THAILAND TRAVEL BAN ISSUED BY UAE (COVID-19)

[WaveHunter]

Do we really know the true picture about COVID-19 infections in Thailand?  The daily stats have been suspiciously static for over a week.  That has been making me real concerned about the official transparency. 

 

What does the United Arab Emirates know, that we don't?

 

Seriously...does anyone know the reason they are banning Thailand specifically?  I've googled and can find no explanation given by UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  Please post, if you have ACTUAL details.

 

 

Edited February 25, 2020 by WaveHunter

[donnacha]

The Thai government has earned this.

[UbonThani]

Just typical panic mode by humans.

 

Cars would be banned if deaths were used as a measure of safety.

 

 

[WaveHunter]

1 minute ago, donnacha said:

The Thai government has earned this.

I guess I have been naive but I believed Thai officials were handling this well...up until I noticed that the infection stats have suspiciously stayed static for over a week now.  And now this???

 

I'd really like to know the details behind the UAE banning travel to Thailand but everywhere I look I can find no details!  I think this is fairly concerning; why Thailand and not many of the other countries with published rates of infection that are far higher?

[spiekerjozef]

19 minutes ago, WaveHunter said:

Arab Emirates

I was just planning a trip selling some deodorant there...

[WaveHunter]

7 minutes ago, UbonThani said:

Just typical panic mode by humans.

 

Cars would be banned if deaths were used as a measure of safety.

 

 

People who still think this is all being blown out of proportion and just "panic" talk need to wake up.  Clever one-liners are hardly appropriate.  This is REAL!  With all due respect, take your head out of the sand.

Edited February 25, 2020 by WaveHunter

[Tayaout]

They are simply using logic. They don't rely on Thailand transparency or competency. Apparently there will be a classified senate session in the us: https://twitter.com/mkraju/status/1232032972355842048?s=19

 

Edited February 25, 2020 by Tayaout

[Farma]

Bahrain issued this on the 21st.

[donnacha]

1 minute ago, WaveHunter said:

why Thailand and not many of the other countries with published rates of infection that are far higher?

The first rule of lying, which most people learn around the age of six, is that you have to keep it vaguely realistic. The Thai figures were widely regarded as a joke even before they magically stalled at 35 last week. Thailand was, by far, the favorite international vacation destination for citizens of Wuhan, twice as popular as Japan or Korea.

Worse, they did nothing to stop Chinese continuing to pour into Thailand even after it became clear there was a problem, and other countries rushed to protect their citizens by blocking travel from China. Thailand is now, quite deliberately, a back door for Chinese citizens to get to other countries that have banned direct flights from China.

It is almost as if they want Thailand to become the next Hubei province, but without China's competence and brutal ability to enforce a quarantine. China can build new hospitals in less time than it would take Thailand to figure out the bribes. Roadblocks would become an interesting new way for the Thai police to collect bribes. A highly transmissible virus combined with Thainess is going to be an utter disaster.

For a country dependent on tourism, it is staggering that they have risked everything simply to avoid offending the Chinese.

[Destiny1990]

I read that they estimate that maybe 30% of the world population will get this virus but most folks wont even notice it besides just some ordinary flue symptoms.. But other ones will get severely ill or worse.. 

Now its in Italy..

[ChipButty]

28 minutes ago, donnacha said:

The Thai government has earned this.

Why?

[Tayaout]

2 minutes ago, Destiny1990 said:

I read that they estimate that maybe 30% of the world population will get this virus but most folks wont even notice it besides just some ordinary flue symptoms.. But other ones will get severely ill or worse.. 

Now its in Italy..

It kills also non-coronavirus patient because of lack of ICU. According to this post someone died in Korea after being refused in 7 hospitals: https://www.reddit.com/r/Coronavirus/comments/f8y4zi/korea_noncoronavirus_patient_dies_as_7_hospitals/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share

 

 

[RichardColeman]

Thailands virus figures appear to be complete fake - they must have 9 million more tourists from China than Italy but Italy has like 500 times more virus ? I seriously doubt Indonesia too

[donnacha]

1 minute ago, ChipButty said:

Why?

My 2nd post in this thread (#9) provides further elucidation. 

[WaveHunter]

2 minutes ago, donnacha said:

The first rule of lying, which most people learn around the age of six, is that you have to keep it vaguely realistic. The Thai figures were widely regarded as a joke even before they magically stalled at 35 last week. Thailand was, by far, the favorite international vacation destination for citizens of Wuhan, twice as popular as Japan or Korea.

