Thailand reports biggest coronavirus surge, over 500 cases - Samut Sakhon placed in to lockdown

[Kaopad999]

1 hour ago, Sunderland said:

Quite a lot of Thai people - especially in some parts of Bangkok - also live in dense living conditions, but they never seem to spread the virus, or most probably have been rarely tested for it.

Thai people in general are very hygienic.  This is something i have now adopted from living here for many years. I rarely ever get sick living here because i take better care of myself. Make sure I wear a mask when traveling on  public transport  (Covid or no Covid) & also wash my hands on a much more regular basis 

Edited December 20, 2020 by Kaopad999

[xtrnuno41]

1 minute ago, ThailandRyan said:

How do you or anyone else know how long these migrant workers have already been in Thailand.  They may have been here for many months or even prior to Covid happening. If that is the case why would they need quarantine?

Logical thinking. There were no cases and now there are and are among migrant workers first.

They didnt check, no quarantaine, logical conclusion

 

[Bkktodd]

3 hours ago, RR2020 said:

The reason the EU and USA have such high figures is everyone is recommended to get a test, even if you were near someone infected.  So everyone is getting tested.  There is no stigma.  Everyone slightly sick is happy to get a test.

 

Thailand has made Covid a Stigma........an Embarrassment ..........nobody wants to get tested. They will struggle at home and hide.

 

So Covid is likely rampant in Thailand, its just not getting checked or tested for in the right places.  Tests are only good if they are done on potentially sick people.  No point doing 200,000 tests on healthy people.

 

Look at the these people.........they have symptoms but dont get tested.......until they feel really bad, then days later tested because they have to go to hospital.

 

Thailand needs to stop making Covid a stigma, accept it, embrace it.....find it.......and then control it.  Stop trying to be "whiter than white"............your not, your as dirty as everyone else..........so deal with it.

Spot on.  In the USA albeit high cases (mostly in part to not following cdc guidelines) if you test positive you self quarantine and monitor symptoms.  In thailand you get sent to hospital by hazmat team and your condo taped off like a crime scene .  Embarrassment?? Yes

[samsensam]

6 minutes ago, xtrnuno41 said:

So those migrant workers did have a 14 day quarantaine, all by Thai rules.

They have a working permit after the quarantaine. Or not? Thai broke their own rules?

Like  New Zealand did once.

Well in the UK they find a mutant virus of covid 19 working now and it is 70% more effective in spreading.

So this one is really highly contagious, we start all over again.

They dont know yet if this one is even more dangerous, they say. But ok happy days will continu with the new virus.  

 

it would be interesting to know what rules migrant workers have to follow, and if they are enforced

 

it is perfectly normal for new strains of virus to appear, the one in the uk has been around since september and other strains have been found in other european countries e.g. denmark and spain.

 

the new uk strain is currently more infectious but here is no evidence the symptoms are any worse (if  they were there would have been a pike in hospital cases since september) or that it is resistant to the vaccine, though no firm conclusions have been made as yet. so, no one is not starting all over again.

 

i suggest wait and see what the science says before jumping to pessimistic conclusions.

[Sunderland]

8 minutes ago, Kaopad999 said:

Thai people in general are very hygienic.  This is something i have now adopted from living here for many years. I rarely ever get sick living here because i take better care of myself. Make sure I wear a mask when traveling on  public transport  (Covid or no Covid) & also wash my hands on a much more regular basis 

 

You might wash your hands, but most Thai blokes don't use any soap or water in the toilets. They spend more time adjusting their hairlines. Not an opinion, but an observation over the years. Not much different this year to be honest despite COVID-19 being in the news.

[Bkktodd]

14 hours ago, Elkski said:

I sure hope they can get on top of this.   

All you guys wanting the tourist gates open. well here is what I predicted would happen.  Most likely this is the more easily  spread 614G mutation that  Thailand  missed back in Jan Feb.   I commend Thailand for trying so hard at contact tracing.  I hope they don't end up with to many cases to track.  Please no new Hotspot.  

This explosion has been swift.   It was just 12 cases and now 500+ and GF says on BKK news sat night is was 800+.  She says everyone at work was talking about this and mad as h3ll. 

I strongly disagree with flying sausages guess work.    No real studies have been done with this virus relating to spread conditions.   Its stupid to say a 2-5 stop trip is a sardine packed BTS is low risk.  Remember this can enter your body via your eyes.   What about the que lines waiting to buy tickets or for  2-3 trains during crowded times?  How many people do you bump into? How many mouths are within 2 meters.   No one is testing these homemade masks.   So many are worn losely.  If you have never been officially test fitted for a ????  mask you have no idea how critical the fit and seal is.   I have been fitted where they use this highly stinky dust and if is very hard to learn how to wear a mask properly to block it.    How many times have you smelled someone's hotdogs burp at a ball game or in a ski lift line.  As a bow  hunter with an above average sense of smell I am an very aware of which direction my scent is traveling and I know molecules travel very far.  Molecules we smell are gigantic HC chains not a single cell .2 micron  covid19.   

