Governor Chadchart Sittipunt unveiled the steps he will take to tackle the capital’s chronic air pollution problem at Tuesday’s online seminar titled “Bangkok Air Pollution: Policy, Civil Society and Business”.
Chadchart’s plan to tackle PM2.5 (particulate matter 2.5 micrometres of less in diameter) pollution in Bangkok includes:
• Growing trees to serve as a barrier to dust particles.
• Setting low-emission zones where Bangkokians will be urged to use public transport to reduce emissions from personal vehicles.
• Procuring protection equipment for vulnerable groups like children and the elderly.
• Setting dust-free zones in areas where risk is high, like near hospitals and schools.
• Making PM2.5 measurement more effective by setting up dust-detection sensors, creating pollution maps and making PM2.5 forecasts more efficient.
Chadchart added that Bangkok agencies will use an integrated platform to deal with the PM2.5 issue effectively.
A forensic doctor and toxicologist has called on the government to hold a referendum on whether marijuana use should be fully free or should be controlled, warning that its side-effects could be fatal.
Smith Srisont, a forensic doctor at Mahidol University’s Ramathibodi Hospital, issued the warning in a post published on his Facebook wall on Monday night.
He cited a finding by world-renowned toxicologists, Olaf H Drummer, Dimitri Gerostamoulosa, Noel W Woodforda, in a study titled “Cannabis as a cause of death: A review”, published in the “Forensic Science International” in 2019.
“I would like to issue the following warning as a forensic doctor and forensic toxicologist … Users of ganja have a chance (a chance means not often but it can happen) of dying suddenly because of cardiovascular events, such as myocardial infarction, irregular heartbeats and stroke,” Smith said in his Facebook post.
“I would like to emphasise that the deaths were not caused by allergy to marijuana or overdose but from side-effects.”
Smith said the study found that 13 people, whose ages ranged from 17 to 52 years, died of marijuana side-effects. In some cases, the patients did not have a medical record of chronic illness, no toxic substance was found and in all cases the level of marijuana use was not too high.
He said the study also found 35 patients, who were between 15 to 53 years old, had to be rushed for emergency medical care after they used marijuana. They had no co-morbidity and in some cases, they were found to suffer from myocardial infarction and irregular heartbeats.
Smith said he has learned that similar cases to the finding have also happened in Thailand.
“I was personally told by a doctor, who performed the checkup. The patient had never used marijuana earlier. He tried it once and suffered chest pain and was rushed to Police Hospital. The hospital found he suffered from myocardial infarction but he was saved in time,” Smith said.
He added that another study, whose details were not elaborated, found that the chance of myocardial infarction was 4.8 times higher after smoking marijuana. He said the study was carried out among 4,000 patients but did not give more details.
Smith also pointed out that after the United States decriminalised the use of marijuana, the rate of people suffering from myocardial infarction had increased.
The doctor said he would like the government to hold a referendum on whether the use of marijuana should be liberalised because there are both supporters and opponents of its use.
He called on the Public Health Ministry to issue warnings on the fatal side-effects of marijuana use and advised people to see doctors immediately if they experience certain conditions.
The doctor also called on the government to punish shops that use marijuana as ingredients in foods and beverages without notifying buyers.
Providers of the GrabBike motorcycle taxi service have until July 15 to register their bikes as public transport vehicles, Grab Thailand announced on Monday.
This is in response to the Department of Land Transport’s order that Grab Thailand suspend the use of personal motorcycles within 30 days from June 16.
Under the new regulations, GrabBike (Win) motorcycle taxi service providers must:
• Have a driving licence and have registered their motorcycle as a public vehicle
• Can only accept jobs in the district registered with the Department of Land Transportation
• Fares collected will be the same as ordinary motorcycle taxis as specified by the department
These steps are being taken to resolve the conflict between GrabBike riders and ordinary motorcycle taxis, who have been complaining that Grab has been stealing their business. Also, the use of personal vehicles to provide public transport services is against the law.
Private bus operators will reduce services by 80 per cent from July 1 due to the high fuel price while the state-run interprovincial bus operator, Transport Company, vowed to keep operating at the same price.
