Thailand expands lockdown areas as COVID-19 cases surge

[webfact]

Oxygen cylinders are seen at a store as demand for oxygen continues to grow amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Bangkok, Thailand, July 17, 2021. REUTERS/Chalinee Thirasupa

 

BANGKOK (Reuters) -The Thai government on Sunday announced plans for a tighter lockdown in Bangkok and high-risk provinces next week, suspending most domestic flights and expanding curfew areas after the country reported a third straight day of record COVID-19 case numbers.

 

Thailand reported 11,397 infections and 101 deaths on Sunday, bringing the cumulative total to 403,386 cases and 3,341 fatalities, the vast majority from an outbreak since early April that is being fuelled by the highly transmissible Alpha and Delta COVID-19 variants.

 

Domestic flights to and from Bangkok and other provinces classified by the Thai government as at high risk from COVID-19 will be suspended from Wednesday, the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) said in an announcement.

 

Exceptions are being made for medical flights, emergency landing aircraft and flights in connection with the government's tourism reopening programs, while other local flights can only fly at 50% capacity, the announcement said.

 

Tougher measures designed to keep people in high risk areas mostly at home will be introduced from Tuesday, said General Nattapon Nakpanich, the chief of National Security Council, but supermarkets, banks, hospitals and medical clinics will still be allowed to open.

 

Shopping malls will be closed and a 9 p.m.-4 a.m. curfew will be imposed from Tuesday onwards in Chonburi, Ayutthaya and Chachoengsao provinces, an announcement on the official Royal Gazette on Sunday showed.

 

Bangkok and nine other provinces have already been under these restrictions, the toughest in more than a year, since last Monday, as the country battles its longest-running and most severe outbreak so far.

 

Thai health authorities said they were stepping up efforts to secure more vaccines to fight the latest outbreak, with a deal for 20 million doses of Pfizer vaccines to be concluded on Monday and an order for 50 million more doses under consideration, said the director-general of the Department of Disease Control Opas Karnkawinpong.

 

Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul also plans to seek approval from the country's COVID-19 task force to temporarily regulate the export amount of locally manufactured AstraZeneca vaccines as a way to shore up COVID-19 vaccine supplies, but he gave no details about quotas, several local media reported.

 

Thailand has been producing the AstraZeneca vaccine since June and is slated to export it to several other countries in Southeast Asia as well as Taiwan.

 

When the idea was earlier raised by the government, AstraZeneca said the Thai production facility "is of critical importance" to the region and the company is working with the Thai and other governments to "continue to deliver equitable vaccine access to the region."

 

Thailand's vaccine rollout, which has depended on the Sinovac and AstraZeneca vaccines, began in June. So far about 5% of the 66 million population have been doubly vaccinated.

 

(Reporting by Panu Wongcha-um; Editing by Kim Coghill, Edmund Klamann and Hugh Lawson)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-07-19

 

- Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you

- Follow ASEAN NOW on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

[Albert Zweistein]

Stepping up efforts, under consideration. JUST ORDER THE ******* JABS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[RichardColeman]

40 minutes ago, webfact said:

Exceptions are being made for medical flights, emergency landing aircraft and flights in connection with the government's tourism reopening programs, while other local flights can only fly at 50% capacity, the announcement said.

Interesting that they now consider tourists for reopening programs in the same category as medical flights and emergency landings !

 

 

[brucegoniners]

That's hardly a lockdown. And a lockdown is what the country needs right now. Not a band aid.

 

Lock the entire country down like was done last spring and the problem will work itself out. 

 

Don't do it and watch the situation spiral out of control. Instead of a hundred dead a day you'll start seeing deaths in 4 digits daily and perhaps more.

 

And frankly, I can't trust the numbers this government is giving us now.

[nobodysfriend]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand has been producing the AstraZeneca vaccine since June and is slated to export it to several other countries in Southeast Asia

AFAIK there is only one country that managed to effectively control the spread of the Virus . That is China . And how did they manage this ? Remember ? Strict lockdown for whole regions . And testing .

But Thai government helped to spread the virus by allowing people to move to their home provinces from Bkk for Songkran etc .

Instead of being hard and imposing tough measures when it was time for that , they did too little . And no foresight of what probably will happen , at all . 

The mess they ( and us ) are in now could have been avoided by more intelligent measures when it was time for that .

[TheFishman1]

 Amazing Thailand a country at flip flops is coming lockdown is the biggest joke ever why don’t they just lock down the whole country start rolling out the vaccine to everybody living in Thailand and maybe that was just slow down the spread of this virus I think the main problem is and has always been corruption and every level TIT

[riverhigh]

"Tougher measures designed to keep people in high risk areas mostly at home will be introduced from Tuesday"

 

Why not not suspend the unecessary "90 day report" to keep people away fom mulling around in a confined place. I know, I know I'm asking too much from the small bureacratic mind. 

