Nonthaburi provincial authorities on Friday ordered Wat Boromracha Kanchanapisek Anusorn, also known as Wat Leng Noei Yi 2, a famous Chinese Buddhist temple located in Bangbuathong district, to be closed temporarily from December 25 until January 8.
“Officials will use the temple’s premises as quarantine location for persons suspected of contracting Covid-19 but are yet to show symptoms,” province officials said on the Facebook page of Nonthaburi Covid-19 Information Centre on Friday evening.
Two new Covid-19 cases have been recently reported in Nonthaburi — both are Myanmar national female workers at the temple aged 54 and 46 years.
After the cases were found, 113 monks and staff of the temple were quarantined within the temple.
Health officials are tracing their travel history and testing people who might have had close contact with the patients.
Six officials in the Prime Minister’s Office at Government House who had earlier tested positive for Covid-19 via rapid test were ruled as not infected after swab test, a senior official said.
Government House had performed random screening of its 700 staff on Friday afternoon. The six positive results came from the first batch of 350 staff whose saliva was tested with rapid test kits. The second batch will be tested on Monday.
“The six staffers were ruled as carrying no risk, but were told to work from home for the peace of mind of their colleagues,” Nuttreeya Thaweewong, director at Office of Spokesman, Secretariat of the Prime Minister, said on Friday evening.
The Thailand Meteorological Department said on Saturday that the high-pressure system over upper Thailand is weakening, causing the temperature to rise by 1-3 degrees Celsius with possible morning fog.
Cool to cold weather continues in the North and the Northeast, while mountaintops remain cold to very cold with frost in some place. Motorists in upper Thailand should proceed with caution due to poor visibility, the department said
Meanwhile, the weak northeast monsoon prevailing over the Gulf and the South, will bring isolated heavy rain to the areas.
The weather forecast for the next 24 hours:
North: Cold to cool weather with light fog in the morning; minimum temperature 10-21 degrees Celsius, maximum 27-34°C; temperature on hilltops likely to drop to 4-12°C with frost in some areas.
Northeast: Cool weather with light fog in the morning; minimum temperature 17-22°C, maximum 30-31°C; temperature on hilltops is likely to drop to 10-15°C.
Central: Partly cloudy with light fog in the morning; minimum temperature 23-24°C, maximum 31-34°C.
East: Partly cloudy with light fog in the morning; minimum temperature 23-25°C, maximum 31-34°C; waves 1-2 metres high and two metres off shore.
South (east coast): Mostly cloudy with thundershowers in 40 per cent of the areas and isolated heavy rain; minimum temperature 23-25°C, maximum 26-30°C; waves 1-2 metres high and two metres during thundershowers.
South (west coast): Mostly cloudy with thundershowers in 20 per cent of the areas; minimum temperature 21-24°C, maximum 28-30°C; waves a metre high and 1-2 metres during thundershowers.
Bangkok and surrounding areas: Light fog in the morning; minimum temperature 23-25°C, maximum 30-34°C.
Time for Prayut and his allies to reflect on national security, amid Covid surge and prolonged political conflict
NationalDec 26. 2020Police erected a barrier of razor wire and shipping containers to prevent a rally at the Crown Property Bureau, so protesters switched their focus to the Siam Commercial Bank headquarters on November 25.
By Wichit Chaitrong The Nation/ Analysis
Flooding and Covid-19 have exposed serious flaws in national security under the government of PM Prayut Chan-o-cha this year.
The deep faults in national security strategy are highlighted by the mismanagement of tax funds and the handling of youth-led protesters under Prayut’s leadership.
The prime minister is again under fire after Covid infections spiked over last weekend. Migrant workers from Myanmar, especially illegal immigrants, are the suspected source of the outbreak, which centred on a Samut Sakhon seafood market and saw cases jump by over 500 last Saturday.
Observers have criticised the government’s failure to monitor migrant workers and crack down on migrant-trafficking gangs at the border, despite setting up the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA).
Social activist Sombat Boonngamanong noted the government had redirected border patrol police to counter pro-democracy rallies in Bangkok.
Instead of using them to prevent illegal entry by migrants from Covid-ravaged neighbouring countries, the government has deployed border police to keep an eye on protesters during major street rallies in the last few months.
Bangkok police in November and December also barricaded roads with razor wire and shipping containers, in a move ridiculed as overkill by observers.
Some pointed out that the razor wire barriers could be used more productively at borders to prevent virus-infected smugglers sneaking into the country.
