Donga

Unbelievable when there is no Covid1-19 in the country and you're obliged to do quarantine.

Let the youngsters topple this ridiculous lot soonest to enable everyone, not just the elites, to get their lives back on track.

1 hour ago, PEE TEE said:

I know 2 people who have returned to thailand 1 16 days ago and 1 yesterday they do not have big money but have family here .1 has finished quarantine 1 is in a hotel in BKK doing quarantine. both from the Uk and had no big problems getting back  how they did it  im not sure but i do know they did not have the STV .both came from london heathrow via Dubai to BKK    so it is possible. i cannot state names on here but i can assure its true  

Very Interesting.

Be good if you could ask them how they went about their application, as wouldn't expect silly business in UK Thai Embassy.

Wonder if some embassies are able to quietly process applications objectively on humanitarian grounds based on past visa info, perhaps with property and/or loved ones?

42 minutes ago, 9653 said:

The Muslims need to be expelled, together with that nut alla.

They just don’t belong here amongst us.

Back to the Arab country, where they come from.

My grandmother always used to say, that if you want to go on a holiday, don’t go to arabia, You’ll come back with two black eyes, that’s if you come back at all

8 minutes ago, alien365 said:

Let us know what you think why don't you.

Your opinion sounds like it should stay in your grandparents era, but naturally I expect to hear such comments at times like this.

Agree generally alien365, though the teacher was perhaps a little naive and being being generous, unfortunately..

"Exponential growth" in cases of young people with minuscule deaths compared to their first wave. Here are the case and death rates for France and it is similar for the other major hot spots, see https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

30 minutes ago, Baerboxer said:

 

Closing the borders, partial lockdowns, curfews, alcohol ban and strict mask enforcement and temperature checks when buying essentials. Little, hardly any panic buying, tiny supply chain disruptions. 

 

But some TVF posters just can't bring themselves to admit Thailand, the government and people, handled this so much better than all those vaunted Western utopias.

Agree, though add the huge impact of the one million health volunteers when so many workers returned to the provinces when BKK was locked down. They helped so much to provide information, isolate those with symptoms, contact trace, provide masks. Those provincial outbreaks were controlled very quickly. 

Pity so many TVF posters are still in denial on Thailand's success, which both WHO and John Hopkins University have recognised.

Wishing France can get their case numbers down soon. At least their death rates are minuscule  compared to their first wave...
 

Hallelujah! Some group sanity at last.

Distancing, face masks, protect the elderly, restrict indoor gatherings and get the world moving again.

Hope this initiative is contagious ????

All this sanctimonious media reporting on masks, now when someone is alone on a balcony, good grief.

I love masks and believe they are a big contributor to Thailand's successful Covid-19 control, along with strict quarantine and those one million health volunteers.

But where was this mask coverage back in March, April when thousands were dying each week in Europe? 

Western experts and WHO didn't recognise the effectiveness of masks until June, and the media? Why didn't they cotton on to the Asian experience, not just with Covid-19 but earlier pandemics?

Mainstream media has become shallow, biased and lacks initiative.

6 minutes ago, Guderian said:

The list of safe countries will basically be their neighbours in East and South-east Asia: China, Hong Kong (same same, as Chairman Xi will tell you, lol), Taiwan (sorry, but Chairman Xi says no way!), Japan, South Korea, Singapore and perhaps Malaysia. That basically covers four out of the five countries that send most tourists here, hopefully even the idiot Tourism Minister isn't going to suggest allowing Indians in at present, and that's enough to revitalise the industry. Not the Gogo Bars in Pattaya and Patpong, of course, or other farang-centric places, but they're way down the list of priorities I should think. 

 

Another thought occurred to me: there have been numerous posts from disgruntled condo and house owners who are stuck in their home countries and feel that property ownership should entitle them to priority in returning here. Dream on, folk, the whole idea is to stimulate the tourism industry, in other words, hotels, bars, restaurants and tourist attractions. Since people who own their home here are unlikely to spend anything in hotels or on tourist attractions, and will probably eat and drink at home a lot, I don't see them being any sort of a priority to be allowed back in. I might be wrong, but that's my take on matters.

A little simplistic, Guderian. As a half timer, when in Hua Hin, I eat out every night with my partner, bar every now and then, golf couple of times weekly. I shop for all sorts of things, buy petrol. Much like a tourist without the accommodation. Plus I stay for months at a time and assist my partner slowly renovate her house in the village.

Not sure I classify as disgruntled, more like bemused that Thailand, like so many countries, is taking so long to enable people with skin in the game (property and partner) to return with the appropriate precautions. Safe processes do exist (e.g. Germany, Singapore https://7news.com.au/travel/singapore-to-allow-entry-from-australia-c-1356866) even if many countries have relaxed their borders too much.

1 hour ago, RotBenz8888 said:

Still have to do 14d quaranten, so why does it matter where you're from? 

Agree, it doesn't make a lot of sense and expect they're appeasing the overwhelming number of Thais (plus a lot of farang) who aren't keen on the borders reopening.

Also can see Thailand going without quarantine for safe countries before year end, as others have already done.

In Japan, South Korea, Australia, Australia, Malaysia and Singapore, the chances of someone having Covid-19 would now be less than one in 30,000 compared to about around one in 1,000 in Europe and US (Germany and Canada are one in 4,000 and the Nordics would be even less). Vietnam one in a mill and China one in 8 mill.

1 hour ago, canuckamuck said:

My kids have all the regular vaccinations. My concern is with the rush job. Vaccine injuries are no laughing matter.

