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Image credit: Spencer Davis/Unsplash BY CHAYANIN THAIJONGRAK Despite some concern regarding the Covid-19 situation after the Songkran holiday, the Public Health Ministry’s plan to declare Covid-19 endemic by July still persists. Thailand’s Public Health Ministry is still looking forward to declaring the prolonged Covid-19 as an endemic by July 1, 2022. Although it has been predicted that we could see a spike in cases and death rates after the Songkran festival, Dr Chakkarat Pitayowonganon from the Department of Disease Control states that it will take roughly two to four weeks to conclude. As of today’s prediction, the worst-case scenario can reach over 100,000 cases per day, according to the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration. Join our daily ASEAN NOW Thailand Newsletter - Click to subscribe Fortunately, we’re now seeing a decline in the number of infections, from about 30,000 PCR tests per day before Songkran to 16,000 cases at the time of writing. Dr Chakkarat mentions that he is not much worried about the after-festival situation, for the risk group is mostly working people who already received booster vaccines and are likely to develop only mild symptoms. Full story: https://www.prestigeonline.com/th/travel/destinations/thailand-covid-endemic-july/ -- © Copyright PRESTIGE 2022-04-20 - Cigna offers a range of visa-compliant plans that meet the minimum requirement of medical treatment, including COVID-19, up to THB 3m. For more information on all expat health insurance plans click here. - Follow ASEAN NOW on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

By Arun Saronchai Thailand finally released its long anticipated response to the ongoing Ukrainian crisis this week in an address to the plenary at the United Nations. Here is what we said to the diplomats gathered at the United Nations General Assembly. We might as well recall our UN ambassador and shut down the diplomatic corps. The fact that our Ministry of Foreign Affairs takes itself so seriously is a joke propped up by delusions of grandeur. Full story: https://www.thaienquirer.com/38024/opinion-thailands-foreign-service-fails-on-ukraine-where-singapore-succeeds/ -- © Copyright Thai Enquirer 2022-03-01 - Aetna offers a range of visa-compliant plans that meet the minimum requirement of medical treatment, including COVID-19, up to THB 3m. For more information on all expat health insurance plans click here. - Follow ASEAN NOW on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

Sanook caption:"We've split up" Controversial US YouTuber and content creator Nathan Bartling - who has 11 million followers on his "My Mate Nate" channel - appeared on a teary-eyed video with his Thai wife yesterday to announce they are splitting up. Utah born Nate and his wife, Look Mee Wannabe Mee, or Mee spoke in Thai with their fans after Mee said a few words in English. According to Sanook they said the decision wasn't easy, it was complicated, but this was the best way forward. So why the split? That was a private matter within their families, they said. They felt that their direction and destination were diverging. They had not intended to say anything but out of respect for their fan base they had decided to go public. Nate has reportedly made a lot of money on YouTube, notes ASEAN NOW, but has courted controversy. Back in 2017 when aged 24 a petition for his deportation was started after he put coins on a railtrack and was interview by the authorities and apologized. He appeared at a police station in a suit and along with a friend was fined 5,000 baht. On another occasion he was accused of animal cruelty after what some saw as a particularly crass video. Picture: Thai Rath It featured a cat and a scorpion though Nate claimed the scorpion's stinger had been removed. Others criticized him for making videos with Thai teenagers that humiliated their lack of English though Nate said it was all a jolly good laugh. Long Stay Visa Health Insurance Plans -- © Copyright ASEAN NOW 2022-01-19 - Aetna offers a range of visa-compliant plans that meet the minimum requirement of medical treatment, including COVID-19, up to THB 3m. For more information on all expat health insurance plans click here. - Follow ASEAN NOW on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates Get your business in front of millions of customers who read ASEAN NOW with an interest in Thailand every month - email [email protected] for more information

(Left) 23-year-old Bew or Ms Jirajariyawetch from police photographs which were taken in the aftermath of the horrific attack which she suffered in the early hours of Monday, November 22nd last after she was assaulted by a man at the 34th Street Herald Square subway station in New York. (Inset lower right) The attacker escaped by jumping over turnstiles at the station. (Top right) A picture of Ms Jirajariyawetch, a fashion model who emigrated to the United States this summer. Thai woman in New York appeals for tip offs to police on a mugger who sexually assaulted her by Carla Boonkong & Pranee O' Connor A lawyer for Ms Jirajariyawetch said his client was left traumatised by the incident which occurred in the early hours of November 22nd last and which has been linked to a 500% rise in attacks on Asian Americans in the United States this year. A young Thai woman has come forward in New York this week to encourage city residents to provide police with information about a man who robbed and sexually assaulted her in late November saying she feared someone else may become a victim of the same attacker. A young Thai woman who recently moved to New York was attacked and mugged in the early hours of Monday morning November 22nd in another violent incident in a growing pattern which has seen attacks on the Asian community across the United States rise by 500% since 2020. In New York City alone, the number of violent attacks on Asian people in the city has increased to 128 reported incidents compared to 28 in 2020. Full story: https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2021/12/16/thai-woman-sexually-assaulted-by-mugger-new-york/ -- © Copyright Thai Examiner 2021-12-17 - Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you - Follow ASEAN NOW on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