[jacko45k]

Just now, riverhigh said:

"Tougher measures designed to keep people in high risk areas mostly at home will be introduced from Tuesday"

 

Why not not suspend the unecessary "90 day report" to keep people away fom mulling around in a confined place. I know, I know I'm asking too much from the small bureacratic mind. 

Or do it on-line or by mail...... 

This is not an issue for the wider Thai population being impacted by Covid.... more about queuing for any food distribution.

[vandeventer]

15 minutes ago, brucegoniners said:

That's hardly a lockdown. And a lockdown is what the country needs right now. Not a band aid.

 

Lock the entire country down like was done last spring and the problem will work itself out. 

 

Don't do it and watch the situation spiral out of control. Instead of a hundred dead a day you'll start seeing deaths in 4 digits daily and perhaps more.

 

And frankly, I can't trust the numbers this government is giving us now.

Funny how some people travel more when there is a lockdown? Maybe if they are caught they should be wearing a leg ban to track them. Spreading Delta covid is not good for anyone.

[diddygq]

15 minutes ago, nobodysfriend said:

AFAIK there is only one country that managed to effectively control the spread of the Virus . That is China . And how did they manage this ? Remember ? Strict lockdown for whole regions . And testing .

But Thai government helped to spread the virus by allowing people to move to their home provinces from Bkk for Songkran etc .

Instead of being hard and imposing tough measures when it was time for that , they did too little . And no foresight of what probably will happen , at all . 

The mess they ( and us ) are in now could have been avoided by more intelligent measures when it was time for that .

Only one country? What about Taiwan, New Zealand, Australia, etc?  Or you could argue that Sweden did it right. They almost had no restrictions whatsoever and just kept living normally. 

[impulse]

4 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

Interesting that they now consider tourists for reopening programs in the same category as medical flights and emergency landings !

No they don't.  They consider them safe to move around the country.

 

[Dialemco]

Let's hope more vaccines can be obtained soonest to control the viras as this looks like the only way out of this pandemic. Meanwhile so many are suffering for so long owing lack of tourists who were their only source of income. The Phuket and Samui schemes are only catering for a few guests of high income hotels which of little if no benefit to poor Thai families 

[10baht]

13 minutes ago, diddygq said:

AFAIK there is only one country that managed to effectively control the spread of the Virus . That is China .

And you believe their numbers? The sinovacs only works in China? Please send me your contact info if you are interested in some beach front property in Chaing Mai. 

[Cat Boy]

As reported daily in the media from government pronouncements of various vaccines ordered, if you add them all up, certainly they total far over a billion doses for a population of just 69 million, yet only 5% of the population are fully vaccinated, hospitals are canceling appointments due to a lack of vaccine, tests among construction workers have ceased due to lack of capacity in the hospitals, while new cases and deaths are surging. Clearly these pronouncements of orders for importation of vaccines are fantasy. They don't exist. And the companies, have openly denied the supposed talks ever happened.

[DUNROAMIN]

40 minutes ago, nobodysfriend said:

AFAIK there is only one country that managed to effectively control the spread of the Virus . That is China . And how did they manage this ? Remember ? Strict lockdown for whole regions . And testing .

But Thai government helped to spread the virus by allowing people to move to their home provinces from Bkk for Songkran etc .

Instead of being hard and imposing tough measures when it was time for that , they did too little . And no foresight of what probably will happen , at all . 

The mess they ( and us ) are in now could have been avoided by more intelligent measures when it was time for that .

'More intelligent measures.' Not in the Thai dictionary.

[10baht]

1 minute ago, Danderman123 said:

Do you believe that that there are currently mass infections and deaths in China?

Not yet, but more than they are reporting. 

[wensiensheng]

4 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

Interesting that they now consider tourists for reopening programs in the same category as medical flights and emergency landings !

 

 

Yes, that part of the sentence, within that article is totally incongruous 

[wensiensheng]

Just now, 10baht said:

Not yet, but more than they are reporting. 

Just your opinion, right? I mean, you have no facts or reputable sources to back up what you say?

[wensiensheng]

5 minutes ago, Cat Boy said:

As reported daily in the media from government pronouncements of various vaccines ordered, if you add them all up, certainly they total far over a billion doses for a population of just 69 million, yet only 5% of the population are fully vaccinated, hospitals are canceling appointments due to a lack of vaccine, tests among construction workers have ceased due to lack of capacity in the hospitals, while new cases and deaths are surging. Clearly these pronouncements of orders for importation of vaccines are fantasy. They don't exist. And the companies, have openly denied the supposed talks ever happened.