Worse, they did nothing to stop Chinese continuing to pour into Thailand even after it became clear there was a problem, and other countries rushed to protect their citizens by blocking travel from China. Thailand is now, quite deliberately, a back door for Chinese citizens to get to other countries that have banned direct flights from China.

It is almost as if they want Thailand to become the next Hubei province, but without China's competence and brutal ability to enforce a quarantine. China can build new hospitals in less time than it would take Thailand to figure out the bribes. Roadblocks would become an interesting new way for the Thai police to collect bribes. A highly transmissible virus combined with Thainess is going to be an utter disaster.

For a country dependent on tourism, it is staggering that they have risked everything simply to avoid offending the Chinese.

As much as I hate to agree, I think you hit the nail on the head.  There's no question that tourism drives the Thai economy, and the Chinese are by far the largest demographic of tourism.  Sadly, politicians and bureaucrats (in any country) are usually the worst people to count on for "doing the right thing"

[WaveHunter]

33 minutes ago, donnacha said:

The Thai government has earned this.

The Thai government may have earned this but the Thai people and all of us living here will ultimately pay the price.

[ChipButty]

Now Im anticipating massive cancellations most of our guest from now until the end of May are coming from Uk and Europe normally on the Middle east airlines ok they will be able to get here but their return flights Thailand to Dubai and Abu Dabi is where the problem will be I think.

[neeray]

2 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

Now Im anticipating massive cancellations most of our guest from now until the end of May are coming from Uk and Europe normally on the Middle east airlines ok they will be able to get here but their return flights Thailand to Dubai and Abu Dabi is where the problem will be I think.

Not to worry. The PM (the man that's under fire right now) said it was "under control".

[Destiny1990]

26 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

Thailands virus figures appear to be complete fake - they must have 9 million more tourists from China than Italy but Italy has like 500 times more virus ? I seriously doubt Indonesia too

Well they have they said one 1000 cases under observation!

[GeorgeCross]

35 minutes ago, WaveHunter said:

Please provide links / sources for your comment "Anutin to declare Emergency conditions Thailand"

 

With all due respect, your wording sounds very declarative, but has there been an actual official announcement, or published report that an official announcement is pending?

 

I can find nothing to that effect; only that The national committee on communicable diseases has agreed to list Covid-19 as a dangerous communicable disease.

 

This will allow the government to prohibit public gatherings, shut down borders, impose travel bans, order suspected sufferers an carriers into quarantine at hospitals and allow the import of drugs which are yet to be registered in the country, but have shown the potential to fight the illness....

 

BUT, none of these actions have actually been instituted, as far as I can tell.

 

Am I correct, or do you have details I am not aware of?

https://www.thaipbsworld.com/covid-19-officially-designated-a-dangerous-infectious-disease-in-thailand/

 

also in the 'post' but can't post links here

 

on reflection i think you are right "Anutin to declare Emergency conditions Thailand" is inflammatory, Thailand now has the powers to do this, once granted by royal decree, if they wish to

 

still the timing is interesting in light of the other headlines today

 

 

Edited February 25, 2020 by GeorgeCross

[SkyFax]

Per Gulf Today 9 hours ago:

The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation issued a statement on Monday detailing a travel ban to Iran and Thailand following recent concerns on the new coronavirus, COVID-19, outbreaks in the aforementioned countries.

 

The statement read: In light of the UAE's efforts to monitor and contain the spread of the new coronavirus, COVID-19, and in the interest of general public safety and health, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation has issued a travel ban, calling on all UAE citizens to not travel to Iran and Thailand at present and up until further notice.

https://www.gulftoday.ae/news/2020/02/24/uae-issues-travel-bans-to-iran-thailand-over-covid-19

Edited February 25, 2020 by SkyFax

[GeorgeCross]

332 admitted 'persons under interest'

 

https://ddc.moph.go.th/viralpneumonia/eng/img/declaration/banner_declaration_e.jpg

 

Edited February 25, 2020 by GeorgeCross

[WaveHunter]

18 minutes ago, Tayaout said:

The supply chains are broken. There will be a medication shortage within about 3 weeks. The Chinese and US have been injecting money in the stock market to try to smoothen the damage but you can't hide the fact that production and consommation is going down. 

That's a hidden danger of this epidemic that people are only beginning to realize.  The epidemic is a huge wake-up call on the dangers of economic globalization, particularly in the pharmaceutical industry.

