Phuket locks down, brings all transport to standstill until April 30

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Phuket locks down, brings all transport to standstill until April 30

By The Nation

 

 

Phuket is locking down from Monday (March 30) until April 30 as the number of Covid-19 patients over the country is growing.

 

Phuket Governor Phakkhaphong Thawiphat announced on Sunday that all modes of transport except air would be halted until April 30 in order to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus.

 

Only vehicles that contain necessary supplies such as gas, medical, food and government vehicles are allowed land transportation. Others must seek permission from the Public Health Ministry.

 

As far as water transportation is concerned, ship crew will not be allowed to disembark at ports in Phuket and ships would be allowed to only bring essential supplies.

 

All beaches in Phuket closed indefinitely

 

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2020-03-30

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[gk10002000]

Can not imagine how this is going to work.  Many foreigners and many more Thais have to get to their other places.  It is fairly easy to enforce.  Only one big airport.  Only one land bridge right?  Sea travel for smaller craft might be a little tougher to enforce.  But I am pretty sure some water travel, over to Myanmar are going to happen, and also some land over towards the south crossings, roads or not

[30la]

They start to freak out ....

[brain150]

You give somebody unlimited power, you can be sure he will use it !

 

Based on what ? Based on fear of what you don't understand ?

 

The New England Journal of Medicine

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMe2002387

This suggests that the overall clinical consequences of Covid-19 may ultimately be more akin to those of a severe seasonal influenza (which has a case fatality rate of approximately 0.1%) or a pandemic influenza (similar to those in 1957 and 1968) rather than a disease similar to SARS or MERS, which have had case fatality rates of 9 to 10% and 36%, respectively.

[Phuketshrew]

It would seem that the number of positive COVID-19 cases may be far higher than they are officially reporting.

[AhFarangJa]

Am I reading this correctly that he is only talking about transport on and off the island. Surely not banning vehicles and motorbikes across the islands roads?

 

[cornishcarlos]

3 minutes ago, AhFarangJa said:

Am I reading this correctly that he is only talking about transport on and off the island. Surely not banning vehicles and motorbikes across the islands roads?

 

 

Yes you are... Just on/off...

 

It's 100% under control, don't you worry !!!

[stevenl]

37 minutes ago, AhFarangJa said:

Am I reading this correctly that he is only talking about transport on and off the island. Surely not banning vehicles and motorbikes across the islands roads?

 

Yes, hardly any change with the previous situation.

[spiekerjozef]

What strikes me the most.... the SARS epidemic happened in 2003.

And nobody ever bothered to produce a vaccine?

They say it takes a minimum of 1 to 1.5 years for a vaccine to be ready and safe for use for humans. Well, 17 years and no vaccine for SARS??

And with Covid-19 so close to SARS....

If the pharmaceutical industry did their job, we would have never heard of Covid-19.

[kimamey]

1 hour ago, brain150 said:

You give somebody unlimited power, you can be sure he will use it !

 

Based on what ? Based on fear of what you don't understand ?

 

The New England Journal of Medicine

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMe2002387

This suggests that the overall clinical consequences of Covid-19 may ultimately be more akin to those of a severe seasonal influenza (which has a case fatality rate of approximately 0.1%) or a pandemic influenza (similar to those in 1957 and 1968) rather than a disease similar to SARS or MERS, which have had case fatality rates of 9 to 10% and 36%, respectively.

I think the issue is the infection rate rather than the mortality rate. Some of the other viruses you mention had a much higher mortality rate but didn't transmit so easily which is why it was possible to prevent the spread. 

 

Covid 19 Is highly infectious so whilst most who are infected die if you don't try to stop it spreading that small percentage can be a loot of people. The actual mortality rate arms a bit difficult to pin down since you need accurate figures for those infected. Rhett are doubts about the figures from some countries and it's dependant on the extent of testing. More testing will give a lower mortality rate. Most estimates I've seen are 1% or below.

