People from more than 400 households in a subdistrict of Nakhon Si Thammarat province have to cross a bridge on foot or by using a motorcycle after it collapsed due to severe flooding.
To prevent accidents, the 4th Army Area troops and the Department of Rural Roads officials are speeding up maintenance and construction of the bypass in Krungching subdistrict, expecting to complete the work in three days.
The Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation said that 321,057 households in the provinces of Surat Thani, Krabi, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Trang, Phatthalung and Songkhla were still struggling with floods.
Six provinces in the South are still inundated from the impact of the northeast monsoon prevailing over the South since November 25.
The heavy rains have triggered flash floods and water runoffs in 11 provinces, 98 districts and 529 subdistricts, the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation said.
The provinces that remain flooded are: Surat Thani, Krabi, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Trang, Phatthalung and Songkhla, although the water level is gradually decreasing.
As of Saturday, 383,669 households from 3,633 villages were reported to have been affected by the floods, while total death toll is 13.
The department said it has coordinated with local administration offices, military personnel and related agencies to provide aid to the victims. Consumer products, medical supplies, drinking water, mobile toilet vehicles, water pumps and fiberglass boats were delivered to help flood victims, while officials are helping to evacuate local villagers from areas that have high water level.
The department will also dispatch officials to estimate the damage in each community and submit the report to the Ministry of Finance to disburse subsidies earmarked for natural disasters.
Those who require assistance during natural disasters, can contact the department’s hotline at 1784.
Several merchants at Municipal Market 1 in Phitsanulok province handed out free meals for people to mark the birthday of the late King Rama IX on Saturday.
This activity has been done every year to make merit for the late King and reduce people’s cost of living.
Tee Wirotewanich, a 79-year-old merchant, offered meals, such as basil fried rice, omelette rice and bakeries to people in the market.
Meanwhile, another merchant’s 100 pieces of Khao Tom Mud (steamed sticky rice with banana) were snapped up in no time.
Thailand now second-biggest rubber gloves exporter amid Covid-19 pandemic
Dec 05. 2020
By THE NATION
Thailand has emerged as the world’s second largest manufacturer and exporter of rubber gloves due to the soaring demand following the Covid-19 outbreak, the head of the Rubber Authority of Thailand (RAT) has said.
RAT director-general Nakorn Takkawipat said that, “With proper support from the government, we can become the global centre of rubber glove manufacturing.
“We already possess the technology to reduce allergy-inducing protein in rubber gloves, which, if implemented by all domestic manufacturers, can increase the value of their product and promote the image of Thai rubber gloves in the global market.”
Junlathep Khajornchaikul, director of National Metal and Materials Technology Centre (MTEC), said that MTEC was successful in developing the technology to reduce or eliminate protein that could cause allergy in rubber gloves.
“Our laboratory tests have confirmed that the gloves applied with this technology pass the ASTM D7427-16 standard and have zero protein that could cause allergy,” he said.
“The next step is to calculate the cost that will be added to bill of material, which we expect should be at an acceptable level for most domestic manufacturers.”
Naphawan Lekhawat, director of RAT’s Rubber Industry Research and Development Division, added that from January to October 2020 Thailand exported over 20.5 billion pairs of gloves, increasing 22 per cent from the same period last year.
“Total rubber gloves export value in 2019 was recorded at Bt37.3 billion, while this year we have exported more than Bt53.8 billion so far, a 72.4 per cent increase, due to the Covid-19 situation,” she said.
“This makes Thailand the world’s second-largest rubber gloves manufacturer and exporter behind Malaysia.”
The top five importers of rubber gloves from Thailand were: the United States (Bt20.64 billion), UK (Bt3.95 billion), Japan (Bt2.97 billion), China (Bt2.9 billion) and Germany (Bt2.49 billion).
Chiang Mai’s hotel occupancy rate has dropped suddenly due to uncertainty over new Covid-19 cases in the northern region, an industry official said.
Recently, 10 Thai women working in Myanmar’s Tachilek district sneaked into the country and put hundreds of people at risk in several provinces.
La-iad Bungsrithong, president of Thai Hotels Association of Northern Upper region, said 1,700 room night bookings at hotels in Chiang Mai had been cancelled, while tourists who were travelling as a group, such as local administrative organisations, had cancelled their reservations the most.
Meanwhile, she is worried that more tourists would delay their reservations during the long holiday that the government had announced earlier to stimulate domestic tourism, due to negative news of Covid-19 cases.
“To gain confidence among tourists, the Chiang Mai governor has assured that the provincial authorities will not impose lockdown measures. He also said that Covid-19 tests on people who had been in contact with patients had yielded 99.99 per cent negative results,” she said.
She added that the governor had held an urgent meeting with hotel operators and travel associations on December 1 to create awareness on implementing measures to contain the spread of the disease, while instructing government agencies to inspect venues which contained risks of infection.
“The association believes that the governor’s move would help boost tourists’ morale because there are many tourism events during this time,” she said.
She expected Chiang Mai’s hotel occupancy rate in December to increase, as the occupancy rate in the previous month was 60-70 per cent.
“The negative news of Covid-19 cases in the region, however, has caused an impact on tourism during this high season,” she added.
The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration on Saturday reported 19 new cases over a 24-hour period.
