Thailand reports 745 new COVID-19 cases, one more death

[alexth]

18 hours ago, webfact said:

'Just stay home' - Thai PM urges compliance as virus cases hit record

 

FILE PHOTO: Thailand Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha waves as he attends an agreement signing ceremony for purchase of AstraZeneca's potential COVID-19 vaccine at Government House, amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Bangkok, Thailand November 27, 2020. REUTERS/Chalinee Thirasupa/Pool

 

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's prime minister on Monday urged the public to stay home to help contain the country's biggest coronavirus outbreak yet and avoid a strict lockdown, as authorities confirmed a daily record 745 new infections.

 

The government has declared 28 provinces, including Bangkok, as high-risk zones and asked people to work from home and avoid gathering or travel beyond their provinces, as infection numbers climb in the wake of outbreak first detected last month at a seafood market near the capital.

 

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said the government was mindful of the potential economic damage from strong containment measures.

 

"We don't want to lock down the entire country because we know what the problems are, therefore can you all lock down yourselves?" he told reporters.

 

"This is up to everyone, if we don't want to get infected just stay home for 14 to 15 days, if you think like this then things will be safe, easier for screening," Prayuth added.

 

There was also one new death confirmed on Monday. Of the 745 cases included in the day's total, 541 had been reported on Sunday by provincial authorities.

 

Thailand has recorded 8,439 coronavirus cases and 65 deaths overall, among the lowest numbers in Asia.

Most new cases are linked to a migrant worker cluster which started in Samut Sakhon, a province southwest of Bangkok, and led to infections in more than half of the country's provinces.

 

Bangkok authorities ordered restaurants and street food vendors to halt dine-in services between 7 p.m. and 6 a.m. from Tuesday to reduce the risk of the virus spreading. Take-outs will be allowed.

 

Alcohol sales in restaurants have been banned and bars and other entertainment venues closed in high-risk provinces. Provincial governors have been empowered to set their own restrictions.

 

Schools and education centres nationwide have been closed for one month.

 

(Reporting by Panu Wongcha-um; Editing by Martin Petty)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-01-04

 

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That is exactly my request for him when he ran for PM. "Stay home!" 

[Burma Bill]

18 hours ago, webfact said:

'Just stay home' - Thai PM urges

 

So much for the extra long weekends and public holidays to boost domestic tourism!

[phantomfiddler]

Has anyone stopped to try and figure how a "pandemic" that has supposedly killed 0.00009% of Thailand's population has managed to bring the country to a crushing halt ? The Black plague was in the region of 50%,  a difference factor of 555,000 to one !

[ChrisKC]

6 minutes ago, phantomfiddler said:

Has anyone stopped to try and figure how a "pandemic" that has supposedly killed 0.00009% of Thailand's population has managed to bring the country to a crushing halt ? The Black plague was in the region of 50%,  a difference factor of 555,000 to one !

No, nobody has thought of that. You are the first one!

[Ron jeremy]

1 hour ago, ThailandRyan said:

Sandy, you do realize many Thai's do not go to the hospital when they are sick with only minor symptoms, and government hospitals are always full with a very long que.  You folks that believe that if the regular non government hospitals are not full or people are dying that Covid is limited here in Thailand.  Think again Sir.  Enjoy your day.

Well said, 

[ThailandRyan]

52 minutes ago, ChrisKC said:

LOCKDOWN 2 The Sequel

 

Coming soon to a Province near You

Just saw on the news that a video conference will be held with all provinces to discuss Lockdown.  Better be prepared is all I am thinking, no panic, but travel may be impinged upon.  There goes my Chiang Mai trip at the end of the month.

[cyril sneer]

samut sakhon already announced 470 cases so I guess today will be around the 600-700 mark when they've added the daily 300 tests elsewhere carried out

[Bim Smith]

Full faith in the government. No operation fear here. The west have lost the plot.

[ThailandRyan]

3 minutes ago, Bim Smith said:

Full faith in the government. No operation fear here. The west have lost the plot.

Covid Fatigue perhaps?

[dlclark97]

I just returned from a short driving tour of Ban Chang.  It appears that almost every retail outlet selling non-essential items is open for business as usual.  Of the larger stores Mega Home is closed yet Thai Watsadu appears to be open.    I seem to remember an earlier announcement that stores/shops, selling foods and medicines, banks and phone shops among a very few others could remain open with restrictions but those selling non essential items were to be closed.  How do these things encourage people to stay at home to prevent the spread of COVID?

[spidermike007]

1 hour ago, phantomfiddler said:

Has anyone stopped to try and figure how a "pandemic" that has supposedly killed 0.00009% of Thailand's population has managed to bring the country to a crushing halt ? The Black plague was in the region of 50%,  a difference factor of 555,000 to one !