[kimamey]

15 minutes ago, spiekerjozef said:

What strikes me the most.... the SARS epidemic happened in 2003.

And nobody ever bothered to produce a vaccine?

They say it takes a minimum of 1 to 1.5 years for a vaccine to be ready and safe for use for humans. Well, 17 years and no vaccine for SARS??

And with Covid-19 so close to SARS....

If the pharmaceutical industry did their job, we would have never heard of Covid-19.

From what I can tell it isn't that they didn't bother. There have been some animal tests but they haven't been that successful. 

[christophe75]

15 minutes ago, spiekerjozef said:

What strikes me the most.... the SARS epidemic happened in 2003.

And nobody ever bothered to produce a vaccine?

They say it takes a minimum of 1 to 1.5 years for a vaccine to be ready and safe for use for humans. Well, 17 years and no vaccine for SARS??

And with Covid-19 so close to SARS....

 

You misunderstood...

 

They didn't make a vaccine against SARS... Because they... failed.

 

They tried ! But they failed.

 

So the right question to ask now is : why they continue to BS us by saying that a vaccine against the chinese virus will come soon ?

 

Several answers are possible. But the most obvious is : "to enhance the flow of fundings".

 

Chasing a ghost, forever... Perfect time to milk the cow : "oh yeah it's coming we are working on it"...

[Oziex1]

1 hour ago, christophe75 said:

We were told that general Prayuth was officially in charge of the fight against the virus.

 

Isn't it ?

 

Thanks to an emergency decree, with broad powers.

 

So how a governor can take, unilaterally, such a hard, insane decision ?

 

A decision that :

-affects directly the life of half of million of people

-affects national security (yes !)

-affects Thailand international image (Phuket is known worldwide !)

 

People will think : "Is Phuket the new Wuhan ? What's going on in Thailand ?"

 

It's a PR disaster.

 

Reminds us how many cases...  do they have in Phuket ?

 

And if Phuket is locked-down why not Bangkok ?

 

Who is in charge ?

 

Where is Prayuth ?

 

It's just mind boggling.

I think we have over the years established that the southern Islands are run by others, I think they are known as "Influential People".

[GeorgeCross]

18 minutes ago, christophe75 said:

 

You misunderstood...

 

They didn't make a vaccine against SARS... Because they... failed.

 

They tried ! But they failed.

 

So the right question to ask now is : why they continue to BS us by saying that a vaccine against the chinese virus will come soon ?

 

Several answers are possible. But the most obvious is : "to enhance the flow of fundings".

 

Chasing a ghost, forever... Perfect time to milk the cow : "oh yeah it's coming we are working on it"...

 

they didn't fail to make a vaccine for SARS they set aside the project as the emergency passed and the funds dried up. vaccines cost a huge amount of money to develop

 

 

[Phuketshrew]

55 minutes ago, spiekerjozef said:

If the pharmaceutical industry did their job, we would have never heard of Covid-19.

From what I understand COVID-19 leaked from labs that were doing exactly that.

http://www.asianews.it/news-en/The-hypothesis-of-coronavirus-originating-from-a-laboratory-in-Wuhan-is-plausible-49550.html

[smedly]

2 hours ago, Phuketshrew said:

It would seem that the number of positive COVID-19 cases may be far higher than they are officially reporting.

actions speak louder than words 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

3 hours ago, brain150 said:

You give somebody unlimited power, you can be sure he will use it !

 

Based on what ? Based on fear of what you don't understand ?

 

The New England Journal of Medicine

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMe2002387

This suggests that the overall clinical consequences of Covid-19 may ultimately be more akin to those of a severe seasonal influenza (which has a case fatality rate of approximately 0.1%) or a pandemic influenza (similar to those in 1957 and 1968) rather than a disease similar to SARS or MERS, which have had case fatality rates of 9 to 10% and 36%, respectively.