I'm not convinced the "wet" market means so much for this outbreak other than it being full of border crossing workers who probably live and work in crowded conditions.   And it is a busy market with lots of plastic bags and probably  most handling money and fish without washing hands like most markets. 

Careful ...you seem to be so perfect keeping clean.  All us guys read also about the high accident rates no mask can protect you from. 

[connda]

I'm so afraid.  We need vaccinations now!

Edited December 20, 2020 by connda

[xtrnuno41]

34 minutes ago, samsensam said:

 

it would be interesting to know what rules migrant workers have to follow, and if they are enforced

 

it is perfectly normal for new strains of virus to appear, the one in the uk has been around since september and other strains have been found in other european countries e.g. denmark and spain.

 

the new uk strain is currently more infectious but here is no evidence the symptoms are any worse (if  they were there would have been a pike in hospital cases since september) or that it is resistant to the vaccine, though no firm conclusions have been made as yet. so, no one is not starting all over again.

 

i suggest wait and see what the science says before jumping to pessimistic conclusions.

Science doesnt know, they first have to wait and see. They already launched the new strain on humans.

And as with "old" virus already causing so many problems, why wouldnt a new, 70% more infectious virus not cause

more problems? Logically thinking , it would. It has already spreaded on mainland EU.

UK is now closed. Denmark i know they had new strain but on minks.

The biggest mistake is, that the world didnt lock down in March for the whole month.

But we will see, we cant escape the situation. 

[Patjqm]

1 hour ago, Marco100 said:

Do not understand how all this cases comes in from Myanmar with no quarantine and spreads in numbers and they still make it so difficult for tourist to visit the country ?

At this point , as tourist get tested before boarding  ,  at arrival , ++ in quarantine,  why not reduce quarantine to 7 days ?

Exactly! Quarantaine with negative pcr test!!!

[Terry2905]

1 hour ago, cryo said:

Also be very aware that press buttons on ATM's, lifts and any ticket machines are good transmission points, more so with the latest variant of Covid.

 

Not to mention door handles, stair handrails, tin cans, etc, in shops. Any hard surface can have the virus, and the virus can live on those surfaces for up to 72 hours.

 

 

[onthedarkside]

1 hour ago, ourmanflint said:

Pfizer Biontech is the only vaccine being used in Britain currently, and all it's funding came from Germany not the USA

 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-11-09/pfizer-vaccine-s-funding-came-from-berlin-not-washington

 

The Bloomberg article above is correct, but only as far as GOVERNMENT funding is concerned.

 

Pfizer is a U.S. based company, and apart from the non-U.S. government source funding they received, it's safe to say a goodly amount of Pfizer corporate funds from the U.S. went into the development and production of the vaccine.

 

[rabas]

2 hours ago, GeorgeCross said:

 

not when its developed by the best university on the planet it isn't:

 

That's a general rating from a UK magazine. What you want is an independent rating on biotechnology and biochemistry. Who would know where to find the world's best tech better than China

 

http://www.shanghairanking.com/shanghairanking-subject-rankings/biotechnology.html

 

or here   https://www.university-list.net/rank/univ-100006.html

 

Edited December 20, 2020 by rabas

[onthedarkside]

Several posts with false and non-credible CV information have been removed, along with replies.

 

[DeusExMachinaBKK]

I’ve booked a hotel night in Pattaya for December 25th. You reckon I should cancel it while I still can?

[Isaan sailor]

America does massive testing—and suffers a high caseload that makes the world think it’s totally out of control.  Other countries do limited testing—and report limited caseloads.

Hmmmm.

[ukrules]

2 hours ago, Marco100 said:

Do not understand how all this cases comes in from Myanmar with no quarantine and spreads in numbers and they still make it so difficult for tourist to visit the country ?

At this point , as tourist get tested before boarding  ,  at arrival , ++ in quarantine,  why not reduce quarantine to 7 days ?

Corruption allows people to enter the country illegally. Bribes are paid and nobody cares what happens to the rest of the country - so long as they get their share of the profit.

 

There is organised people trafficking on a large scale, I heard they charge the Burmese as little as 7000 Baht each, more if they already have work lined up inside Thailand for them.

 

This is common knowledge in Thailand, if I know it then the government surely knows it.

