Public Health Ministry reported on Tuesday (April 26) morning that in the past 24 hours there are 13,816 new patients who tested positive for Covid-19, 57 of whom have arrived in Thailand from abroad.
Death toll increased by 120, while 21,072 patients were cured and allowed to leave hospitals.
Cumulative cases in the country since January 1, 2022 are at 1,971,249.
The Australian and New Zealand embassies jointly marked Anzac Day at Kanchanaburi’s Hellfire Pass on Monday.
This is the first time in three years that an Anzac Day commemorative service has been held with the public in attendance.
Australian Ambassador Allan McKinnon said people from Australia and New Zealand recognise all current and former soldiers who have died in wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations and allies who have served alongside them.
“Their proud legacy of mateship, endurance, courage and self-sacrifice lives on and inspires Australians of all generations. Lest we forget,” he said.
Melissa Haydon-Clarke, New Zealand’s chargé d’affaires for Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, said this year’s Anzac Day is especially poignant in light of world events.
“In the face of a manifest reminder of the appalling human cost of war, Anzac Day is an opportunity to honour the memory of all those who have sacrificed so much in the pursuit of freedom, peace and justice by re-dedicating ourselves to those ends,” she said.
Anzac Day is marked on April 25 each year to commemorate Australians and New Zealanders who have served and died in all wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations.
This event also marks the anniversary of the first major military action taken by Australian and New Zealand forces in Turkey’s Gallipoli Peninsula during World War I on April 25, 1915.
A police lance corporal, who was sentenced to slightly over a year in jail for a fatal road accident while riding a bike, was released on bail on Monday after he appealed against the verdict.
The Criminal Court released Norawich at 2pm after setting his bail at THB200,000. The convict’s father, a police officer, and Norawich’s commander used their police ranks as guarantee for his temporary release.
Norawich was the chief of a unit of the second company of the first subdivision of the Protection and Crowds Control Division. He was speeding on his Ducati bike when he crashed into Dr Waraluck Supawatjariyakul, an eye doctor, at a pedestrian crossing on Phya Thai Road in January.
Sonthaya said the order to revoke his licence should have five-year period but he would check with the authorities later.
Sonthaya said the defendant was sorry for what happened and accepted the ruling but he decided to appeal for a lighter sentence because he had been trying to atone for what had happened.
Natthapong Chinawong, the lawyer of Waraluck’s parents, said the parents were pleased with the ruling. The verdict would be cited in two civil cases against the Royal Thai Police and Norawich and against the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, demanding compensation of THB72 million in each case.
Royal Thai Police spokesman Pol Maj-General Yingyot Thepchamnong said Pol Lance Corporal Norawich Budadok was suspended from police service in January when his speeding Ducati motorcycle hit a doctor and killed her at a Bangkok zebra crossing.
The Criminal Court found Norawich guilty as charged with the killing of Dr Waraluck Supawatjariyakul and sentenced him to two years and 30 days in prison and a fine of 8,000 baht, before halving the sentence.
Yingyot said the Royal Thai Police will cite the ruling to issue an order permanently removing Norawich from police service. The lance corporal plans to appeal for a lighter sentence.
“If Norawich appeals and if the court changes the ruling, then he can seek to be reinstated as a police officer. However, it will depend on the court’s next ruling,” the spokesman said.
Thailand is doing all it can to control Covid-19 with the goal of downgrading it to an endemic, Deputy Prime Minister and Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said on Monday.
Earlier, Public Health permanent secretary Dr Kiattiphum Wongrajit said the official designation of Covid-19 as a pandemic would end in June.
But Anutin clarified on Monday that the ministry has not set a date for declaring Covid-19 an endemic. Anutin said his ministry had simply set a goal and set the criteria to reach the goal.
He said the government would have to take into account the infection situation, the mortality rate and the readiness of medicines and hospital beds before declaring an end to the pandemic and redesignating it an endemic.
“Now I see that Thailand is ready because the rate of hospitalisation has dropped and the use of ICU equipment for patients has also gone down,” Anutin said.
When reporters told him that some medical experts suspected the new infection numbers had gone down, many people did not undergo tests for the coronavirus. Anutin said the ministry would focus on the rate of severe symptoms and mortality rate rather than counting the number of new infections to decide on redesignating it an endemic.
“We’ll use the same criteria that’s being used by most countries now,” Anutin said.
“If you want to see zero infection rate first, the government must lock down the country. Will the people be able to tolerate it? Examples from countries that locked themselves down showed that their citizens could not live their normal lives and their economy was damaged.
“We have passed that point. We have enough experience and we can control the situation. We have everything on hand. We have vaccines and have several choices of medicines.”
Asked whether he thinks the new infections are now on the downtrend, Anutin said the government has done its best.
“I don’t want to say whether we are on the downtrend on new infections because I fear that people may become complacent. I would like people to continue to comply with the preventive measures and the spread will gradually die down,” Anutin said.
Anutin added that the Public Health Ministry will purchase more protein subunit vaccines to inoculate people who may suffer from side-effects from other types of Covid-19 vaccines.
Last week, the Indian government donated 200,000 doses of Covovax vaccine, which is a type of protein subunit vaccines, to Thailand. Protein subunit vaccines contain harmless and purified pieces (proteins) of the virus, which have been specifically selected for their ability to trigger immunity.
Anutin added that the government has also stopped the requirement of RT-PCR tests for foreign arrivals, which is a step in downgrading the pandemic.