 

Up until the 1990's 90% of the raw materials used to make generic drugs came from the US, Japan and Europe.  But things changed radically in the 2000's.  With the cheap labor in China, 80-90% of raw materials used for making drugs or Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) are now made there.  That means that penicillin, antibiotics, vitamin C, aspirin, all of these drugs now rely solely on China.  Even India, the second largest supplier of drugs relies on CHina for these API raw materials.  

 

The big problem is that Chinese factories are normally so efficient in their production lines that most international buyers now rely on Just-In-Time (JIT) importing of these raw materials to keep inventory costs down. 

 

China has always had an excellent reputation for providing an efficient supply chain and a fast and cheap means of delivery, so JIT is embraced by most importers in countries all around the world, but now, for the first time in history, that supply chain has been seriously disrupted.

 

It's estimated that in the US (and probably most other countries), inventories on hand or in transit will last for perhaps 90 days, but after that, if the virus is not brought under control, severe shortages will occur.

[ChipButty]

16 minutes ago, neeray said:

Not to worry. The PM (the man that's under fire right now) said it was "under control".

Thats what worries me

[ChipButty]

9 minutes ago, SkyFax said:

Per Gulf Today 9 hours ago:

The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation issued a statement on Monday detailing a travel ban to Iran and Thailand following recent concerns on the new coronavirus, COVID-19, outbreaks in the aforementioned countries.

 

The statement read: In light of the UAE's efforts to monitor and contain the spread of the new coronavirus, COVID-19, and in the interest of general public safety and health, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation has issued a travel ban, calling on all UAE citizens to not travel to Iran and Thailand at present and up until further notice.

https://www.gulftoday.ae/news/2020/02/24/uae-issues-travel-bans-to-iran-thailand-over-covid-19

What about Thailand to the UAE? not very clear unless I missed it

[ChipButty]

Them Russians dont give a S#it so Im recommending UK to Moscow to Phuket

I wonder if Aeroflot will pay me commission?

Edited February 25, 2020 by ChipButty

[SkyFax]

9 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

20 minutes ago, SkyFax said:

the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation has issued a travel ban, calling on all UAE citizens to not travel to Iran and Thailand at present and up until further notice.

https://www.gulftoday.ae/news/2020/02/24/uae-issues-travel-bans-to-iran-thailand-over-covid-19

What about Thailand to the UAE? not very clear unless I missed it

AS best I interpret, the OFFICIAL statement from the UAE MOFA only deals with travel restrictions pertaining to UAE citizens and would not affect, at least as of today, any non-UAE citizen transit passengers from Thailand.

 

But this topic has now morphed into a General purpose topic with comments nothing to do with the (misleading?) topic heading.

Edited February 25, 2020 by SkyFax

[onekoolguy]

I agree it seems suspicious that no new cases are being reported here. However I have friends in the health care field and they are not hearing about a lot of new cases? Flu tends to diminish as the weather warms up and Thailand has a hot climate. Maybe that has something to do with it?
Most of the outbreaks of significant size seem to be in countries with cold weather?

[GeorgeCross]

4 minutes ago, WaveHunter said:

Well, just so nobody misunderstands the announcement and panics, the article says that the national committee on communicable diseases has agreed to list Covid-19 as a dangerous communicable disease.  That is the only official action that has actually been taken.

 

Should the need occur, this designation would allow the government to take the emergency actions described below...BUT those actions have not yet been put into place, nor has any actual announcement been made that they are currently pending.

 

Such emergency actions would allow the government to prohibit public gatherings, shut down borders, impose travel bans, order suspected sufferers and carriers into quarantine at hospitals and allow the import of drugs which are yet to be registered in the country, but have shown the potential to fight the illness....

 

 

yeah agree i just amended my post before i read this reply.

 

but i still think panic is justified - parts of Italy went from 0 cases to lockdown in 24 hours.

 

so you'll excuse me if i bow out now and head to makro!!

 

 

[WaveHunter]

Just now, SkyFax said:

AS best I interpret, the OFFICIAL statement from the UAE MOFA only deals with travel restrictions pertaining to UAE citizens and would not affect, at least as of today, any non-UAE citizen transit passengers from Thailand.

Of course, but the real question in my mind is what has prompted them to put a travel ban in place unless there is something they know that we don't.  I really hope somebody can tell us what that is.  I mean, such a travel ban is not issued unless there is a very good reason for it.