Phuket exodus halted as officials overwhelmed, close bridge

[snoop1130]

Phuket exodus halted as officials overwhelmed, close bridge

By Eakkapop Thongtub

 

Officers at the Phuket Check Point try to cope with the volume of people wanting to leave the island earlier today (May 1). Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub

 

PHUKET:-- Hours after opening the bridge for people to leave the island early today (May 1), police ordered the bridge closed to traffic again as officials were overwhelmed by the people wanting to leave Phuket to get home.

 

Any people wanting to leave the island by road must wait until at least Sunday (May 3), Phuket Provincial Police Chief Maj Gen Rungrote Thakurapunyasiri said this afternoon.

 

Officers stopped allowing people to cross the bridge at 2pm. It was not made clear who gave the order to shut down the state-organised exodus.

 

Full Story: https://www.thephuketnews.com/phuket-exodus-halted-as-officials-overwhelmed-close-bridge-75923.php

 

-- © Copyright Phuket News 2020-05-01

 

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[rebo]

This is the Thai flip-flop waltz ...

[DaRoadrunner]

I cannot wait for the movie....  “ Escape from Phuket. ”

 

The Full Story link is worth a read.... proof one cannot fix stupid.

 

To think that people PAY to go there on vacation, yet 40,000 want to leave!

[Mango Bob]

Is it the Thais were overwhelmed or lazy when they seen they had to work. 

[Tarukhtah]

And the question is, did anyone ever see the QR code !? i.e. did these people have a queue position they got with the QR Code? I never saw that QR Code at all. Wondering what's gonna happen. Probably they will put some red tape on the ground to indicate the distance between people. And I think that's all that will change till Sunday.

[Guderian]

Maybe their single digital thermometer broke down, so everyone had to stay trapped on Devil's Island, lol. 

[Tarteso]

3 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

It was not made clear who gave the order to shut down the state-organised exodus

The Gobernor?

[mr mr]

i think it's time to form a committee to determine the next course of action. i wonder who could head that committee.

[ukrules]

Apparently 400 of them are heading to Udon Thani, looks like they're being transported there as when they arrive they will be quarantined for 14 days.

 

They're being housed at a university there whilst under quarantine.

 

Looks like we're seeing inter provincial level quarantines being rolled out now.

[daveAustin]

Those soldiers look a bit edgy. Mind you, I would be too if my pants had shrunk in the wash!

[taxin]

46 minutes ago, ukrules said:

Apparently 400 of them are heading to Udon Thani, looks like they're being transported there as when they arrive they will be quarantined for 14 days.

 

They're being housed at a university there whilst under quarantine.

 

Looks like we're seeing inter provincial level quarantines being rolled out now.

Why ? With the exception of the Moslems in Bangtao who continue to ignore orders to stay at home (and not huddle together in mosques 5 times a day), there has been very little cases in Phuket over the last 14 days.
 

Why the need to quarantine when they have already been locked down in Phuket for the past 2 months ? The strictest and only province in Thailand that recently had a sub district lock down ? Makes no sense.

[timendres]

I am quite confused. Why would Phuket even care who leaves. They should rejoice.

It seems to me that it is the provinces these people are headed to that should be concerned.

This is reflected by @ukrules post, and the recent post by @NCC1701A regarding the Korat lock down.

 

[Kerryd]

In this mornings ThaiVisa newsletter:

"Phuket officials report zero new confirmed COVID cases"

"....leaving the total number of people in Phuket officially recognised as infected with the disease since the outbreak began at 217."

"The report noted that 177 people who had been confirmed as infected since the outbreak began had recovered and been discharged from hospital care."

Of the 40 remaining cases, 38 are still in hospital (along with 104 being tested but not yet confirmed as being infected).
Of the remaining 2 confirmed cases, 1 died from the virus and one person who was listed as having died from it was changed. Apparently he was infected, but died as a result of a motorcycle accident. (They think he may have been infected in the hospital and that may have contributed to his death, but it wasn't the cause of it.)

From the Thaivisa thread here:
https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1162271-phuket-officials-report-zero-new-confirmed-covid-cases/?do=findComment&comment=15363375

And the original source article here:
https://www.thephuketnews.com/phuket-officials-report-zero-new-confirmed-covid-cases-75921.php
 

[Greg O]

So if 40000 people registered via some silly government APP did anyone actually audit the sheer numbers and not anticipate there would be a mass exodus at the end of curfew that morning on a holiday weekend ?  You can't make this stuff up. The gross ineptitude and negligence. Imagine people wanting to go home on a holiday weekend after being locked down for weeks. An Army of numbskulls...

