Bangkok Governor Aswin Kwanmuang said on Wednesday that he hasn’t decided yet on whether he would contest the next governor election and is awaiting an announcement by the Government Gazette.
“Ihaven’t thought about my application yet,” he said during a visit to Saphan Temple in Khlong Toei district. “Let time be the judge. Now I think every day about how to make people happy so they don’t find themselves in trouble by the current virus outbreak.”
Aswin also said the progress of the MRT Green Line project will depend on a Cabinet meeting expected on February 22.
“In this regard, I would like to talk about the fare rate. We don’t want it to exceed 65 baht. If the Cabinet approves this, we will see what really benefits the people. In the midst of a bad economy, we hope things get cheaper for people,” he said.
“According to BMA standards, I can tell you that the fare for each kilometre should not exceed 1.29 baht. Other operators are definitely more expensive, I confirm,” Aswin added.
A team of Royal Thai Navy explorers and divers have been collecting samples of seawater, undersea soil, and beach sand off Rayong coast, adjacent to areas affected by a recent oil leak, for analyses.
Asurvey will be conducted on February 17-18 of certain areas in the Khao Laem Ya National Marine Park and around Koh Samet, which are not far from the leak site.
In Wednesday’s operations, RTN operators will conduct undersea surveys at six locations, around six kilometres off Mae Ramphueng beach.
Two oil leaks, for which Star Petroleum Refining Plc is responsible, occurred twice at almost the same location in the space of just a few weeks – the first on January 25 and the second on February 10.
A low birth rate in the coming years could affect Thailand’s financial stability because of the increasing number of senior citizens, the Fiscal Policy Office (FPO) under the Finance Ministry said on Wednesday.
FPO director Pisit Puapan said that by 2040, the population of old people would grow to 20.4 million from 12.2 million at present, and the employment workforce (people aged 15-59) would shrink to 36 million from the current 43 million.
Citing a government forecast, Pisit added that Thailand would enter the aging society era by 2025 when there would be 14.5 million people older than 60, or 20.7 per cent of the entire population.
In 2020, 540,000 babies were born, lesser than the 560,000 people who died. Last year also saw the ratio of the workforce to total population fall from 3.5:1 to 0.6:1.
If such a ratio persists, the dependency rate of old people on the workforce will rise to 56.2 per 100 by 2040, from 28.4 per 100 last year.
Continuous changes in the population structure of Thailand would result in a drop in aggregate productivity, a quick rise in the daily minimum wage, and subsequent inflation, Pisit explained.
Those changes would also cause a demand-supply problem if old people get poorer and see a drop in their buying power. The savings situation as a whole would also be affected when old people spend more of their savings.
Pisit said short-term solutions to the population balance problem could be solved through reforming the workforce, by enhancing the skills of the workforce to increase productivity, while increasing the number of female workers to compensate for a loss through retirement.
The other solutions include the improvement of tax collection as well as increasing certain existing taxes. Promotion of savings should be implemented for people under tax-enforced employment and out-of-system works.
In a relevant development, the Department of Health said government measures to boost the birth rate include reducing the cost burden on the married couples having children newborn to five years old, as well as setting up of a centre to develop motor and cognitive skills of children younger than two years old.
Director-general Suwannachai Watthanayingcharoenchai said the other measures were: encouraging people to marry and have children, and assistance to people with reproductive difficulties.
Deputy Prime Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan chaired an Anti-Trafficking in Persons Committee meeting on Wednesday to track government progress in the past year with the aim of improving Thailand’s status on the US Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report.
Prawit hopes to see Thailand removed from the current Tier 2 Watchlist and included in the higher Tier 2 level.
“General Prawit has urged relevant agencies to strictly follow the guidelines in the 2022 TIP Interim Assessment Report, which the United States has given to 45 countries on the Tier 2 Watchlist including Thailand, so that they can move up the list in this year’s evaluation,” said Pol General Thammasak Witchayara, a committee executive director, on Wednesday.
The Tier 2 Watchlist refers to countries whose governments do not fully comply with the minimum standards of the US Trafficking Victims Protection Act but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards.