The excessive response to peaceful student-led protests that began in July eventually turned violent when the government imposed an emergency decree and police fired water cannon and teargas to clear the gatherings. Royalist counter-protests were also mobilised against the pro-democracy movement, leading to violent clashes.
In a desperate bid to crush protests calling for Prayut to step down, a new Constitution and monarchy reform, police have lately applied the draconian lese majeste law against dozens of protesters, including a 16-year-old child.
The United Nations High Commission for Human Rights criticised the government for using Section 112 – which carries jail sentences of up to 15 years – against demonstrators exercising their internationally recognised right to protest peacefully.
The government defended its actions as “protecting national security”. However, the Covid-19 surge suggests Prayut’s administration has a warped view of national security priorities that has weakened Thailand by shifting human and financial resources to counter protesters rather than the virus. If Prayut and his inner-circle were genuinely focused on the nation’s security, they would have allocated more personnel and budget to combating Covid-19 instead of wasting human and financial resources on countering peaceful protests. More evidence of misplaced priorities came with the Bt54 million in tax money spent by the Royal Thai Air Force to renovate a toilet on its VVIP jet-liner.
The government also fared badly in efforts to combat severe flooding which hit almost 1 million people in the South this year. Prayut’s administration prioritised combat of a different sort, spending billions on military hardware including a submarine, despite the absence of threats – marine or otherwise – from foreign powers. The budget choices were more proof of misplaced national security priorities among Prayut and his military top brass.
Academics duly called on the government to abandon a national security strategy rooted in the military-establishment alliance.
Surachart Bamrungsuk, a political science professor at Chulalongkorn University, urged the government to cancel its 20-year national strategy – a legacy of the post-coup junta – warning the plan would quickly be rendered obsolete by the fast-changing global and local landscape. He observed that the national strategy was a political tool designed to entrench the military’s role in government following the March 2019 general election. Hence it was not capable of addressing the country’s current problems, he added.
The impact of Covid-19 had severely damaged the country’s economy and competitiveness. The unforeseen crisis had rendered the 20-year national strategy worthless, Surachart wrote in a comment piece headlined “Is the 20-year National Strategy relevant post-Covid 19?” published by the Nation Thailand in April.
Meanwhile Thailand is officially becoming an ageing society. Protecting national security now means finding ways to boost productivity of the younger generation, since they are the ones who will have to pay off the huge public debt built up by this generation. The youngsters will need to shoulder the growing burden of caring for the aged. The priority now is to upgrade the quality of education to support this young generation. There is also an urgent need to strengthen key institutions, especially the political and judicial systems that mediate conflicts in society. However, the government has ignored this need, instead exploiting those institutions as weapons to combat younger generations and their demands for national reform and genuine democracy.
Prayut and his Cabinet have branded pro-democracy protesters as youthful troublemakers. The reality is that many in the older generation back their calls for national reform. Former prime minister Anand Panyarachun has expressed support for amendment of the lese majeste law. Business leader Banyong Pongpanich has backed monarchy reform, suggesting that Thailand should return to the benchmark set by King Rama IX. The previous monarch did not take control of two Army regiments in Bangkok, nor did he have direct control over the Crown Property Bureau.
It has become obvious that the youth-led democracy movement wants “rule of law” as the solid ground on which Thailand can develop in the 21st century. This is the priority that all stakeholders in the country can agree on. The youth are already determined to achieve it in their lifetime, but the current government has rewarded their efforts with charges of sedition and lese majeste. Unfortunately, Prayut and his old alliance are still at a loss over the true identity of national security. The New Year is the right time for them and the whole country to reflect on this issue.
The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) released a map of Thailand with provinces colour coded based on the level of Covid-19 risk and strength of measures taken.
The colours are red, orange, yellow and green, with red being provinces with the highest number of infections. As of Friday, of the 32 provinces where Covid-19 cases have been confirmed, the only one marked in red was Samut Sakhon.
Province marked out in orange, signifying more than 10 cases, were Bangkok, Samut Songkhram, Ratchaburi, Nakhon Pathom, Nonthaburi and Samut Prakan.
Provinces marked out in yellow, where fewer than 10 cases have been found, are Saraburi, Suphanburi, Pathum Thani, Uttaradit, Chachoengsao, Kamphaeng Phet, Phetchabun, Ayutthaya, Phuket, Phetchaburi, Nakhon Ratchasima, Prachinburi, Krabi, Khon Kaen, Chai Nat, Udon Thani, Phichit, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Surat Thani, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Chaiyaphum, Nakhon Sawan, Ang Thong, Ubon Ratchathani, Songkhla and Loei.
