Chiang Mai Bill

6 hours ago, Kleepanna said:

It can be done easily first the staff has already been trained they vaccinated themselves. 2 online registration will allow advance proof of citizenship by uploaded valid passport.3 citizens show up by approved transport a car to embassy open parking lot. 4 staff verification of passport against the online registration. Citizens sign waiver understand side affects. Dose given and citizens wait 15 minutes to ensure they feel ok. Done and if the embassy uses the Johnson and Johnson vaccines 1 visit is all that's required.

Yep! It's possible -- but you haven't mixed with many of our countrymen to realize that they either don't care or haven't got the intelligence to follow 'complicated' instructions!

23 hours ago, placnx said:

The US Embassy has a list of many US citizens residing here, those who have registered. For any who have not, it would be an incentive to do so if they knew it could be a way to get vaccinated. As for concerns about HIPAA confidentiality, expats could download a form and send it back to Embassy by post.

Mmmmm. I wonder how the US Embassy will be able to contact those US citizens that have not registered -- if they don't know where they are or their names even -- and inform them that they should register ''a form'' and then post it to them?

6 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

Thailand's record number of 34 new COVID deaths reported Wednesday is being driven by a slow but steadily increasing number of critically ill patients who are filling up the nation's intensive care hospital beds.

 

The country also set new pandemic records on Wednesday reporting 1,226 patients in critical condition and 401 of those requiring ventilators to breathe. That critical cases number has almost doubled over the past 16 days from 628 on April 27, and has increased almost daily during the past month. That number had been just a few dozen as of mid April.

 

The rising numbers of critically ill COVID patients stands in stark contrast to Thailand's overall count of daily new COVID cases, which has been bouncing just above and below 2,000 per day for more than two weeks now, setting no clear trend, as with Wednesday's 1,983 new cases report.

 

The critical condition group of patients is only a small share of the nearly 30,000 COVID positive patients currently hospitalized in some type of facility (regular hospitals, makeshift field hospitals or hotel-hospitals) under a government policy to quarantine all positive cases.

 

But that population has been steadily increasing, with new critical cases outstripping deaths or recoveries, to now pandemic record levels for Thailand, fueling the increasing death toll. The day before on Tuesday, Thailand had reported 31 new deaths, tying its prior high from May 3.

 

A government spokeswoman, meanwhile, insisted that the country's medical facilities remain capable of handling the COVID hospitalizations, including the critical ones. "We can confirm that the existing medical facilities we have are still manageable and still able to accommodate patients, both with mild and severe symptoms," the spokeswoman said.

 

Overall, Thailand continues to fare better than many other nations in the COVID pandemic, with a relatively low per capita death rate and low rates of reported infections, though the latter may be aided by limited rates of testing.

 

To combat the pandemic, Thailand has drastically curtailed its economic life blood of international tourism, shuttered all schools and bars, nightclubs and other entertainment venues nationwide, closed many types of public gathering spots in Bangkok and adjoining provinces, and imposed a nationwide face mask wearing policy.

 

The chart below shows the per capita COVID death rates for selected world countries on May 11, 2021, with Thailand ranking near the bottom based on deaths that day per million population.

 

Weblink

A very strange graph! I see how India has a 'zero' figure for deaths -- but, on 12 May:

India has posted a record rise in deaths from COVID-19 over the last 24 hours, pushing its total fatalities past the 250,000 mark.

Deaths from the coronavirus swelled by 4,205, while daily coronavirus cases rose by 348,421, with India’s overall caseload now surging past 23 million, according to the health ministry’s data on Wednesday.

11 minutes ago, bluesea said:

Call me an Anti Vaccer, i am not going anywhere so i can wait another year and see what side affects start to emerge with all these vaccines..

All drugs have side affects! The sensible thing is to weigh the benefits against possible 'discomfort'!

The covid 'solution' in Thailand will be very hard to control! Government reticence to buy vaccines, to obtain licences to manufacture them, and lack of information to the public has certainly not helped!

Of course, those suspected of being asymptomatic or have possibly been in contact with infected people may not disclose the truth due to serious financial and personal reasons. Added to that is the fake news that's scaring people: a friend of my wife, who lives with her extended family of 8 -- and whose next-door neighbors are positive -- all 8 are refusing to have the vaccination as it is reported that ''someone has died after losing half their bodyweight'' and ''many people are having heart attacks'''! Ignorance and lack of honest information will result in many being too scared to be vaccinated -- and thus the virus will spread!

