The elderly aged 60 or above in Samut Prakan’s Phra Samut Chedi district who receive their third Covid-19 jab can stand a chance to win gold ornaments and cash worth more than 50,000 baht.
The campaign, organised by the Phra Samut Chedi District Public Health Office and the private sector, will see lucky draws between April 17 and May 15.
The office is also inviting residents to get vaccinated at subdistrict health promotion hospitals in the area – Ban Khlong Naklua Noi, Ban Khun Samut Chin, Ban Khlong Thale, Na Klua, Khlong Ka-om, Laem Fah Pha, Phra Samut Chedi, Ban Khlong Suan, Ban Khu Sang and Khlong Bang Pla Kot.
“A variety of Covid-19 vaccines, such as Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca, are available at subdistrict health promotion hospitals,” the Phra Samut Chedi District Public Health Office added.
The government is primed to launch additional measures to promote the use of electric vehicles (EVs) after bookings accelerated at the 43rd Bangkok International Motor Show, Energy Minister Supattanapong Punmeechaow said on Tuesday.
As many as 3,000 EVs were booked at the event between March 23 and April 3, accounting for 10 per cent of all vehicle orders.
Supattanapong said the ministry is looking at the number of automakers which would join the government’s EV incentive campaign.
Additional measures include the promotion of charging stations to support increasing demand and the promotion of battery manufacturing factories in the country to boost industry efficiency, said Supattanapong.
“The government will attract large automakers to manufacture and sell EVs in Thailand,” the minister said.
He went on to say that there are no new measures to mitigate rising energy prices after the government launched 10 measures to ease the cost of living.
The ministry would focus on saving 20 per cent of energy along with measures to alleviate increasing energy prices in the short term, he said.
“The government will seek cooperation from entrepreneurs on this issue.”
There is no need to go in for more loans as fuel prices are starting to fall, he said, adding: “However, we cannot let our guard down because the situation is still uncertain.”
The National Health Security Office (NHSO), Thailand Post Distribution (THPD) and the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) reached an agreement to deliver Favipiravir to Covid-19 patients under the Home Isolation scheme on Tuesday.
NHSO secretary-general Jadet Thammathat-Aree said this cooperation aims to boost the efficiency of providing treatment to Covid-19 patients amid the pandemic and cope with the expected rise in Covid-19 cases after the Songkran festival.
“With THPD’s delivery potential and BAAC financial support, the NHSO will be able to deliver Favipiravir to Covid-19 patients quickly, resulting in a decline in risks of developing severe symptoms and death,” he said.
THPD managing director Peera Udomkitsakul noted that the agency has been cooperating with the NHSO in taking care of patients under the social security system.
The THPD has also delivered dialysis solutions, medicines and medical supplies to patients by post, he added.
Meanwhile BAAC executive vice president Paisan Hongtong said the bank had allocated 500,000 baht to support the deliveries.
The Government Lottery Office (GLO) revoked the rights of 8,964 sellers on the “Blue Dragon Lottery” platform on Tuesday.
The move came after police raided Blue Dragon’s offices in Nonthaburi and Loei provinces on March 25 as part of a crackdown on chronic overpricing of government lottery tickets. Officers also confiscated 2.02 million lottery tickets.
GLO director Lt-Colonel Noon Sansanakom explained that the 8,964 comprised 1,181 retailers, 181 associations and organisations and 7,602 buyers in advance.
He said any sellers who jack up prices or sell lottery to others are considered a violation of the GLO contract.
“The GLO will immediately revoke the rights of lottery sellers who violate the contract,” he warned.
“Associations and organisations which violate the contract will be unable to sell lottery to their members.”
Noon added that the GLO is also collecting data on lotteries being sold via the Kong Salak Plus platform for an investigation.
Tourists are being invited to visit the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of the Emerald Buddha) on Chakri Memorial Day today, Wednesday.
Those who are interested can visit both venues until noon, while they can pay respect to statues of kings of the Chakri dynasty at Phra Thep Bidon castle until 1pm.
However, they are not allowed to visit Phra Ubosot.
Tourists have been asked to dress politely. Men who want to visit Phra Thep Bidon castle must refrain from wearing jeans while women should not wear skirts.
All visitors must strictly undergo measures to contain the spread of Covid-19.