To get to the Tier 2 level, the country must not have a significant number of trafficking victims.
“The deputy PM had earlier tasked the Immigration Bureau, the Royal Thai Police Headquarters and the Labour Ministry to be ‘central agencies’ in establishing human trafficking victim screening centres,” said Thammasak.
“Labour Minister Suchart Chomklin said his ministry would provide funding and support officials for the campaign, while Digital Economy and Society Minister Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn said his ministry would develop victim interviewing and database systems that are linked to the international database on human trafficking syndicates to make sure victims receive legal services based on international human rights standards,” Thammasak said.
“The campaign is now about 80 per cent complete. We are in the process of renovating the buildings to be used for this purpose and installing necessary equipment in interview rooms where victims could talk with officials,” he added.
A respected teacher of Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Medicine urged the public on Wednesday to remain cautious about Covid-19, saying the new Omicron BA.2 substrain spreads 30 per cent faster than BA.1 although it does not cause more severe symptoms.
Doctor Thira Woratanarat advised people to continue wearing masks and strictly observe social distancing while refraining from visiting poorly ventilated crowded areas.
Thira made five BA.2 observations:
1. It can spread 30 per cent faster than the BA.1 subvariant.
2. Information from the United Kingdom and Denmark showed that BA.2 can cause 30 per cent more infections among family members compared to BA.1.
3. The disease severity of BA.2 is the same as BA.1.
4. The ability to build immunity against BA.2 is the same with BA.1.
5. BA.2 can be detected with standard tests.
The doctor noted that coronavirus cases globally have surpassed 415 million, with around 416 million reported by Wednesday. Global fatalities are 5.85 million.
He said although the WHO Weekly Epidemiological Update showed that weekly new cases had dropped by 19 per cent, fatalities had increased by 4 per cent.
The government on Wednesday clarified that the change in Bangkok’s name to Krung Thep Maha Nakhon is only a minor tweak for official purposes and does not affect usage in daily life.
Government deputy spokeswoman Ratchada Thanadirek said that there was only a change in punctuation in the previous official name “Krung Thep Maha Nakhon; Bangkok กทม”, to “Krung Thep Maha Nakhon (Bangkok) กทม”, and this was only for official purposes.
Ratchada said the Royal Society has said that people could use both “Krung Thep Maha Nakhon“ or ”Bangkok”, clarifying on its Facebook page that both names are acceptable when referring to the Thai capital.
The Royal Society explained in the Facebook post that the committee of international geographic names has corrected the names of countries, territories, administrative districts, and capitals.
The committee comprises experts in linguistics and Foreign Ministry representatives, who correct spellings and transliteration for the government sector to use as the standard.
Well-known respiratory specialist Dr Manoon Leechawengongs called for radical changes in the way new Covid-19 cases are handled and for expensive RT-PCR tests in general to be stopped.
Vichaiyut Hospital’s Dr Manoon said on his Facebook page on Wednesday that the changes are necessary for the government to save money for treating people with other more severe diseases now that it has become clear the Omicron strain causes much less severe symptoms.
The doctor said Omicron causes six times lower fatalities and its symptoms are like those of a common cold for those who have been fully vaccinated.
He noted that 70 per cent of the country’s population have been fully vaccinated and 25 per cent have received a booster dose, so Thailand should deal with Omicron like several other countries are doing now.
“The government should not focus only on treatment of this disease but it should also take into account its budget and the economic situation,” Manoon wrote on his Facebook page.
He said several countries have stopped the expensive RT-PCR tests in general because it was a sheer waste of money. He said these tests should be carried out only for patients in risk groups who need to be admitted to hospitals or patients in elderly care centres.
Manoon also urged those who suspect they have contracted the virus to test themselves using antigen test kits.
He pointed out that several other countries no longer quarantined people with mild symptoms and patients went into quarantine at home, taking medicines and care of themselves.
“The government should not give Favipiravir medicines, thermometers or oxygen checkers to everyone who gets infected. The kits should be distributed only to people in risk groups, the elderly, those with seven comorbidities, pregnant women and the unvaccinated,” the doctor made clear.
