-have-fled-quarantine/

 

Two new cases take Thailand's Covid-19 total to 50

 

 

Two new cases take Thailand's Covid-19 total to 50

 

 

Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Public Health, Dr Sukhum Kanchanapimai, and the ministry’s spokesperson, Taveesin Visanuyothin, said the two additions bring to 18 the number of people being treated in medical facilities, while 31 have recovered and there has been one death.

 

“Currently, Thailand is 25th among countries which have most Covid-19 patients,” the officials said.

 

“Both patients are Thai males aged 40,” the officials said. “The first patient had symptoms on March 5 and is receiving treatment at Rajavithi Hospital, while the second patient was receiving treatment at Nopparatrajathanee Hospital.”

 

“A Thai female, 30, who was a labourer in South Korea and landed at Suvarnabhumi Airport on March 5, has tested negative from two institutions. Meanwhile, another patient who is in a serious condition at Bamrasnaradura Institute, has tested negative,” the ministry officials said.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30383571

 

UPDATE

 

Just when you thought you knew what was going on....

 

 

Please continue the discussion here: https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1152081-flip-flop-health-ministry-now-says-no-compulsory-quarantine-for-visitors-to-thailand/

 

 

 

British man is Thailand’s 48th confirmed virus victim

 

 

A 43-year-old British business adviser who arrived in Bangkok from London on February 29 after changing flights in Hong Kong has been confirmed as Thailand’s 48th case of the Covid-19 virus.

 

Full story: https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1152064-british-man-is-thailand’s-48th-confirmed-virus-victim/

 

Songkran in Pattaya CANCELLED - only religious activities permitted

 

 

The wet and wild week long celebrations that Pattaya is synonymous with during Songkran will not be happening this year.

 

Full story: https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1152062-songkran-in-pattaya-cancelled-only-religious-activities-permitted/