Fair enough, except can understand how the leading pharma and regulatory agencies would be able to expedite a vaccine in this case to be safe.

The regulatory pathway of say, ten years was always fraught with paper shuffling overkill and hopefully going forward, we'll get a lot more therapeutics faster than before.

It should not take years and years, in a digital age, given the concise steps involved in trials and thorough data review. The progress with the Oxford vaccine is very heartening.

25 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

No country is safe... that's a pipe-dream, open up without quarantine and you're asking for trouble.

Thailand is just starting to see an economic recovery in the manufacturing  sector, he wants to gamble it against a few hundred tourists.

 

Some countries, many in the region are very much safer than others. Chances of anyone having Covid is less than 1 in 20,000 people in Japan, South Korea, Australia, NZ, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia. One chance in a million if from Taiwan or Vietnam and one in 8 million if from China. These odds contrast with Europe and US which are more like one in a 1,000.

So you start with odds of 1/20,000, test 3 days prior to departure and then upon arrival. What odds then?

A few slip through and I have every confidence the Thai system of contact tracing will contain any outbreak, just as they did before. Pity so many on this forum don't give them credit. Let alone the effectiveness of one million health volunteers.

Thailand is not Europe or US. The community discipline and use of face masks, now roundly recognised (compared to initial WHO and Western experts ignorance), is so much stronger in Thailand. Climate also helps.

Allow visitors from safe countries. Test them, self isolate even and get hundreds of thousands of Thais back to work.

Glad he spoke up.
Expect good sense will ultimately prevail to enable more people to visit, get some back to work, while minimizing any outbreak.

I thought Trump was ahead for the first half, even with his annoying interruptions.

Reckon Biden got to him more than he actually showed. Trump lost it on the home stretch and probably said a couple of things from the hip, that he'll regret.

A lot of undecideds would be very uncomfortable with "stand back and stand by" while Biden's "oh shut up man" during Trump's constant interruptions was well timed.

Biden got the better of him, though I'm still staggered he's the best the Dems could muster.

Chill guys, will look like a sports watch..

I'm with Sam...

"For Sam Agatre Okuonzi, from the Arua Regional Referral Hospital in Uganda, the doomsday predictions were informed by entrenched prejudices, including that the continent is prone to disease."

"COVID-19 has shattered a lot of biases about disease in general but also about Africa," he told Thursday's briefing. "The severity of the pandemic has not played out in line with the outrageous predictions."

Tough mothers, those Africans ????

Fact is not many countries, other than in Europe, have opened up their borders.

Can imagine there are competing voices within countries, including Thailand about the speed of opening up. Australia and NZ are musing again about the Tasman and Aussie PM Morrison said they're also looking again at the safe countries bubble concept.

Expect this dismal first STV exercise is a test to satisfy some in the Thai decision group. Chinese are easy to marshal and not surprised they're first, followed by the Nordic snowbirds, good on 'em.

I'm hopeful this will soon broaden into the original safe countries bubble talked about before the 2nd wave freaked everyone out.

I'm calling November a month of more movement in the region and many people where they want to be by Christmas.

From Wikipedia with their sources... 

In its 2020 billionaires ranking, Forbes estimated Trump's net worth at $2.1 billion^[a] (1,001st in the world, 275th in the U.S.)^[58] making him one of the richest politicians in American history and the first billionaire American president.^[58]

During the three years since Trump announced his presidential run in 2015, Forbes estimated his net worth declined 31% and his ranking fell 138 spots.^[59]

When he filed mandatory financial disclosure forms with the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) in July 2015, Trump claimed a net worth of about $10 billion;^[60] however, FEC figures cannot corroborate this estimate because they only show each of his largest buildings as being worth over $50 million, yielding total assets worth more than $1.4 billion and debt over $265 million.^[61]

From Wikipedia:

"In 1982, Trump was listed on the initial Forbes list of wealthy individuals as having a share of his family's estimated $200 million net worth. His financial losses in the 1980s caused him to be dropped from the list between 1990 and 1995.^[55]

In its 2020 billionaires ranking, Forbes estimated Trump's net worth at $2.1 billion^[a] (1,001st in the world, 275th in the U.S.)^[58] making him one of the richest politicians in American history and the first billionaire American president.^[58]

During the three years since Trump announced his presidential run in 2015, Forbes estimated his net worth declined 31% and his ranking fell 138 spots.^[59] When he filed mandatory financial disclosure forms with the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) in July 2015, Trump claimed a net worth of about $10 billion;^[60] however, FEC figures cannot corroborate this estimate because they only show each of his largest buildings as being worth over $50 million, yielding total assets worth more than $1.4 billion and debt over $265 million.^[61]"

If you haven't been closely affected by online gambling, it might be difficult to understand how perverse it is:
 

1. Use of colours, sounds and timing, designed to heighten an addicts dopamine response
2. If the person wins, they make them jump though hoops to get their winnings. Can take weeks, after so much documentation required. They then stagger the payments over time and send messages encouraging you to have another go, with what you've already won
3. Birthday and celebratory tokens of $100 free, to have a another go.

You could say, just don't open the email or visit the site. Which is like saying to an alcoholic, just don't go to a bar or enter a liquor store.

Online gambling is a scourge on society. In Australia, frequent TV ads during the footie, which kids are watching, tantalise folk to support their team and "gamble responsibly" as a feel good reminder at the end.

Your lotto ticket or state run lottery is not a pimple on the ass of this horrid industry.