Pichet Jiamburaset, president of the Thai Bus Business Association, said on Monday after a meeting of transport and bus companies that 27 operators will cut 143 bus routes from July 1.
He explained that they were forced to take the step to ensure their survival until the government approves the revised ticket fare structure that is in line with fuel costs.
He said operators could not ply as usual as fuel price had increased to 1,600 baht per trip this week, from 1,400 baht per trip last week.
Pichet added that a fare hike might affect commuters, but it is necessary as the current fare rate has been used since 2019 while the fuel price is likely to increase.
Meanwhile, Transport Co managing director Sanyalak Panwattanalikhit said the company understood and sympathised with operators that have to shoulder these burdens.
He said the company would discuss with private bus operators measures that would be in line with commuters’ demands.
He added that Transport Co will operate normally on both domestic and international routes while the price will remain the same in this period.
A 23-year-old soldier in Udon Thani was caught on Monday red-handed as he was trying to sell off one of the two gold necklaces worth 127,400 baht that he had allegedly snatched.
Lance Corporal Rachan Khamrat reportedly snatched two gold necklaces from the Yaowarat 2 gold shop in Kumphawapi district and was caught a few hours later at the Yaowarat gold shop in Muang district trying to sell off his loot.
The suspect pleaded guilty, saying he stole the necklaces to pay off his debts.
Mintra Thadasupaporn, owner of the Yaowarat 2 gold shop, said she called the police and informed other local gold shop owners after the suspect dashed out of her shop wearing two necklaces.
As fate would have it, the suspect landed in a shop owned by Mintra’s younger sister, Weeraya Phusopha.
The younger sister immediately called her older sister after asking her husband to keep the suspect busy, and soon the police were on their way.
Kumphawapi Police Station superintendent Pol Colonel Pongphan Nakhwa said the suspect had to be engaged by Weeraya’s husband for nearly three hours before they had enough evidence to arrest him. He added the suspect faces burglary charges.
Police have also seized the soldier’s red-black Honda motorcycle, which he used to flee from the first shop, as well as his clothes and the loot to re-enact the crime.
The price of diesel will be maintained at 34.94 baht per litre despite the surge in global oil prices, the Oil Fuel Fund’s Executive Committee said on Monday.
This move is in line with the Cabinet’s resolution to cap the retail price of diesel at 35 baht per litre.
Pornchai Jirakulpaisal, chief of the Oil Fuel Fund Office (OFFO)’s policy and strategy arm, said the fund still had enough liquidity to continue subsidising the price of oil.
However, he said, the agency will closely monitor the movement of global oil prices and the Oil Fuel Fund’s liquidity.
“We have plenty of information for the Oil Fuel Fund Executive Committee to see if any factors are causing the price of diesel to rise,” he said.
As of Sunday, the Oil Fuel Fund was 96.59 billion baht in debt –59.69 billion baht from subsidising diesel and 36.90 billion baht from subsidising LPG.
The fund is providing an 11.22 baht per litre subsidy to keep the price of diesel at 34.94 baht per litre. The actual price of diesel is 46.16 baht per litre.
The price per litre of fuel on Tuesday at different stations was as follows:
The first cat-to-human transmission of Covid-19 was documented in a Prince of Songkla University study and published in the June 6 edition of the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention’s Emerging Infectious Diseases Journal.
The report was brought to global attention by the New York Times four days later.
The study recounted the case of a father and son in Bangkok developing symptoms and testing positive for Covid-19 on August 4, 2021. Due to a shortage of hospital beds in Bangkok, the two men were taken to a hospital in Songkhla on August 8. The father and son brought their pet cat along on the 20-hour ambulance ride to Songkhla.
After the men were admitted to the hospital, the cat was taken to a veterinary hospital for tests. Though the cat appeared healthy, the 32-year-old veterinarian collected nasal and rectal samples, which tested positive for Covid-19.
While the vet was swabbing the cat’s nose, the animal sneezed. Though she was wearing gloves and a mask during the swabbing, she did not have a face shield to protect her eyes.
On August 13, the veterinarian developed symptoms, including fever and cough, and shortly after she tested positive for Covid-19.