[BobBKK]

11 minutes ago, Kerryd said:

In this mornings ThaiVisa newsletter:

"Phuket officials report zero new confirmed COVID cases"

"....leaving the total number of people in Phuket officially recognised as infected with the disease since the outbreak began at 217."

"The report noted that 177 people who had been confirmed as infected since the outbreak began had recovered and been discharged from hospital care."

Of the 40 remaining cases, 38 are still in hospital (along with 104 being tested but not yet confirmed as being infected).
Of the remaining 2 confirmed cases, 1 died from the virus and one person who was listed as having died from it was changed. Apparently he was infected, but died as a result of a motorcycle accident. (They think he may have been infected in the hospital and that may have contributed to his death, but it wasn't the cause of it.)

From the Thaivisa thread here:
https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1162271-phuket-officials-report-zero-new-confirmed-covid-cases/?do=findComment&comment=15363375

And the original source article here:
https://www.thephuketnews.com/phuket-officials-report-zero-new-confirmed-covid-cases-75921.php
 

0.46% the vast majority recover and this figure doesn't include all those that got it and simply stayed home for 2 weeks and recovered. Much Ado about Nothing.

[colinneil]

All about control, nothing else, since this virus situation arose, everything the powers that be here have sought to do is control.

They just want the peasants to know, we are in control.

[Dukeleto]

Are you kidding me! Let em all go! A complete blessing and while you at it, make them supply copies of their ID’s (or use the 5 baht-a-scan-machine currently idle at the immigration offices) and don’t let em back in again until all gainful employment has been taken up by local residents. Then let them back in on case by case basis and not without a job. Phuket needs some serious cleaning up!

[Greg O]

Yes exactly ! Unfortunately the Thai people willingly comply. They are doomed and its so sad to witness it and be powerless. 

[Venom]

Phuket Governor had discussed the issue with health officials.

The way the process was being conducted today was “not orderly”, he said.

 

Great work, I'm sure turning everyone back was much more orderly. ????????

[Mak25]

So the process of leaving has now been planned for how long that it could not be conducted orderly in the end? Similar to setting up checkpoints in Chonburi...

 

Anyway, I can't imagine 40,000 people passing orderly through a bottleneck in Thailand...

[jvs]

30 minutes ago, Greg O said:

Yes exactly ! Unfortunately the Thai people willingly comply. They are doomed and its so sad to witness it and be powerless. 

You are sooo wrong!Look what is going on around you,the Thai people are massively ignoring any warnings.

They let people leave to their home but the home province does not let them in!

I have said this many times before,if everything runs well Thailand does great.As soon as something goes wrong no one seems to have a clue.

We need a government with both balls and a brain,probably a woman.

[bogozy]

Somebody no have work, no income, very must go home to his/her family, to share their rice bowl.

[Khun Paul]

Oh dear Officials having to actually work , after nearly THREE weeks of doing NOTHING . Showcasing ineptitude and lack of care for the public which of course is par for the course here, as the Public are mere peons.

[AgMech Cowboy]

14 hours ago, rebo said:

This is the Thai flip-flop waltz ...

More like the Thailand 3-step. One forward, two back. Don't look back. ????????

[IamNoone88]

Leaving is one thing, getting back is another. A lot of these people who went yesterday cancelled their accommodation and now they have to find new accommodation because they could not leave - remember the cheap hotels are closed .... so landlords will probably ask for a deposit of 1 month and one months advance rent again .... just for a few days. Look further forward and assume these workers return to home towns (40,000 of them) ... with a refunded deposit which will soon be spent ..... when they return, they have to start again .... so when is their return cash to get started going to cone from? Salaries are a month in arrears, so a bad cash situation will become an even worse plight.

[sandyf]

1 hour ago, Greg O said:

So if 40000 people registered via some silly government APP did anyone actually audit the sheer numbers and not anticipate there would be a mass exodus at the end of curfew that morning on a holiday weekend ?  You can't make this stuff up. The gross ineptitude and negligence. Imagine people wanting to go home on a holiday weekend after being locked down for weeks. An Army of numbskulls...

I seem to remember the same things being said when people were allowed to leave Bangkok.

No "Flip Flop" on TVF just constant whinging.

[SMEinBangkok]

15 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Hours after opening the bridge for people to leave the island early today (May 1), police ordered the bridge closed to traffic again as officials were overwhelmed by the people wanting to leave Phuket to get home.

They probably got called to go and bust up a free food handout line that was too long.

[Grusa]

52 minutes ago, jvs said:

We need a government with both balls and a brain,probably a woman.

Katoey?

[hobz]

12 hours ago, mr mr said:

i think it's time to form a committee to determine the next course of action. i wonder who could head that committee.

I propose a committee to determine who the head of the committee will be. Now who's gonna head the former is a good question..

 

[peter14]

Wait for student revolution post lockdown... thailand on brink