 

I do not think so. This is certainly the first time in history (first wave excluded) that most of the worlds economies were deliberately shut down. Even during all 51 of the major bubonic plagues, between 541AD In Europe and Western Asia, and the last one to happen in China in 1946, the Japanese smallpox plague of AD735, the Mexican smallpox plague of 1519, the massive influenza plague of 1616, which took an estimated 50% of more, of the local populations in Europe, and North America, the Russian cholera epidemic of 1846, the worldwide flu pandemic of 1889, and of course the infamous Spanish flu of 1918, which took out an estimated 20-100 million people, ports were locked down, and some isolation was done, but economies were never totally shut down. Makes one wonder what it truly going on. 

[DJ54]

20 hours ago, webfact said:

Schools and education centres nationwide have been closed for one month.

Aren’t the school closures specific provinces not Nationwide?

[Henryford]

1 Covid death, but 300 killed on the roads over the holiday.

[Stargeezr]

Maybe every one of you should be happy that this is not an Ebola pandemic.

Do you all need a worse pandemic, before is all gets serious enough for you.

   Geezer

[rabas]

39 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

 

I do not think so. This is certainly the first time in history (first wave excluded) that most of the worlds economies were deliberately shut down. Even during all 51 of the major bubonic plagues, between 541AD In Europe and Western Asia, and the last one to happen in China in 1946, the Japanese smallpox plague of AD735, the Mexican smallpox plague of 1519, the massive influenza plague of 1616, which took an estimated 50% of more, of the local populations in Europe, and North America, the Russian cholera epidemic of 1846, the worldwide flu pandemic of 1889, and of course the infamous Spanish flu of 1918, which took out an estimated 20-100 million people, ports were locked down, and some isolation was done, but economies were never totally shut down. Makes one wonder what it truly going on. 

 

After posting a long list of old pandemics that caused massive depopulation and economic destruction, you need to ask why a lockdown?

 

BTW, the 1616 epidemic was not Europe, it was mostly Wampanoag Indians in Southern New England and British North America along the coast. Possibly imported by the British who were not affected, unlikely to be influenza.

[Baerboxer]

23 hours ago, darksidedog said:

Doesn't matter how you try to dress it up, those are very bad numbers.

 

The total number of cases has almost doubled since December 14th. 

 

Doesn't matter how it's dressed up, that in itself, is illuminating. 

 

 

[Sheryl]

13 hours ago, goatfarmer said:

Right. The question is, how long would we have to wait to find out? I guess we should hunker down until we find out, as we did in March and April.

 

i think the data already shows that it is no longer a localized problem and there is  transmission taking place in the general community. The fact that many local cases have been found with no direct connection to the known clusters shows this.

 

How bad it will get remains to be seen, likely will continue to grow for the next 2-3 weeks after which we will start to see the effect of restrictions.

 

in Thailand's favor is the relatively low level of population density, tendency to socialize outdoors etc

[cyril sneer]

 

[spidermike007]

11 minutes ago, rabas said:

 

After posting a long list of old pandemics that caused massive depopulation and economic destruction, you need to ask why a lockdown?

 

BTW, the 1616 epidemic was not Europe, it was mostly Wampanoag Indians in Southern New England and British North America along the coast. Possibly imported by the British who were not affected, unlikely to be influenza.

 

I was making a distinction between an economic lockdown, which cripples millions of families, and travel restrictions. A nation can have one without the other. Also, why all of the inconsistencies? Restaurants can remain open. Bars cannot. Does beer cause Covid? How about salons? Gyms? Pet salons? Malls? The lack of a cohesive policy is disturbing. One province closed for travel, but not others. You cannot drive into Chaiyaphum or Nakorn Ratchasima province today, without quarantine. But you can drive in and out of Bangkok. It all seems rather bizarre, and there seems to be an extreme lack of science applied to the policy making here. 

[Baerboxer]

3 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

Sandy, you do realize many Thai's do not go to the hospital when they are sick with only minor symptoms, and government hospitals are always full with a very long que.  You folks that believe that if the regular non government hospitals are not full or people are dying that Covid is limited here in Thailand.  Think again Sir.  Enjoy your day.

 

Most people don't rush to hospital when they are sick with minor symptoms, whatever the issue. So that's an irrelevance. People buy proprietary medicines and if that doesn't work go to a pharmacy for advice. If more serious or worsening, they may go to hospital.

 

Non government hospitals aren't empty. They have numerous patients, out-patients, with various issues being treated, including regular patients. I have to see a specialists every other month so visit hospital regularly. Always usually busy, with checks on the door before entry by a nurse.  Use some other hospitals too, same there.