The new patients included two domestic cases, 13 in state quarantine and four who had not been quarantined in the designated places.
The domestic cases were a Thai woman, 30, in Sing Buri province and a man, 50, in Chiang Rai province.
The two patients had been in contact with infected patients.
In the case of the woman, Dr Sophon Iamsirithaworn, director-general of the communicable diseases department, said on Friday that she had taken the same Nok Air DD8717 flight to Don Mueang as a 25-year-old woman, who had secretly crossed over. The 25-year-old had then taken another flight to Phichit province.
The other patients in quarantine consisted of nine Thai women and four foreigners.
One Thai aged 19 had returned from the UK, one aged 26 came from the Netherlands, a 24-year-old returned from Malaysia, three patients aged 19, 59 and 66, had returned from the US, one person, aged 47, came from Mexico, and two persons, aged 22 and 24, were from Myanmar.
The foreign patients were two Indian women, aged 22 and 27, from Sweden and India respectively; and two men – a Swiss, 66, and Dutch, 56 — from Switzerland.
In addition, there were four people who were infected with Covid-19 but were not quarantined in the provided places. These persons were one Myanmar man, aged 43, and three Thai nationals – two women aged 25 and a man, 32.
The Myanmar man had come to Thailand for a health checkup in Tak province’s Mae Sot district. The other three Thais allegedly crossed the border illegally via a natural channel.
Ten grenades were found in Huai Sala Wildlife Sanctuary in Si Sa Ket province when a local visited the forest area for collecting mushrooms and other natural products.
On Friday, the local, Supin Thammaporn, 58, informed what he had seen in the sanctuary to the chief of Phu Sing district, where the sanctuary is located.
The chief then contacted other officials, as well as volunteers, to check the suspected objects.
The officials found 10 live grenades. They cordoned off the area and put signs up to warn the locals.
A 40-year-old man shot his ex-wife and her father in Phitsanulok province, after reportedly failing to reconcile with the woman.On Friday, Noen Maprang Police Station was informed at around 6pm that two persons had been shot at Ban Sam Rang flea market in Noen Maprang district.Locals tried to revive the victims with cardiopulmonary resuscitation.Duangchan Klinkratok, 36, was shot on her right rib and the back of her head. Her father, Prachub KlinKratok, 60, was shot on his arm and left collarbone. They were admitted to Noen Maprang Hospital.The shooter was identified by witnesses as Suriyan Rodbanyang, 40, Duangchan’s ex-husband. He reportedly escaped the scene on his motorcycle after committing the alleged crime.Suttha Klinkratok, a relative of the injured persons, told police that Duangchan owned a food stall in this market, and her father was in charge of bringing the food to his daughter.Late in the afternoon, Suriyan rode his motorcycle to Duangchan’s stall and had a conversation with her. After that, he shot Duangchan and when the father tried to protect her, he was injured too.Police added that Suriyan had been released from prison two years ago, and they believed that he wanted to reconcile with Duangchan. However, Duangchan refused to reconcile, so he shot her in anger.
The Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) has come up with a series of measures to help farmers affected by flooding in the South.
Surachai Rassamee, acting manager of BAAC, said the bank is concerned about people in the southern region, especially farmers whose crops were damaged by flash floods and water run-offs due to the northeast monsoon that was prevailing over the South earlier this week.
“Initially, the BAAC donated 8,518 survival kits to villagers in Nakhon Si Thammarat, Phatthalung and Songkhla provinces, and also worked with district administration offices in providing food, water, portable toilets and sleeping bags to people displaced by the flood,” he said.
“For existing customers affected by the flood, the BAAC will offer debt moratorium, depending on the extent of damage to their homes or agricultural produce,” he added. “Furthermore, they can apply for emergency loan of a maximum of Bt50,000 with no interest for the first six months.”
The BAAC also has earmarked Bt5 billion as loans for customers who need to fix their homes or farming facilities and equipment damaged by the flood.
“The maximum loan allowed for each customer under this programme is Bt500,000 with interest at minimum retail rate (MRR) minus two, under an up to 15 years repayment plan,” added Surachai.
A 27-year-old man was shot dead at a noodle shop in Bangkoi Yai district in front of his wife and baby.
At 9pm of Friday, Tha Phra Police Station were alerted of a shooting at a noodle shop on Jaran Sanitwong Road, Wat Tha Phra subdistrict, Bangkok Yai district.
At the scene they found the body of Athit (last name withheld) with four gunshot wounds on his chest.
The shop owner, Jaran, 59, who is the mother-in-law of the deceased, reportedly said that Athit, who was working as an engineer at a construction company, was helping in the shop with her husband, her daughter, and their one-month-old child, when a motorcycle with two riders parked in front of the shop.
“A small-built man around 160 centimetres tall, who was riding pillion, entered the shop and shot Athit multiple times before getting on the motorcycle and riding towards the Tha Phra intersection,” she said.
Police are gathering evidence and reviewing CCTV footage along the route where the suspects escaped.
“This looks like a planned assassination, as the gunman pinpointed the victim with no collateral damage,” said Pol Colonel Preecha Phengphao, Tha Phra police chief. “We are also looking into the victim’s background to see if he has any enemies or conflict that could have motivated the attack.”
Photos by Charoon Thongnual 