Meanwhile, permanent secretary Kiattiphum said 15 provinces have offered to be available for a pilot project to test the endemic status. He said the Disease Control Department will set measures for the 15 provinces to comply before they could declare an end to the pandemic in those areas.
The number of Covid-19 infections during this year’s Songkran festival was 1.7 times lower than last year, the Public Health Commission said on Monday.
Official virus control measures were effective despite the huge number of people travelling during the holiday, commission vice-chairman Chalermchai Boonyaleephan said.
Last year, average daily Songkran infections rose from 1,394 between April 13 and 17 to 1,856 between April 20 and 24, up 33 per cent.
“Meanwhile, Covid-19 infections between April 13 and 17 this year numbered 34,002 per day before rising to 40,362 between April 20 and 24, up 19 per cent,” Chalermchai said.
He added that this year’s infection data came from people who tested positive using RT-PCR tests and antigen test kits as 50 per cent of Omicron cases are asymptomatic.
“Hence, the number of Covid-19 infections during Songkran this year was 1.7 times lower than last year,” he said.
This year’s Songkran also saw an average of 118 Covid-related deaths per day between April 13 and 17, rising 8 per cent to 128 deaths between April 20 and 24.
However, the Songkran Covid-19 death rate for this year and last year would be compared two weeks after the festival ended, he added.
A police lance corporal was sentenced to one year and 15 days in jail on Monday for ramming his Ducati motorbike into a doctor at Bangkok zebra crossing in January.
The Criminal Court found Pol Lance Corporal Norawich Budadok guilty as charged with the killing of Dr Waraluck Supawatjariyakul at a pedestrian crossing on Phya Thai Road in Ratchathewi district on January 21. Waraluck worked as an ophthalmologist at Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Medicine.
The court initially sentenced Norawich to two years and one month in jail and fined him 8,000 baht, but later commuted the sentence by half, bringing it down to one year and 15 days in jail and a fine of 4,000 baht.
The court also ordered the confiscation of his motorbike and ordered the Land Transport Department to revoke his licence because he was a danger to others.
Norawich said he will appeal the ruling and seek bail later in the day.
The police officer was speeding down the road’s right lane on his Ducati big bike when he crashed into Waraluck. The speed he was riding at was clocked at between 108 and 128 kilometres per hour.
Norawich was hit with nine charges when arraigned on February 22, namely:
• Using a motorbike without a licence plate
• Using a motorbike for which annual registration tax has not been paid
• Using a motorbike without a third-party insurance
• Using a motorbike that has no side mirrors
• Failing to ride on the left lane
• Riding without caring about the safety of others
• Failing to observe traffic signs on the road
• Riding a motorbike recklessly and putting people and their property at risk
• Riding a motorbike recklessly and causing another person’s death
Waraluck’s parents have filed a civil lawsuit against the Royal Thai Police and Norawich demanding 72 million baht in compensation for her death.
Tourism and Sports Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn is confident Malaysian visitors will restore southern Thailand’s tourism industry once the Test & Go scheme ends on Sunday, May 1.
Phiphat visited the islands of Koh Nu and Koh Maew in Songkhla to oversee preparations for opening the far South on Saturday.
He said Koh Nu and Koh Maew will be promoted as “hidden” tourist destinations in Songkhla, with attractions such as the Morakot Cave and Chomphu cliffs. Both islands will be open all year apart from monsoon season. Meanwhile, Songkhla Old Town is being promoted for Unesco World Heritage listing to add to its tourism appeal.
“Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha’s move to scrap Test & Go will encourage Malaysian travellers to enter the country, helping tourism recover, Phiphat said.
He vowed to help revive tourism in Songkhla, his home province, citing the recovery in Krabi, Phang Nga and Phuket under the sandbox scheme.
“It’s time to restore tourism in provinces close to Malaysia, such as Narathiwat, Yala, Songkhla and Satun,” he added.
Public Health Ministry reported on Monday (April 25) morning that in the past 24 hours there are 14,994 new patients who tested positive for Covid-19, 43 of whom have arrived in Thailand from abroad.
Death toll increased by 124, while 23,524 patients were cured and allowed to leave hospitals.
Cumulative cases in the country since January 1, 2022 are at 1,957,433.
Advanced Info Service (AIS) has recently learned that more than 1,000 phone numbers are being used by alleged scammers and has called on the police to take action.
The mobile phone operator with the largest number of subscribers set up the AIS Spam Report Centre 1185 hotline on April 8. Since then, AIS subscribers have reported many suspicious calls and messages, and the centre has tracked more than 1,000 numbers to the alleged scammers.
“AIS customers can call the AIS Spam Report Centre for free, and thanks to calls received so far, we have learned that more than 1,000 phone numbers belong to gangsters,” said Pratthana Leelapanang, chief of the AIS consumer business department.
He said once AIS detects suspicious phone numbers, the AIS Spam Report Centre then informs the owner of the number that their service is either being blocked or suspended. This action is only applicable to AIS subscribers.
The numbers are then reported to the Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau, which investigates each case before arresting alleged scammers, he said.
The bureau’s chief Pol Lt-General Kornchai Klaiklueng said this AIS initiative has prompted other private firms to cooperate with police to fight against call-centre scammers.
Kornchai said cooperation with police allows the bureau to track down suspects much faster. He said his bureau was now compiling information provided by AIS to get summonses against suspects so it can take legal action.
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