 

[KhaoYai]

10 hours ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

I believe the population density and incidence of poverty is much higher in ???????? than ????????, especially in the slums and favelas of Manaus, where Brazil's outbreak has been been centered.

I would agree - squalid, dense living conditions will probably be the virus's friend.  However, the fact is that the virus is present in many hot countries + although not as bad as India or Brazil maybe, but have you seen the government housing projects in Bangkok?

[unblocktheplanet]

Dudes! This is NOT about the economy or about your pitiful holidays, the tourists, or all the folks most unfortunately locked out overseas away from family, home & jobs.

 

Implementing as extensive testing as possible should discover almost 100% of asymptomatics. Those asymptomatics will recover & no longer be carriers to the rest of us, if handled properly.

 

The fly in the ointment is how onerous govt makes isolation conditions. Make it tough or, worse, charge money for isolation, is a recipe for disaster.

 

Maybe, for once, the military system can be used to good effect and put human rights into practice when handling the infected.

 

Maybe outdoor health centres would be a good solution, as long as they serve great food. We don't want these labelled concentration camps, DP camps, or refugee camp, or prison camps early on or such a programme will fail.

 

If this can be accomplished skillfully, most people will want to do the right thing by their neighbours. Maybe PAY asymptomatics for time in isolation, holding out the carrot of free hospital care if they develop symptoms.

 

 

Edited December 20, 2020 by onthedarkside
trolling comments removed

[mrfill]

15 hours ago, KhaoYai said:

Boris will have some serious questions to answer when this is all over.  Track and Trace staff on TV saying they'd received £1000's in salary but no more than a handful of contacts to trace.  Then there's the millionaire's created by simply acting as go-betweens in the supply of PPE from China (one reportedly netting over £30 million!!!). I know there was panic at the time but you could have built a few PPE factories for that - and that's just the commission!!!

 

If there's any justice in the world - Boris and his mates won't survive that enquiry. Personally I'd go back a few centuries and their heads would be on Tower Bridge!

Unlikely that Test & Trace will be investigated. It's head - Dido Harding - is married to John Penrose - the Governments Anti-corruption Champion. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Penrose

The other cases (those companies started by friends of cabinet members who got the tip-off) will get the usual 'draw a line under this and lets move on' treatment.

 

Heads go on London Bridge. Tower bridge only goes back to 1894...

[bimmerbob]

19 hours ago, SGD said:

Are they actually going to start telling the truth for once ?

 

Also, please stop referring only to migrant workers / foreigners as being the importers of covid.......the example of the migrant worker in the market - for all we know, she's been in Thailand since well before covid surfaced anywhere.

[KhaoYai]

10 minutes ago, mrfill said:

Unlikely that Test & Trace will be investigated. It's head - Dido Harding - is married to John Penrose - the Governments Anti-corruption Champion. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Penrose

The other cases (those companies started by friends of cabinet members who got the tip-off) will get the usual 'draw a line under this and lets move on' treatment.

Yes, well I did say 'if there's any justice'.

[drenddy]

What a madness for a virus, which is not as deadly as feared.Of course, there is always the risk for the hospital system to collapse, but how did we get here?

Sometimes, when I read the news, it feels like we are living a dystopian society, a crazy mix of Bradbury, Huxley and Orwell world.New strain in UK, out of control, tier 4 restrictions, countries ban flights from UK, minks virus mutation, the crazy danes have massacred millions of minks(truth to be said, they only have them, not because they are lovely little rats, karma is a bitch, Lars), two burmese have Covid 19, hunt them down, the news, instead of focusing on positive news, such as, 474939 have overcome infections, no, only end-of-the-world titles, I read at one point, now India has 7 millions confirmed cases, yeah, <deleted>> off, that is a tiny number of India's population and how many of those 7 millions have overcome the infection and how many actually are serious, what the hell is going on, folks?

 

Normally, I wouldn't touch that vaccine and I am pro vaccine, but I want to wait at least 6 months, however, it will be made mandatory, one way or another....

 

 

Edited December 20, 2020 by drenddy

[Miami007]

11 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

I am going. Very low risk. We are talking about a pinhead of cases. And it is not like these fishermen are wandering around Bangkok. Come on. Let's maintain common sense about this. Wear a mask. But, continue with your lives. This is not America, which of course is #1. In Covid. 

America is not #1 in cases or deaths per resident.  I shop, exercise and life is going on where I live. We have been wearing masks since April (some people don't do it correctly - like in Europe or Thailand).

Compare cases per million as ratio of tests per million and the big discrepancies in numbers disappear forr the most part. 