He said he agreed with the government’s plan to delist Covid-19 from conditions covered by the Universal Coverage for Emergency Patients scheme from the beginning of next month.
“I agree with this because the government also needs to save money for taking care of people with other diseases. The government must explain this to the people and the people should not panic,” Manoon added.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha wants the Thailand Pass system to be improved to make it more convenient for foreign tourists to enter the kingdom, government spokesman Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana said on Wednesday.
Thanakorn said Prayut ordered government agencies concerned to speed up efforts to detect bugs and correct errors in the system to make it convenient for foreign tourists to register.
The prime minister noted that foreign tourists are essential for the revival of the economy.
According to Thanakorn, government agencies are paying heed to the prime minister’s concerns and are stepping up efforts to improve the system.
The Digital Government Development Agency Public Organisation, which is in charge of Thailand Pass, has sped up the consideration of applications and approved QR codes for tourists in seven days, the spokesman said.
He said the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is coordinating with the Foreign Ministry and the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration to launch awareness campaigns among hotels and foreign tourists on how to use the system.
He said the new Thailand Pass Hotel & Swap System (TPHS) has been linked to Thailand Pass to make it convenient for hotels to approve reservations and allow tourists to swap hotels with more convenience.
The TPHS would take 10-15 minutes to approve requests and the main Thailand Pass system will respond every hour, Thanakorn said.
He said the agencies concerned are adding more servers to the TPHS and would improve its functionality using an auto-approval function.
TAT is launching an awareness campaign for hotels to join the TPHS system, which can alert them via email when new reservations are made, Thanakorn added.
Omicron has “conquered” Thailand, with the BA.2 subvariant likely to become the main variant in a couple of months as it is spreading faster than BA.1, the Department of Medical Sciences reported on Tuesday.
Department director-general Suphakit Sirilak said the number of Covid patients has increased “a lot quite fast” after the Omicron variant had spread.
Naturally, the virus has a chance to mutate if there are a lot of “reinfections”, he said.
Previously, the B.1.1.529 or BA.1 subvariant was the main variant in many countries, but 57 nations including Thailand have found the BA.2 subvariant at the beginning of 2022. This subvariant has become the main variant in a number of countries, including India, Denmark and Sweden.
According to a study in Denmark, BA.2 spreads more easily than the BA.1 subvariant. However, it is not more severe than the basic Omicron variant, according to current information. The study said a booster dose could prevent sickness and severe symptoms.
Suphakit confirmed Thailand could test for both subvariants. In the past week, 567 patients were randomly tested, with 105 or 18.5 per cent showing they had BA.2, while 462 or 81.5 per cent had BA.1.
He concluded that Omicron has almost completely replaced Delta.
Suphakit also said GISAID had asked him to monitor information pertaining to Deltacron.
He reported that 97.2 per cent of patients were infected with the Omicron variant, while only 2.8 per had Delta. Some 99 per cent of international patients were meanwhile infected with Omicron.
The top 10 provinces with the most Omicron patients are Bangkok, Phuket, Chonburi, Roi Et, Samut Prakan, Nong Khai, Surat Thani, Maha Sarakham, Kalasin and Khon Kaen.
Thailand’s hawk-eyed Customs Department officials detained three Brazilians at Suvarnabhumi Airport on Monday for allegedly smuggling a total of 15.5kg of cocaine with a street value of 46.5 million baht.
“The first batch of cocaine – 9kg – was smuggled in black plastic bags discovered in secret compartments of three suitcases. They belonged to a Brazilian man and a woman travelling from Curitiba. The two were caught at the airport X-ray machine at around 7am on Monday,” Customs Department director-general Patchara Anantasilp said on Tuesday. “The drug has an estimated value of 27 million baht.”
Later, at around 1pm, customs officials arrested a 24-year-old Brazilian man with 6.5kg cocaine hidden in a secret compartment of his suitcase. The drug has an estimated value of 19.5 million baht.
Officials suspect the three could belong to the same gang as the drug had been hidden in a similar manner.
The suspects are now in detention as an investigation is being carried out.
They have initially been charged with smuggling a category 1 narcotics substance into the kingdom and possessing drugs with an intention to sell.
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