The rest of the provinces were marked in green to show no Covid-19 cases have been reported in the new wave of infections.
Six officials in the Prime Minister’s Office at Government House have tested positive for Covid-19 after random screening of its 700 staff. The six positive results came from the first batch of 350 staff whose saliva was screened with rapid test kits. The second batch will be tested on Monday.
The six whose results came back positive have been tested again via the swab method to confirm the infection, with the results due tomorrow (December 26).
Government House has now been closed to outsiders, while all documents delivered to the building are being sterilised in a UV cabinet.
The building will be sterilised in a deep-cleaning operation on Friday. Meanwhile the press pack at Government House have been warned they face rapid tests if the situation does not improve.
The Department of Disease Control (DDC) has revealed a new Covid-19 cluster from a “big-bike party” in Koh Lanta, with around 10 confirmed infections and 129 people at risk.
A Covid-19 patient travelled from Samut Sakhon on December 9 with two friends to attend the Multistrada Thailand Meeting of Ducati bikers on December 11 in Koh Lanta.
There he came in contact with 133 people, 129 of whom are at high risk and four not at such high risk. All these people have been tracked and contacted as the hotel had registered every partygoer.
So far, 10 cases related to this party have been detected, including the initial one from Samut Sakhon.
Four cases have been found in Krabi, one of whom attended the party in Koh Lanta and then transmitted the virus to his wife, daughter and relative.
One partygoer transmitted the virus to his two sons in Phuket, while two infections were recorded in Songkhla, as one of the big bikers transmitted the virus to his younger sister.
DDC has called on authorities in each province to look out for people who may have attended the Koh Lanta party and passed the infection on to others.
Thai seafood to be packaged with ‘Covid-safe’ mark from Dec 26
NationalDec 25. 2020esak Pakdeekong, director-general of the Fisheries Department, chomps on a boiled shrimp to promote the safety of Thai seafood.
By The Nation
From tomorrow, two standards will certify Thai seafood and aquatic products are free from Covid-19 contamination. The move by the Fisheries Department is aimed at building confidence in Thai fisheries produce both domestically and in neighbouring countries. So far, 60 exporters have applied for the new safety certification.
Department chief Mesak Pakdeekong said the Covid-19 outbreak in Samut Sakhon’s central shrimp market had spread to other areas, sparking public alarm over food safety and threatening livelihoods in the fisheries industry.
In response, two new Covid safety certificates had been issued. The first covers fishing boats, fish markets, transport systems, retailers and modern trade markets, while the second applies to farms, transport and markets. The certification will be marked on product packaging to build confidence among consumers.
“The Fisheries Department will check for Covid-19 at origin – as produce leaves farms or is unloaded from fishing boats. Fisheries workers, farmers and those who receive their produce must all be Covid-free [to be certified]. Certification will start from December 26,” said Mesak.
So far, Laos is the only country that has banned Thai seafood exports following the Samut Sakhon outbreak.
The Fisheries Department said it has joined hands with Charoen Pokphand Foods (CPF) to distribute produce such as steamed blue crab, banana shrimp, boiled shrimp, giant freshwater prawn, mantis shrimp, king mackerel, snapper, catfish under the “Thai aquaculture standards to combat Covid-19” campaign.
Wichan Ingsrisawang, the department’s deputy director-general, said more than 60 businesses had applied for the new certification guaranteeing their supply chains were Covid-free, most of them exporters. The Samut Sakhon shrimp market, which also sent produce to Laos, had been unable to offer such a guarantee, he added.
Cash-and-carry operation Siam Makro, a subsidiary of CP Group, is among the businesses who have applied for certification, he said.
The Commerce Ministry has joined hands with relevant agencies to build confidence in the safety of Thai seafood after Laos temporarily banned fresh, chilled and frozen seafood.
The aim of the ministry’s exercise is to build confidence that Thai seafood is Covid-19-free.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Commerce Jurin Laksanawisit revealed that the Laos Ministry of Industry and Trade was preparing to implement a temporary ban on import of fresh, chilled and frozen seafood products from Thailand after an outbreak in the central shrimp market in Samut Sakhon province.
Jurin on Wednesday instructed the Department of International Trade Promotion and the director of the Office of Foreign Trade Promotion in Vientiane to resolve the issue. He will discuss with the Department of Fisheries on preparing a hygiene certificate for export goods among measures to build confidence in the buyers.