Many Thais have had a poor education but are exposed to the media and false rumors. The government should recognize this and counter it with a massive public information appeal giving the true facts and discrediting all the false rumors!

But they are not sensible and the people don't trust them. What a great shame!

"The government expects 61 million shots of AstraZeneca to be produced locally from June. But these vaccinations and those from Moderna will not be offered free."

As the UK Oxford/AZ vaccine is to be sold at "cost" price, I wonder how much it will be sold for in Thailand???

Just wondering!

3 hours ago, colinneil said:

So they are going to collect 300 baht per tourist, they aint gonna make much money then, tourists will not be coming.

Who ever dreamed up that, is a complete nutter, Thailand is desperate for tourists, yet the nutters keep putting things in place to deter tourists.

Oh, tourists will still (eventually) come -- they won't know about this "new tax" until they arrive at immigration!

3 hours ago, EricTh said:

This is ridiculous.

 

Why should all tourists pay for a few scumbags who didn't pay their hospital bills? Those few scumbags should be jailed until they pay their bills.

 

'Management of tourist attractions' is already covered by the double pricing of the tickets for foreigners. Thai also visit these places so the tickets already cover the costs.

 

Why should all tourists pay for some tourist attractions that they don't want to visit or never visited?

 

It is hare-brained idea.

THAT (money to pay for unpaid hospital fees) was the "January" Plan! It is now APRIL!

The ''April'' Plan is: "Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said the 300 baht fee will go towards creation of a tourism fund that will help the tourism industry deal with other unforeseen problems or hardships in the future."

This money will go to help the unlicensed jet-ski owners, the rip-off bar owners, taxi drivers and tuk-tuk drivers!

1 minute ago, Chiang Mai Bill said:

"While many Thais are talking about their Covid-19 vaccine choices, if indeed there are any, and vaccination schedules, a large number of expats have been left clueless as to whether they have access to vaccines and if so, which, when and how."

 

COVID-19 CHOICES?  The UK is doing extremely well with its mass vaccination policy. Yesterday, there was only 1 covid-related death and nearly 35 million have the first dose and nearly 16 million the second dose. I and one of my sons had the AZ, my wife had the Moderna, my other 2 sons had the Pfizer --NONE of us had a "CHOICE" -- we were given what was available -- no one in the UK has been given a "CHOICE"!

 

Over 40-year-olds are currently being vaccinated. The vaccination is free for all -- UK citizens, "foreigners", even illegal asylum-seekers! But none are given a "CHOICE"! The "figures" have come down dramatically -- only 2,144 new cases (? Indian visitors?) yesterday which is over a 12% reduction over the last 7 days.

 

 

 

 

Now, we are vaccinating the over-30s! (But still no "CHOICE"!)

"While many Thais are talking about their Covid-19 vaccine choices, if indeed there are any, and vaccination schedules, a large number of expats have been left clueless as to whether they have access to vaccines and if so, which, when and how."

COVID-19 CHOICES?  The UK is doing extremely well with its mass vaccination policy. Yesterday, there was only 1 covid-related death and nearly 35 million have the first dose and nearly 16 million the second dose. I and one of my sons had the AZ, my wife had the Moderna, my other 2 sons had the Pfizer --NONE of us had a "CHOICE" -- we were given what was available -- no one in the UK has been given a "CHOICE"!

Over 40-year-olds are currently being vaccinated. The vaccination is free for all -- UK citizens, "foreigners", even illegal asylum-seekers! But none are given a "CHOICE"! The "figures" have come down dramatically -- only 2,144 new cases (? Indian visitors?) yesterday which is over a 12% reduction over the last 7 days.

Hmmmm. I'm not sure how ''we'' would feel if, when in our own country ''if'' -- during a virulent epidemic -- we found that ''foreigners'' were being given priority with vaccination (with a vaccine in very short supply) over ''us nationals''?

On reflection, I think we'd be pretty ''peed-off'' with our government for letting such a situation happen!

Yet here, so many ''foreigners'' -- many retirees, some long-stayers, some working and paying taxes -- consider they have the same rights as nationals! The Thai government are giving priority for nationals with underlying health conditions at the moment. ''Eventually'', they will give foreigners the vaccine.

[I just wish I was confident that no corruption will be involved!]

1 hour ago, Brunolem said:

Hold your horses!

 

It's around 3,000 deaths per day which, given the size of the Indian population, is roughly the same as the 800 daily deaths in the US, and less than the 300 daily deaths in France.