 

If the U.S. ends up with just a 1% mortality rate from COVID, that's 3 million people dead. Do the same math for other countries... Your percentage numbers sound small, but they translate into masses of dead bodies.  Over the weekend, one of the top U.S. doctors predicted 100,000 to 200,000 deaths in the U.S.

 

200,000 would be equal to about half of all U.S. military deaths from the entirety of World War II.

 

 

 

Edited March 30, 2020 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[Jingthing]

42 minutes ago, Phuketshrew said:

From what I understand COVID-19 leaked from labs that were doing exactly that.

http://www.asianews.it/news-en/The-hypothesis-of-coronavirus-originating-from-a-laboratory-in-Wuhan-is-plausible-49550.html

You understand incorrectly. No credible scientist believes that. 

[Jingthing]

Just now, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

If the U.S. ends up with just a 1% mortality rate from COVID, that's 3 million people dead. Do the same math for other countries... Your percentage numbers sound small, but they translate into masses of dead bodies.  Over the weekend, one of the top U.S. doctors predicted 100,000 to 200,000 deaths in the U.S.

 

 

Yes my take is that the real mortality rate is somewhere between .5 and 2 percent with a lot of variables including the capacity of health care systems. However the total deaths can be greatly reduced by limiting the percentage of people that are infected as we wait for a vaccine which realistically won't probably happen before 18 months. 

[Jingthing]

3 hours ago, Phuketshrew said:

It would seem that the number of positive COVID-19 cases may be far higher than they are officially reporting.

Obviously! 

Testing here has been very limited. 

More testing means more cases revealed in Thailand and everywhere. 

Thailand was the most popular destination for Chinese tourists from Wuhan by far before travel restrictions. 

Also in countries that have done massive testing its been discovered that about half of positives have no symptoms whatsoever. But they are still infectious. Do the math. 

Edited March 30, 2020 by Jingthing

[xylophone]

54 minutes ago, Phuketshrew said:

From what I understand COVID-19 leaked from labs that were doing exactly that.

http://www.asianews.it/news-en/The-hypothesis-of-coronavirus-originating-from-a-laboratory-in-Wuhan-is-plausible-49550.html

That is only an hypothesis and from what I understand, this has mostly been debunked.

 

However this article suggests that the virus has been around for some time and did not fully mutate until sometime last year, and to back this up doctors and scientists in a few countries have commented on the fact that there were some "unusual" cases of pneumonia cropping up, and they couldn't identify why this was.

 

The reason I was interested in this article was because last year I developed pneumonia, and I have never had it before in my life, and having played several sports for decades, I consider myself reasonably fit, even at my age.

 

It seemed strange at the time, that out of nowhere I developed pneumonia and I couldn't pin it down to anything in particular although I have suffered from sinus allergies from time to time.

 

Anyway this article makes an interesting read and although this also could be labelled an hypothesis, it does have some science/scientists and doctors who have researched it.

 

Covid 19 coronavirus: Pathogen has been spreading in humans for decades, study finds

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=12320841 

[madmitch]

5 hours ago, christophe75 said:

We were told that general Prayuth was officially in charge of the fight against the virus.

 

Isn't it ?

 

Thanks to an emergency decree, with broad powers.

 

So how a governor can take, unilaterally, such a hard, insane decision ?

 

A decision that :

-affects directly the life of half of million of people

-affects national security (yes !)

-affects Thailand international image (Phuket is known worldwide !)

 

People will think : "Is Phuket the new Wuhan ? What's going on in Thailand ?"

 

It's a PR disaster.

 

Reminds us how many cases...  do they have in Phuket ?

 

And if Phuket is locked-down why not Bangkok ?

 

Who is in charge ?

 

Where is Prayuth ?

 

It's just mind boggling.

Perhaps your last two questions provide the answer.

 

Where is Prayuth? Since he declared himself to be in charge I don't think we've heard from him.

 

Trump, Johnson (despite having the virus) and other leaders are on TV day after day and whether you agree with their approaches or not this is important in order to show strong leadership. So Ill say it again: "Where is Prayuth?"