Somdet Susomboon, director-general at the Department of International Trade Promotion, said the department had coordinated with the Commerce ambassador and Thai Embassy in Laos, including related agencies, to clarify the facts to the Laos Ministry of Industry and Trade, and assure them that both fresh and frozen Thai seafood are not contaminated. Importantly, from the technical data of the Department of Fisheries, it is confirmed that marine animals are cold-blooded and therefore there is absolutely no chance of them getting Covid-19.
“At this time, various agencies are trying to do whatever it takes to ensure fresh, chilled and frozen seafood, including processed food of Thailand, are free of Covid-19. Also, the Thai government has already enforced strict epidemic control measures and is getting results as well. Thailand had not found any infection in the country for the past several months,” said Somdet.
However from discussions with the Department of Fisheries, there is advice that if buyers of seafood are not confident about contamination or infection during the transportation process, they can buy seafood directly at the farm without having to go to the market.
Poj Aramwattananon, president of Thai Frozen Foods Association, said importers of agricultural and fisheries products cannot declare a ban on the import of agricultural and fishery products since these products are under the World Trade Organisation agreement (WTO) signed by member countries. It is not possible to ban the import of this group of goods from other member countries without a good reason unless it is announced by the WTO that consuming the food will be harmful or even fatal. In which case, the situation will be similar to the bird flu outbreak where the WTO announced a ban on members importing chicken from countries with the outbreak and to have strict inspection measures before importing.
“In the case of Thai seafood, there were some inquiries from overseas buyers about hygiene measures. Thailand has already strictly undertaken measures for more than six months. The order for seafood from major buyers has not been cancelled yet,” Poj assured.
Somsak Paneetatyasai, president of the Thai Shrimp Association, revealed that the main importers — China, European Union, and Japan — had already inspected products from Mahachai Market. China stated that the virus was not found from Thailand, but the virus was detected from Myanmar products, while the EU and Japan said no infection was found in Thai product packaging.
“Therefore, the case of Laos preparing to ban Thai fishery products is probably more a case of panic, which is hard to understand right now. It takes time to build confidence. As for other countries, there is no problem and we can still export shrimp as usual. However, we must ensure that the products released from the factory are free from the Covid-19 virus because the Myanmar workers are legal with clear residence area, not illegal labourers smuggled into the country and hidden in small shrimp retailers,” said Somsak.
Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o- cha has called for steps to build confidence in fishery exports.
After a special session of the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) on Thursday, which discussed zoning the virus risk area, the committee also discussed other economic matters including tourism, export and the possible seafood ban from Laos.
After the meeting, a reporter asked Jurin Laksanawisit, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Commerce, on how he planned to deal with the issue of Thai product standards, especially fishery products after the latest Covid-19 outbreak. Jurin did not answer and left.
Deputy Prime Minister Supattanapong Punmeechaow said every seafood product could be exported normally according to standard and would not be seriously affected by the virus.
A source from the CCSA meeting revealed that the prime minister expressed concern about confidence in Thai food abroad, especially Thai seafood, after the ban by Laos. He told Jurin to establish standards for fishery products for export to build confidence in Thai food so that international consumers will know Thai food can be consumed as normal.
Bangkok authorities are speeding up the mission to screen migrant workers for Covid-19 across the capital.
On Friday, Bangkok governor Aswin Kwanmuang said that 7,220 immigrant workers in 484 markets across the capital had been screened since December 21.
The move follows last week’s outbreak of Covid-19 among locals and migrant workers at a Samut Sakhon shrimp market, 45 kilometres southwest of Bangkok.
Posting on Facebook, Aswin said Bangkok officials will evaluate workers’ history before conducting swab tests on those found to be at risk of infection.
“Meanwhile, we have screened 54,257 immigrant workers in 5,890 businesses and construction sites across the capital. We will complete the operation as soon as possible,” he said.
“We would also like to thank the Mor Lab Panda team for their support,” he said, referring to the popular Facebook page run by celebrity medic Parkpoom Dejhutsadin.
Aswin added that City Hall has deployed medical personnel to deal with the Covid-19 outbreak in Bangkok and its vicinity.
“We are ready to raise the protection level to curb the spread of the virus if the situation worsens,” he said.
All public New Year’s events have been banned in Bangkok, which has been placed in the Orange zone (more than 10 cases) as part of the four zones – Green, Yellow, Orange, Red – of Covid-19 restrictions.
Police erected a barrier of razor wire and shipping containers to prevent a rally at the Crown Property Bureau, so protesters switched their focus to the Siam Commercial Bank headquarters on November 25.
esak Pakdeekong, director-general of the Fisheries Department, chomps on a boiled shrimp to promote the safety of Thai seafood.