Yeah, sorry -- I meant to say "cases"!

44 minutes ago, grandpa said:

I cannot understand how Thailand can control this virus so quickly when most of the rest of the world (who incidentally do a huge amount of testing by comparison) are still struggling to put the lid on it!  And if the figures are correct, why aren't world leaders calling in their droves to discover the secret of success?

 

Yes, it's wonderful -- amazing -- how the Thai Government has been able to overcome the UK variant so quickly -- I'm sure they are sending their "magic formula" to all parts of the globe now!

So now they've got the UK variant under control Thai scientists will already be working on the formula to defeat the "Indian" variant -- which is much more virulent and is killing hundreds of thousands of Indians every day -- even though Thailand's containment measures won't allow it to enter Thailand!

22 hours ago, NCC1701A said:

I hope it is not mandatory. 

Mandatory? Hmmm! Think about it.

The vaccines do not guarantee immunity -- hopefully, should it be contacted, the symptoms will not be "as" life-threatening -- but it can still be contacted and it will still mutate into different strains and those strains will go on and on changing and infecting people. 

However, although the vaccines will only give ''protection'' against the worst symptoms. The spread of the virus will only be "contained" when "herd 'protection' [not 'immunity']" is achieved which means everyone should be vaccinated! 

Mandatory vaccination will never ever happen in any country other than for public servants and those in close contact with the public -- but it ought to!  There will be the religious refusals; there will be the idiots who refuse it on "its my choice" grounds; and there will be the really stupid idiots who claim that there is no covid virus and it is all a political ruse!  The way this virus spreads will continue to be spread by the "non-takers" and it will continue to mutate amongst them -- and also continue to spread to the rest of us!

And so this pandemic will go on and on for a few years (decades?) yet!

"BANGKOK (NNT) - The Minister of Public Health has pointed out daily COVID-19 infection rates have begun to stagnate and the situation should begin to normalize in 2-3 weeks while calling on hospitals to bolster protection by dispensing Creat and assuring patients that two million Favipiravir pills are available with more to be ordered."

This is just a hiccup! Don't worry, fellas -- the Minister says that numbers will start to rapidly fall -- soooon!

7 hours ago, PatOngo said:

At 1400 plus new cases per day it is hardly negligible! Well done Minister! ????

The Thai public will be happy to hear this and will believe it. The advantage of a repressive regime keeping their people poorly educated is that they readily accept propaganda.

Wonderful how both China and Russia -- two of the most repressive and aggressive countries in the world -- so kindly agree to provide vaccines for Thailand!

Of course, there is no political or economic agenda -- they are just so pleased to help out another country -- no strings attached!

3 hours ago, Marvin Hagler said:

Questionable numbers?

How did they arrive at 326 cases from people entering quarantine? What does that even mean?

It means that 326 people who arrived in the country and went into quarantine . . .! Doh!

So if "over 80% of accidents involved motorcycles, I wonder what percentage of that 80% were:

(a) the fault of motorcycle drivers?

(b) the fault of 4-wheel (and more) vehicles causing the accident involving a motorcyle?

Just wondering! Statistics can mean a lot -- or not a lot!

2 hours ago, wasabi said:

At some point will herd immunity occur without vaccines? I have very little faith in Thailand's vaccination program but at some point most of the population will have had Covid. I know this is not the desirable way to manage a pandemic but not sure if there is any other way out here? Then again perhaps all the different variants make it impossible without a vaccine?

Throughout history most 'plagues' have eventually died out after 'herd immunity' occurs -- unfortunately, the Black Death killed 25 million people in Europe (the world's population was much lower then) -- but the Bubonic Plague was the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causing the DEATH of 75–200 million people in Eurasia and North Africa, peaking in Europe from 1347 to 1351; Bubonic Plague also causes septicaemic or pneumonic plagues. But that also died out -- eventually!

So with this 'plague' it all depends on evaluating the cost in lives and financial stability/collapse against the cost of vaccines, lockdowns, and precautions!

2 hours ago, robblok said:

Slight reduction, i wonder how much of the reduction is because of less testing and people being on holiday not caring about tests.

 

Im actually surprised it still that high given Songkran and less tests. 

 

It will be more interesting to see what the result will be after this holiday when people are back and tests are being done more regularly. 

Yes, quite.

And isn't it uncanny that the figures never go over over the 'thousand' and remain in the hundreds?  Seeing that the virus is so virulent.  But we feel much safer this way.