[Miami007]

1 hour ago, unblocktheplanet said:

Dudes! This is NOT about the economy or about your pitiful holidays, the tourists, or all the folks most unfortunately locked out overseas away from family, home & jobs.

 

Implementing as extensive testing as possible should discover almost 100% of asymptomatics. Those asymptomatics will recover & no longer be carriers to the rest of us, if handled properly.

 

The fly in the ointment is how onerous govt makes isolation conditions. Make it tough or, worse, charge money for isolation, is a recipe for disaster.

 

Maybe, for once, the military system can be used to good effect and put human rights into practice when handling the infected.

 

Maybe outdoor health centres would be a good solution, as long as they serve great food. We don't want these labelled concentration camps, DP camps, or refugee camp, or prison camps early on or such a programme will fail.

 

If this can be accomplished skillfully, most people will want to do the right thing by their neighbours. Maybe PAY asymptomatics for time in isolation, holding out the carrot of free hospital care if they develop symptoms.

 

Some folks have joked about the zombie apocalypse but The Walking Dead is a pretty accurate model. They walk among us.

 

Goddess help us, eh...

Only a small percentage of virus carriers dies. There are no Walking Dead among us. People need to get a grip on reality. Asymptomatic carriers won't die and the severely affected are in a hospital and not walking around (or already in nursing homes, which have about half of the deaths in some western countries)

 

In the USA more than 10 million recovered from Covid, only a little over 2% are currently infected (many asymptomatic and will recover). 

Austria has been trying to test the entire population of 10 million. About 25% showed up (it was voljntary) and only a small number tested positive and were confirmed (below 0.5% of tested). Are you going to use police or army to test everyone. In Austria they want to extend the lockdown for untested people and force them to wear special masks (regular knes not working?). Maybe a sticker on their clothes to identify them? We tried that about 80 years ago...not sure that we want to return to that time.

. 

How do all these politicians in Europe get the virus even with their lockdown and other safety measures? Maybe a sign that all of that amounts to a hill of beans 

[KhaoYai]

10 minutes ago, Miami007 said:

Only a small percentage of virus carriers dies. There are no Walking Dead among us. People need to get a grip on reality. Asymptomatic carriers won't die and the severely affected are in a hospital and not walking around (or already in nursing homes, which have about half of the deaths in some western countries)

Does the percentage actually matter? Yesterday there were 534 deaths reported in the UK. Do you think any of the relations of those people take comfort in the fact that their relative was one of that small percentage? They are dead!

[MRJOHNNY]

21 hours ago, Flying Saucage said:

Interesting to see these results, now as the land of purity Thailand eventually is starting to do some mass testing.

 

No need to panic too much, though. Thailand is in a lucky situation due to its climate. Thanks to the hot climate, people are either outdoors where the concentration of the virus loaded aerosols is low, as the dwell time of droplets and aerosols in the air is short.

 

Or they are indoors with an AC switched on, and the AC reduces aerosols and droplets in the air as well, leading also to low virus concentrations in the inhaled air. This low virus load statistically leads to mostly weak or asymptomatic cases. 

 

The outcome never will reach the level as northern countries experience during the wet and cold winter there.

 

Quite likely that what they are seeing now has been the situation for quite a while already, but due to not testing nobody saw it.

 

Although I agree with your comments, it just goes to show how Thailand hasn't been getting it right all along, I seem to remember back around May/June that a lot of large retail outlets were turning off their air con. When I queried this I was told by my other half and various people that air con assisted the spread of the contagion.

[Blumpie]

Thailand needs to slam the door shut to all people from Britain.  The new strain has more potential to spread by up to 70 percent. 

Countries around the world are slamming the door.

I wouldn't let a single brit in the country at this point.  

[KhaoYai]

3 minutes ago, Blumpie said:

Thailand needs to slam the door shut to all people from Britain.  The new strain has more potential to spread by up to 70 percent. 

Countries around the world are slamming the door.

I wouldn't let a single brit in the country at this point.  

The new strain is only more infectious - it is also not limited to the UK. There is no evidence that anyone with the new strain remains infectious any longer than others. Given that people coming from the UK are subject to quarantine just as everyone else is - what is the justification for your statement, other than trolling?

[KhaoYai]

7 minutes ago, Blumpie said:

Countries around the world are slamming the door.

How many precisely?

 

[ourmanflint]

9 minutes ago, KhaoYai said:

The new strain is only more infectious - it is also not limited to the UK. There is no evidence that anyone with the new strain remains infectious any longer than others. Given that people coming from the UK are subject to quarantine just as everyone else is - what is the justification for your statement, other than trolling?

Very true. Lots of folks speculating that it came across from Europe on a dinghy. Whatever the source, it should hopefully be covered by all current vaccines.