Genomic sequencing revealed that the cat’s owners, the cat and the veterinarian were all infected with the same version of the Delta variant, which was different from viral samples taken from other patients in Songkhla at the time.
PCR testing suggests that the cat had a high viral load at the time of its veterinary exam. None of the veterinarian’s close contacts had Covid-19 at the time, and she had no prior encounters with the pet’s owners, which supports the theory that the cat was behind the vet’s infection.
Thai researchers said this was the first documented case of cat-to-human transmission, though it is very rare as cats have a very short viral shedding period of around five days.
Meanwhile, the New York Times quoted Dr Scott Weese, an infectious diseases expert at Canada’s University of Guelph, as saying: “Cats are far more likely to catch the virus from people than to transmit it to them, scientists say. But the case is a reminder that people who are infected with the virus should take precautions around their pets — and that veterinarians and shelter workers who may come into contact with infected animals should do the same.”
After more than 20 years of trying, the Commerce Ministry finally succeeded in negotiating a free trade pact with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA).
EFTA, an intergovernmental organisation of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, was set up in 1960 for the promotion of free trade and economic integration between members.
Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanawisit met foreign and trade ministers from the four countries for lunch on Monday at a restaurant in the Icelandic town of Borgarnes.
“Senior EFTA executives have been invited to an official meeting in Thailand from June 28-30 to further discuss free trade agreements as well as future socio-economic development projects between Thailand and EFTA members,” Jurin said. “We expect the free trade negotiations to be completed within two years.”
Thailand’s trade volume with EFTA in 2021 came in at US$7.5 billion and the Commerce Ministry expects this number to more than double once the FTA goes into effect. The pact will reduce tariffs, promote multilateral trade cooperation and establish e-commerce platforms to facilitate international trade among contract parties.
Jurin and commerce delegates have been in Iceland since Sunday to promote Thai products.
The Royal Thai Army has revoked its order prohibiting all military units from shopping on Lazada and keeping Lazada delivery trucks out of military complexes, deputy spokesman Colonel Sirichan Ngathong said.
She said Army chief General Narongpan Jitkaewtha had announced at a top brass meeting on Monday that the ban on Lazada will be revoked immediately now that it is facing legal procedure over inappropriate advertising.
The Army had boycotted the online shopping platform on May 9 in response to a controversial TikTok ad posted a week earlier to promote Lazada’s 5.5 sales campaign.
The ad, created by influencers Aniwat Prathumthin aka Nara Crepe Katoey and Thidaporn “Nurat” Chaokuwiang, depicted a woman in a wheelchair being bullied by another character of noble birth.
The TikTok clip sparked an uproar on the net and Narongpan immediately announced a boycott of Lazada –insisting it was to protect the monarchy.
On Monday, Narongpan said that in line with the government’s policies on economic recovery and reopening the country, Army personnel will be allowed to shop on Lazada and delivery trucks can enter military complexes.
Meanwhile, Sirichan said families of new recruits will be able to visit training facilities as part of “Open House” events that will be held regularly from July onwards. Learning centres and tourist attractions within Army areas will also be opened to the general public.
Ministry of Public Health reported on Tuesday (June 21) morning that in the past 24 hours there are 1,714 new patients who tested positive for Covid-19, three of whom have arrived in Thailand from abroad.
Death toll increased by 21, while 2,137 patients were cured and allowed to leave hospitals.
Cumulative cases in the country since January 1, 2022 are at 2,279,107.
The country’s total caseload from Covid-19 stands at 4,502,542 – 4,451,569 of whom have recovered, 20,467 are still in hospitals and 30,506 have died.
Separately, another 2,269 people were given their first Covid-19 shot in the last 24 hours, 4,806 their second shot and 17,135 a booster, bringing the total number of Covid-19 vaccine doses administered nationwide to 139,174,365.
According to Worldometer, confirmed cases globally had risen to 544.88 million on Tuesday, 520.21 million of whom have recovered, 18.33 million are active cases (35,862 in severe condition) and 6.34 million have died (up by 727).
Thailand ranks 26th in the global list of most cases, which is topped by the US with 88.05 million, followed by India with 43.32 million, Brazil with 31.76 million, France with 30.18 million and Germany with 27.21 million.
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