Well, a lot of the announcements relate the same purchase so as to give the impression that more are being ordered, than actually are. The infamous Moderna 5 mil for the end of the year is a classic case in point.

[wensiensheng]

15 minutes ago, 10baht said:

And you believe their numbers? The sinovacs only works in China? Please send me your contact info if you are interested in some beach front property in Chaing Mai. 

Sinovac does work in China. I don’t believe the delta variant is prevalent there and so sinovac is adequate. That could change of course.

[wensiensheng]

32 minutes ago, diddygq said:

Only one country? What about Taiwan, New Zealand, Australia, etc?  Or you could argue that Sweden did it right. They almost had no restrictions whatsoever and just kept living normally. 

Singapore, s Korea Barbados,. A number of countries dealt with the virus by containing it with lockdowns and vaccinating aggressively ASAP.

[Fairynuff]

33 minutes ago, diddygq said:

Only one country? What about Taiwan, New Zealand, Australia, etc?  Or you could argue that Sweden did it right. They almost had no restrictions whatsoever and just kept living normally. 

And they very quickly faced the consequences of that action

[diddygq]

1 minute ago, wensiensheng said:

Just your opinion, right? I mean, you have no facts or reputable sources to back up what you say?

Well, everybody knows China is totally incompetent and irresponsible. I mean they were claiming that it couldn't be spread from human to human weeks after they knew it was. The fact is they silenced whistle blowers like Dr. Li Wenliang. They shut down a city of 12 million but let international flights spread it to the entire world. We are talking about a country who just erases history and lies to their population. So the Chinese Communist Party can never be trusted. 

[10baht]

4 minutes ago, 10baht said:

Do you believe that that there are currently mass infections and deaths in China?

Maybe I do not quite get what you mean by deaths? Opposite of living? You check what it is like with their restrictions and tell me you think that is living.

[Surasak]

40 minutes ago, nobodysfriend said:

AFAIK there is only one country that managed to effectively control the spread of the Virus . That is China . And how did they manage this ? Remember ? Strict lockdown for whole regions . And testing .

But Thai government helped to spread the virus by allowing people to move to their home provinces from Bkk for Songkran etc .

Instead of being hard and imposing tough measures when it was time for that , they did too little . And no foresight of what probably will happen , at all . 

The mess they ( and us ) are in now could have been avoided by more intelligent measures when it was time for that .

Foresight and intelligence!!?? There is a very serious lack of both. There always has been and I don't see it changing anytime soon. The ฿ beats any other consideration and always will.

[NemoH]

Based on the stats - of 403,386 cases and 3,341 fatalities, there is 0.005% of covid amongst Thailand 7.5m population and a death rate 0.0008 % of those infected... ?? Is this true?

[ronster]

One way to keep them naughty protesters under control . As for the flights I imagine it won’t make much difference as most were relatively empty to certain destinations , so it gives airlines an excuse to stop flights that are costing them fortunes flying almost empty planes .

[lks7689]

16 minutes ago, 10baht said:

And you believe their numbers? The sinovacs only works in China? Please send me your contact info if you are interested in some beach front property in Chaing Mai. 

I don't believe China's reported numbers. But I do believe life is mostly back to normal there except places with low sporadic cases, mostly towns bordering Russia or Myanmar. It will be interesting if the Delta variant is set loose in China but then they have shown that they are willing to implement hard lockdown and mass testing to prevent that from happening. 

[rabas]

3 minutes ago, wensiensheng said:

Singapore, s Korea Barbados,. A number of countries dealt with the virus by containing it with lockdowns and vaccinating aggressively ASAP.

All counties in East Asia initially battled the least infectious D614 variant. The much more infectious G614 variant was established early in Europe and the US. Now, even worse variants are coming back to E Asia. That does not mean lock downs did not help somewhat initially.

 

Good thing we now have vaccines. Or at least talk about them in some places..

[riverhigh]

43 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

Or do it on-line or by mail...... 

This is not an issue for the wider Thai population being impacted by Covid.... more about queuing for any food distribution.

A lot of my friends have given up on the online system due to technical issues and simmply don't trust the mail. The 90 day report is counter productive and now a health issue. If the Thai government wants to promote Thailand as a place to retire and tourism in general they need to get their heads out of the sand. I would like to dispute your argument that "This is not an issue for the wider Thai population being impacted by Covid". This is a significant issue for Thais living in tourist areas who rely on the foreign retiree and tourist foor their livelihood.