Thai provinces ban alcohol sales ahead of New Year to curb coronavirus spread

 

FILE PHOTO: A woman wearing a protective mask lines up outside a liquour shop after Bangkok and several other provinces announced a 10-day ban on alcohol sale starting April 10 during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Bangkok, Thailand, April 9, 2020. REUTERS/Jorge Silva/File Photo

 

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Most of Thailand's provinces have banned sales of alcoholic beverages, heeding a central government call to discourage festive celebrations for the Thai New Year as the country seeks to limit the spread of the coronavirus.

 

Thailand is among Southeast Asian countries that are cancelling or scaling back traditionally boisterous Buddhist New Year celebrations amid the global pandemic.

 

The Thai New Year or water splashing Songkran celebrations are usually held April 13-15, but this year the government has postponed the holidays that would normally be taken then.

 

A 10-day ban on the sale of wine, beer and spirits in the capital Bangkok went into effect on Friday. Some 47 of Thailand's 77 provinces have implemented bans to April 15 or until the end of the month, the interior ministry said in a statement.

 

Bangkok, which typically closes off streets during April for traditional water fights, has called off the activities and urged businesses and malls to do likewise. The government has also urged Thais to refrain from travelling back to their hometowns as they would normally do for the New Year.

 

On Saturday, Thailand reported 45 new coronvirus cases and two deaths, bringing its total to 2,518 confirmed infections and 35 deaths.

 

(Reporting by Orathai Sriring and Panarat Thepgumpanat; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-04-12

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Sale of alcoholic drinks targeted nationwide in battle against Covid-19

By THE NATION

 

 

Forty-seven provinces nationwide have ordered the closure of shops selling alcohol to contain the escalating Covid-19 outbreak, according to an Interior Ministry report.

 

They have different end dates of the closure. For example, Si Sa Ket has banned sale of alcohol from April 12 to April 30, while in Songkhla it is from April 12 to 19.

 

Bangkok has banned the sale of all alcohol from April 10 to 20, Pathum Thani from April 11-20 and Samut Prakarn from April 11-20.

 

Others with similar bans are Sakon Nakhon (March 31-April 16), Chiang Mai (April 10-20), Rayong (April 3-15), Buri Ram (April 2-30), Mudaharn (April 6-30), Suphan Buri (April 4-30), Nakhon Pathom (April 2-30), Lamphun (April 1-30) and Surin (April 2-30).

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30385803

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2020-04-12

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List of Thai provinces that have banned alcohol sales

 

Can anyone offer a scientific reason for this decision?  I am struggling to understand the logic behind these bans. I know the "being seen to do something" reaction, but this does seem to be a little beyond the usual level of incomprehensible.

Seems like the possibilities to get alcohol is the most important thing to focus on this forum. Already 3 news articles about it today. Hilarious!

It's your typical use a grenade to kill a cockroach junta approach

 

Remember they banned all alcohol on trains forever, when a crazed drug addled scumbag employee of the Thai rail network raped and killed a young girl.

Rather than address their incompetence for hiring such a nefarious POS they decided to ruin a lot of people's enjoyment permanently

I used to really enjoy the night trains, have a few beers and a bit of food, then drift off into the land of nod

 

22 minutes ago, Chang_paarp said:

Can anyone offer a scientific reason for this decision?  I am struggling to understand the logic behind these bans. I know the "being seen to do something" reaction, but this does seem to be a little beyond the usual level of incomprehensible.

Scientific reason and logic should never be used in the same paragraph or even the same article where discussing anything Thai. 

34 minutes ago, Chang_paarp said:

Can anyone offer a scientific reason for this decision?  I am struggling to understand the logic behind these bans. I know the "being seen to do something" reaction, but this does seem to be a little beyond the usual level of incomprehensible.

Alcohol brings on depression, imagine, you have lost your job, maybe your car, girlfriend or whatever. No end in sight to the situation, put two and two together...nothing to do with Songran...Philippines have had bans on in certain places for weeks already...another poor country full of guns and no real police force....

Surely if rubbing alcohol on various parts of the body to combat the virus is acceptable the one would think that ingesting it would be even more efficacious.

40 minutes ago, Chang_paarp said:

Can anyone offer a scientific reason for this decision?  I am struggling to understand the logic behind these bans. I know the "being seen to do something" reaction, but this does seem to be a little beyond the usual level of incomprehensible.

It is simply to try and stop parties and social gatherings over the Songkran period in order to help stem the spread of the virus. Nothing more and nothing less. Every other opinion is just based purely on lame conspiracy theories. 

7 hours ago, Matzzon said:

Seems like the possibilities to get alcohol is the most important thing to focus on this forum. Already 3 news articles about it today. Hilarious!

You are not compelled to read any of them....just ignore 

Tired of this old chestnut. Thailand has a number of alcohol free (banned) days every year, yet those of us who have been here a while (and especially those who have a basic command of the language) never have a problem in obtaining from our local mum & dad shops. Add to this the ready availability of Lao Khao for those prepared to disintegrate their liver, and few Thais outside the capital are likely to be affected.