[Puwa]

3 hours ago, Phuketshrew said:

From what I understand COVID-19 leaked from labs that were doing exactly that.

http://www.asianews.it/news-en/The-hypothesis-of-coronavirus-originating-from-a-laboratory-in-Wuhan-is-plausible-49550.html

Study concludes it arose naturally.

 

https://abcnews.go.com/US/conspiracy-theorists-study-concludes-covid-19-laboratory-construct/story?id=69827832&cid=social_fb_abcn&fbclid=IwAR0GmaQcSac0W7M2_eN5BRgirAYDKk7C7vVmyQrVP7h0l9XieXpGPXjYUb8

Edited March 30, 2020 by Puwa

[NanLaew]

5 hours ago, spiekerjozef said:

What strikes me the most.... the SARS epidemic happened in 2003.

And nobody ever bothered to produce a vaccine?

They say it takes a minimum of 1 to 1.5 years for a vaccine to be ready and safe for use for humans. Well, 17 years and no vaccine for SARS??

And with Covid-19 so close to SARS....

If the pharmaceutical industry did their job, we would have never heard of Covid-19.

I guess you missed the memo on coronavirus variants and strains. Even the 'common' annual flu vaccination is 'adjusted' yearly to counter the strain that's predicted by ongoing research to be most prevalent during the coming flu season.

 

Influenza isn't the same as SARS which isn't the same as MERS which isn't the same as Covid-19 which won't be the same as the next one.

 

PS: This is the same response to the same comment you already posted on another thread.

[Phuketshrew]

1 hour ago, Puwa said:

5 hours ago, Phuketshrew said:

From what I understand COVID-19 leaked from labs that were doing exactly that.

http://www.asianews.it/news-en/The-hypothesis-of-coronavirus-originating-from-a-laboratory-in-Wuhan-is-plausible-49550.html

Study concludes it arose naturally.

 

https://abcnews.go.com/US/conspiracy-theorists-study-concludes-covid-19-laboratory-construct/story?id=69827832&cid=social_fb_abcn&fbclid=IwAR0GmaQcSac0W7M2_eN5BRgirAYDKk7C7vVmyQrVP7h0l9XieXpGPXjYUb8

Edited 1 hour ago by Puwa

There have been many different studies - I guess it depends who you believe in the end ????

[AgentSmith]

5 hours ago, christophe75 said:

They didn't make a vaccine against SARS... Because they... failed.

They stranded because they literally ran out of test subjects. SARS1 simply disappeared on its own. It's hard to develop and test a vaccine for a virus that's not around anymore.

 

5 hours ago, christophe75 said:

So the right question to ask now is : why they continue to BS us by saying that a vaccine against the chinese virus will come soon ?

Who says it's coming soon? It's a long-term goal. Sure you can probably find some politocian who claims a vaccine is around the corner but that's not 'they'. Every sane person knows it's going to take years and it might not happen at all.

[stevenl]

2 hours ago, Phuketshrew said:

There have been many different studies - I guess it depends who you believe in the end ????

It is very obvious where and how it started. Only conspiracy theories point to labs.

[Psimbo]

12 hours ago, AhFarangJa said:

Am I reading this correctly that he is only talking about transport on and off the island. Surely not banning vehicles and motorbikes across the islands roads?

 

Yes- I reported the headline as being mis-leading but nothing has been done about it. third paragraph contradicts the headline as it makes it clear that essential transport continues on and off the island.

 

All traffic is NOT at a standstill. 

Edited March 30, 2020 by Psimbo

[ChipButty]

The beer will dry up eventually I dont mind staying home I can do that easy, it's nice to have a couple of beers in the evening to soften the blow

[Just Weird]

On 3/30/2020 at 9:48 AM, kimamey said:

Covid 19 Is highly infectious so whilst most who are infected die...

Garbage.  Most people who become infected do not die!