Public Health Ministry reported on Wednesday (April 6) morning that in the past 24 hours there are 24,252 new patients who tested positive for Covid-19, 87 of whom have arrived in Thailand from abroad.
Death toll increased by 94, while 26,225 patients were cured and allowed to leave hospitals.
Cumulative cases in the country since January 1, 2022 are at 1,558,392.
A whopping 3 tonnes of plastic waste has been removed from Phuket beaches in the tourist island’s new battle against its daily torrent of garbage.
On Monday, Phuket Environmental Foundation (PEF) chairman Viroj Phutong hailed the pilot “Less Plastic Phuket” scheme, which seeks to reduce and better manage household and business waste while finding alternatives to single-use plastics.
Viroj said Phuket has suffered an increase in plastic during Covid-19 despite dwindling tourist numbers, as consumers had switched to food delivery services.
The scheme worked with restaurants and the food delivery sector, as well as raising public awareness of the problem, he added. Lending a hand were the Marine Conservation Volunteer Network, 30 government agencies and public, private and civil organisations. PEF also collaborated with the Tamsang-Tamsong food delivery app to cut plastic packaging.
“The foundation also supported eight beach clean-up volunteer groups who collected more than 3,000 kilograms of waste,” he said.
The Marine and Coastal Resources Office created a database to track the beach garbage collected to prevent more from entering the sea.
Phuket deputy governor Amnuay Pinsuwan warned that the amount of plastic waste on the island will rise as more tourists return.
“To find solutions, we need campaigns to raise awareness among the public, private and civil sector,” he said.
Phuket has been selected as the pilot province for a waste management centre focused on reduction and separation at source.
“Less Plastic Phuket” is one of more than 20 pilot initiatives in five countries that are funded by Germany and the EU’s “Rethinking Plastics – Circular Economy Solutions to Marine Litter” project.
Other countries covered include China, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam.
Thirty-two children (aged 0-14) have died from Covid-19 during the Omicron wave since January 2022, while a total of 45 died during the Delta wave (starting April 2021).
However, Covid infections in children are mainly symptomless so it is difficult to gauge the true number of child cases or mortality rate for each variant.
The omicron wave has produced 175,218 confirmed cases so far versus 253,809 during the Delta wave. Of these, 741 patients showed severe symptoms during the Omicron wave versus 1,790 patients during the Delta wave.
Divided by age group, children aged 0-4 have the highest mortality rate, at 23 deaths during Delta and 27 during Omicron.
In the 5-9 age group, there were nine deaths during Delta and two during Omicron. The 10-14 age group saw 13 deaths during Delta and three during Omicron.
The high Omicron mortality rate in children aged 0-4 was because young patients often show no or mild symptoms after infection, meaning parents often miss the symptoms until it is too late, DDC Epidemiology Bureau chief Dr Jakrat Phittayawong-anon explained.
“Children age 0-4 also have a higher mortality rate compared to other age groups because they are too young to receive the vaccine,” he added.
The highest infection rate since January 2022 is in the 30-39 age group, with 48.28 cases per 100,000 population, according to DDC data. Next highest is the 20-29 group followed by the 10-19 group.
As for mortality rate, topping the chart are those aged over 70, with 6.38 deaths per 100,000 population. Next comes the 60-69 group followed by those aged 50-59.
Five Thai banks are scheduled to close some of their online banking services this weekend (April 8-10) for system maintenance. Keep an eye out for updates.
Siam Commercial Bank (SCB)’s Mae Manee application will not be available from 11pm on Friday to 6am on Saturday.
Bangkok Bank will shut down all its mobile banking services for maintenance from 2am to 7am on Saturday.
Krungthai Bank will update its Pao Tang application from 0.40am to 6.10am on Saturday. The app will be offline during this period.
Kasikorn Bank will shut down some of its services from 2.30am to 8am on Saturday. This will make all services that require KPlus authentication unusable, such as K-eSavings, PromptPay, NDID, Blue Connect, GrabPay Wallet, Line BK, YouTrip, Make by KBank, KSecurity, Facebook Pay, Coral, Dolfin, Shopee, Lazada, Wealth Plus, KBank services and money exchange via auto kiosks.
The Government Savings Bank will also shut down its international money transfer service “MoneyGram” from 1pm to 4pm on Sunday.