 

There hasn't, AFAIK, been any mass hospitalizations due to Covid 19 or its variants in Thailand. There most certainly has in other countries. That might be due to a number of reasons, all which would be speculative.

 

The problem at present, is IME, complacency was setting in, guards were being dropped, a few people went back to their old business habits and opened the lid on spreading it much more widely. How this will be contained, if it can be, and the effects of a near doubling of cases in less than a month (14th December to 4th Jan) is the real question. And this will be a significant test. 

 

 

[bluesofa]

43 minutes ago, Henryford said:

1 Covid death, but 300 killed on the roads over the holiday.

Perhaps we need another vaccine for driving?

Should it be one to inject common sense and spatial awareness?

[bluesofa]

1 hour ago, DJ54 said:

21 hours ago, webfact said:

Schools and education centres nationwide have been closed for one month.

Aren’t the school closures specific provinces not Nationwide?

Can you provide a link to the text, "Schools and education centres nationwide have been closed for one month"

I saw it yesterday too. It seems to have disappeared?

[4MyEgo]

4 hours ago, Tonypandy said:

They don't have the money, hence no vaccine purchased 

 

From what I have read, they have purchased 3 million doses from China, 200,000 arriving next month, 800,000 following that, then 2 million after that, then 26 million doses of AstraZeneca in May.

 

They have also been asking Thai Citizens to donate so they can buy vaccines, so yes it does sound like they are running out of money, or have run out of money, don't know, but I will gladly pay for the AstraZeneca dose when it arrives.

[gamini]

The whole world complements-Thailand for the fantastic job they have done p containing the virus. But certain pathetic Thai bashers on this forum do everything they can to belittle the great job that Thailand has done. Whilst in their own countries the virus problem has been badly handled. Shame on them.

[taxin]

15 hours ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

 

Hard lockdown now, then vaccinate all the VIPs, open up again and let the virus cull the rest of us at will.

The virus has a 99. something % recovery rate, so not likely to be much of a cull. 
 

Personally I would welcome your suggestion, even if I was not one of the VIP’s. The recovery rate is proven and I’m prepared to take the chance.

 

My life is hell at the moment, and that’s not because I’m unable to fondle bar girls while sipping my Chang. If I was told my life would be back to normal but I have a 1% chance of dying I would welcome it. I’m probably not alone in this thinking.

[Muzzique]

12 minutes ago, gamini said:

The whole world complements-Thailand for the fantastic job they have done p containing the virus. But certain pathetic Thai bashers on this forum do everything they can to belittle the great job that Thailand has done. Whilst in their own countries the virus problem has been badly handled. Shame on them.

 

Any thing can look good if you massage the figures. You don't go to lockdown with only 745 cases a day. You are living in cuckoo land if you believe this.

 

And no, the whole World does not compliment Thailand. They know the figures are being sent are bogus and understand the restrictions place on the Thai media blocking COVID reporting prevent the truth getting out . It's just naive people who fall for this BS.

[Virt]

1 hour ago, spidermike007 said:

 

I do not think so. This is certainly the first time in history (first wave excluded) that most of the worlds economies were deliberately shut down. Even during all 51 of the major bubonic plagues, between 541AD In Europe and Western Asia, and the last one to happen in China in 1946, the Japanese smallpox plague of AD735, the Mexican smallpox plague of 1519, the massive influenza plague of 1616, which took an estimated 50% of more, of the local populations in Europe, and North America, the Russian cholera epidemic of 1846, the worldwide flu pandemic of 1889, and of course the infamous Spanish flu of 1918, which took out an estimated 20-100 million people, ports were locked down, and some isolation was done, but economies were never totally shut down. Makes one wonder what it truly going on. 

 

Times were different then and it's difficult to compare the situations. 

 

Today the world is globalised on a whole different level and people fly to work or drive 100 of kilometers to get to work, plus the population density is so much higher these days. 

 

Diseases just spread so much faster today compared to the past. 

[NoBrainer]

Thai Visa always has old news. 1 day behind

 

The other main story from the recent news letter (comments are Closed) is yesterdays news.

 

Todays news is   "Prayut rejects proposal to seal off 5 provinces"

[ThailandRyan]

Looks like the good PM is trying to not kill the economy completely while hoping that the virus just fades into the sunset without doing anything to ensure the blossoming cases do not expand.  I feel he believes if he controls the migrant population then the virus will recede.

[Nanaplaza666]

He doesn't want to lock down the country but instead he wants EVERYBODY to stay home for 14 days ???? Isn't that axactly the same ?? If EVERYBODY stays home that means EVERYTHING will be closed so looks like a lockdown to me .