Trump to visit families of victims of Texas school shooting The memorial for victims of the Santa Fe High School shooting lays outside the school as students return on the first day of class since the mass shooting in Santa Fe, Texas, U.S., May 29, 2018. REUTERS/Pu Ying Huang WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump will meet with the families of victims of the Santa Fe High School shooting on a visit to Texas on Thursday, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said Wednesday. Eight students and two teachers were killed at the Santa Fe High School near Houston when a teenage student opened fire in a classroom on May 18. The president had been previously scheduled to attend campaign fundraisers in Houston and Dallas on Thursday. Sanders said that while in Houston, Trump will meet with victims' families "to personally offer his condolences and support." After the shootings, Trump said his administration "is determined to do everything in our power to protect our students, secure our schools and do everything we can to keep weapons out of the hands of those who pose a threat to themselves and to others." The White House reactivated a school-safety commission that was formed after the high school shooting in Parkland, Florida, in February that left 17 dead. Sanders said that the commission is meeting again this week to determine "the best ways forward and how we can do every single thing within our power to protect kids in our schools and to make them feel safe and make their parents feel good about dropping them off." In March, the administration released a safety plan that, among other things, pledged to provide funds for firearms training for some school personnel. Trump supports a bill in Congress that would strengthen the federal system that checks the background of gun buyers, but the legislation remains stalled in the Senate. (Reporting by Steve Holland; writing by David Alexander and James Oliphant; editing by Eric Walsh and Tom Brown) -- © Copyright Reuters 2018-05-31

Thai "opportunists" following ambulances through traffic acting illegally Picture: TNews Following news of an ambulance being driven illegally Thai media have reminded motorists about their own responsibilities when they hear a siren or see flashing lights behind them. Tnews said that most people know that they should get out of the way by creating a path for the ambulance. But they commented that many Thai "opportunists" use the situation to get one up on their fellow drivers by following the emergency vehicle through heavy traffic. This they said is illegal as the law states that no one can follow within 50 meters of an emergency vehicle. A 500 baht fine exists under section 76 of the 1979 traffic law for not getting out of the way. Motorists can also be fined for following in the slipstream of an emergency vehicle, they said. An ambulance crew in Nonthaburi are in the news after being featured on Facebook going the wrong way down a road in a non-emergency situation. Source: TNews -- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2017-11-28

High-rise buildings in Bangkok resistant to earthquake BANGKOK: -- High-rise buildings built after 2007 in Bangkok can withstand shaking from earthquake of 6.3 magnitude, according to the Building Control Division of the Department of Public Works of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration. Assurance from the Building Control Division came as there is rising concern among people living in high-rise buildings after the devastating 7.8 earthquake hit Nepal last week. It said that it had collected information from over 70 high-rise buildings of which occupants reported feeling the shaking after the 6.3 earthquake struck Phan district of Chiang Rai on May 5, 2014. These tall buildings are not pronged to risk from earthquake but merely could feel shaking from the quake, It said after the 6.3 quake that hit Chiang Rai and high-rise buildings in Bangkok felt the shaking, preventive regulations were issued requiring all high-rise buildings must be designed to be earthquake resistant to such magnitude. This was to ensure that all high-rise buildings built after 2007 will meet international safety standard to cope with the quake. Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/high-rise-buildings-in-bangkok-resistant-to-earthquake -- Thai PBS 2015-04-30

Polish Girl Dies After Falling From Luxury Hotel A polish girl died after she accidentally fell out of a window which she was trying to open in a luxury hotel in Bangkok. She fell out of the window and landed on the awning on the first floor killing her instantly. BANGKOK – January 23,2014 [PDN]; at 05.00, Pol.Lt.Capt.Siwa Klabpan, detective officer, Payathai, was notified that there was a woman who had fallen from Bangkok Palace hotel building and died, in soi Petchburi 35, Makkasan, Rajtewee, so he went to check, with Ramathibodi hospital doctors, Po Tek Tueng rescuers. It was a 14 storey-building and on the awning above the first floor was the body of Miss Carolina Alexandra Boronisch, 21 years old from Poland. She had suffered many broken bones and she was surrounded by her crying relatives. From initially investigation, she was here on holiday with her family, she checked into the hotel with her sister in room 1051 and her parents stayed another room. They were checking out the following morning but the day before the deceased tried to open a window and accidentally fell out and landed on the awning on the ground floor killing her instantly. However the police will question all the related persons to find the real cause of death, and will send her body to her relatives. Source: http://www.pattayadailynews.com/en/2014/01/23/polish-girl-dies-after-falling-from-luxury-hotel/ -- Pattaya Daily News 2014-01-23