The reason it has been banned to help remove the temptation for people to congregate during what would have been Songkran. 

 

 

 

 

As usual thought bubble policy. If they want to flatten the curve this will not do it. Test, test, test, identify, quaratine and trace. This is what Thailand is not doing. Stopping people from having a drink in their own home while self-isolating has absolutely no affect on the spread of the virus. Morons with I'm sure more than enough alcohol in stock to see them through the next 20 200 days.

Try the hand sanitizer highball ,1 part alcohol based hand wash 1 part aloe 1 part coke a cola...add ice and serve...remember always drink alone

Well if it's Songkran-related why is it going on until the 30th in many provinces? In most places Songkran spans just the 13th, 14th and 15th of April, and even in Pattaya it's finished by the 20th. It makes little sense, other than as a killjoy measure, to extend it to the end of the month.

1 hour ago, petermik said:

You are not compelled to read any of them....just ignore 

Same like you ignore ridiculous things that is in your face every single day for a week. Right, never seen that happen.

49 minutes ago, Jonathan Fairfield said:

The reason it has been banned to help remove the temptation for people to congregate during what would have been Songkran. 

 

 

 

 

hmmmm  thought it was conjugate .    without whiskey there's gonna be a lot less of that i would imagine   ????

On 4/12/2020 at 7:41 AM, Chang_paarp said:

Can anyone offer a scientific reason for this decision?  I am struggling to understand the logic behind these bans. I know the "being seen to do something" reaction, but this does seem to be a little beyond the usual level of incomprehensible.

as far as I know this bllody place is the ONLY country to ban sale of alcohol !!!

It's an Interesting conundrum. 

 

Given that most of us expats living in Thailand are looking to hide out over the songkran period. Maybe we should be rooting for at alcohol ban every year at this time! ????

Downto 5 and half cases of imported english cider,have been rationing.

2 hours ago, essox essox said:

as far as I know this bllody place is the ONLY country to ban sale of alcohol !!!

Saudia Arabia etc

i really fail to see the possible efficacy of this decision. it would be better to let people relax and enjoy their drink. in any case those we really need to drink would have done forward purchases to cover this period of ban. so either way i do not see the ban working.

18 minutes ago, wharria said:

Saudia Arabia etc

saudia has banned on religious ground as islam forbids consumption of alcohol.

4 hours ago, Dmaxdan said:

It is simply to try and stop parties and social gatherings over the Songkran period in order to help stem the spread of the virus. Nothing more and nothing less. Every other opinion is just based purely on lame conspiracy theories. 

So basically you seem to be implying that the Government don't trust their citizens to act responsibly or the police to monitor or, heaven forbid, enforce any sort of responsible behaviour. 

Hardly a conspiracy theory, pretty indicitive of how the Government views the citizens they are supposed to represent.
Many people enjoy a tipple in the comfort of their own homes, I certainly do, it doesn't mean that after a glass or two of wine in the comfort of my own home I'm going to run riot,
It's bad enough that the leaders of this fair land wish to to ban the sale of alcohol for a couple of weeks, but for the life of me I can't see the reason to ban sales until the end of the month, other than to demonstrate how powerful they are.     

And after the ban, nobody will make party ?

5 hours ago, Chang_paarp said:

Can anyone offer a scientific reason for this decision?  I am struggling to understand the logic behind these bans. I know the "being seen to do something" reaction, but this does seem to be a little beyond the usual level of incomprehensible.

Yes, if you consider Sociology to be science. Thai society considers drinking alcohol to be a social event, not done alone. The goal is to prevent social gatherings and drunken revelry.. A secondary goal, I think, is to prevent alcohol-fueled lapses of judgment, which serves two obvious purposes. 1) Drunk people get caught up in their partying, "forgetting" the social distancing precautions; 2) the authorities clearly want to minimize traffic (and other) accidents, thereby conserving health care resources to fight the pandemic. 

4 hours ago, Dmaxdan said:

 Every other opinion is just based purely on lame conspiracy theories. 

It is a carefully orchestrated plot to control people's life as we are slowly forced into our dystopian Orwellian future.... living in a totalitarian state. 

The wholesalers here in Pattaya are still selling booze quite happily, until their stocks run out I guess, so if you're a bit short then get down your nearest shop and fill your boots.

17 minutes ago, LawrenceN said:

A secondary goal, I think, is to prevent alcohol-fueled lapses of judgment, which serves two obvious purposes.

That is my primary goal - lol

Why couldn't they give us 24 hour notice - boo hoo

5 hours ago, Chang_paarp said:

Can anyone offer a scientific reason for this decision?  I am struggling to understand the logic behind these bans. I know the "being seen to do something" reaction, but this does seem to be a little beyond the usual level of incomprehensible.

No, it makes perfect sense as many people there like to sit around, eat and drink.  People are less likely to party as much without alcohol.  Beer or Hong Thong is the first thing I ask about before getting together.