Ministry of Public Health reported on Tuesday (January 25) morning that in the past 24 hours there are 6,718 new patients who tested positive for Covid-19, 152 of whom have arrived in Thailand from abroad.
Death toll increased by 12, while 7,659 patients were cured and allowed to leave hospitals.
The country’s total caseload from Covid-19 stands at 2,391,357 – 2,287,768 of whom have recovered, 81,532 are still in hospitals and 22,057 have died.
Separately, another 22,996 people were given their first Covid-19 shot in the last 24 hours, 47,236 their second shot and 218,124 a booster, bringing the total number of Covid-19 vaccine doses administered nationwide to 112,759,859.
According to Worldometer, confirmed cases globally had risen to 355.63 million on Tuesday, 282.3 million of whom have recovered, 67.71 million are active cases (95,596 in severe condition) and 5.62 million have died (up by 5,920).
Thailand ranks 26th in the global list of most cases, which is topped by the US with 72.96 million, followed by India with 39.54 million, Brazil with 24.13 million, France with 16.8 million and the UK with 15.95 million.
The Thailand Meteorological Department said on Tuesday (January 25) that the upper westerly wind prevails across upper Thailand while the high-pressure system covers the upper North and the Northeast. Cool to cold weather with light fog in the morning and a drop in temperature are likely in the upper country.
Mountaintops in the North and the Northeast are cold to very cold with frost in some areas and minimum temperature in the range of 4-15 °C. People in the upper country should take care of their health due to variable weather.
The Department also mentioned that the weak northeast monsoon prevails across the Gulf of Thailand and the South and brings isolated thundershowers to the South.
The weather forecast for the next 24 hours is as follows:
North: Cool to cold weather with light fog in the morning; temperature lows of 13-18 degrees and highs of 28-34 degrees Celsius. Temperature on hilltops is likely to drop to 4-12 degrees Celsius with frost in some areas.
Northeast: Cool weather with light fog in the morning; temperature lows of 16-20 degrees and highs of 31-33 degrees Celsius. Temperature on hilltops is likely to drop to 10-15 degrees Celsius.
Central: Cool weather with light fog in the morning; temperature lows of 19-21 degrees, highs of 33-35 degrees Celsius.
East: Cool weather with light fog in the morning and isolated light rains; temperature lows of 20-23 degrees, highs of 32-35 degrees Celsius; waves less than a meter high and about a meter high offshore.
South (east coast): Cool weather in the morning with isolated light rains; temperature lows of 20-24 degrees, highs of 29-33 degrees Celsius; waves a meter high and 1-2 meters high during thundershowers.
South (west coast): Partly cloudy with thundershowers in 10 per cent of the areas; temperature lows of 22-25 degrees, highs of 33-36 degrees Celsius; waves less than a meter high and about a meter high offshore.
Bangkok and surrounding areas: Partly cloudy with light fog in the morning; temperature lows of 22-24 degrees, highs of 31-35 degrees Celsius.
The policemen who allegedly caused the death of a doctor in a road accident has been slapped with seven charges, the Metropolitan Police Bureau said on Monday amid a barrage of criticism online.
Pol Lance Corporal Norawit Buadok, an officer of the Protection and Crowds Control Division, rammed his big-bike motorcycle into Dr Waralak Supawat-Jariyakul, an ophthalmologist at Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Medicine, leading to her death.
The accident happened at the zebra crossing in front of Bhumirajanagarindra Kidney Institute Hospital on Phya Thai Road on Friday (January 21). Footage from a CCTV showed a speeding Ducati motorcycle, allegedly ridden by Norawit who was off-duty, collide into Warlock, hurling her into the air. Pol Maj-General Jirasan Kaewsaeng-ek, deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, held a press conference on Monday to announce the charges against Norawit. Monday’s press conference was held after angry netizens cried foul that a policeman, who was supposed to enforce the law, had himself broken traffic rules, leading to the death of the young doctor. Netizens also suspected police might try to help their fellow policeman receive lighter penalties. The netizens noted that police investigators at the scene had waited for two hours before informing the doctor’s family and there was no information on the blood alcohol level test on Norawit.
Jirasan started the press conference by expressing his condolences to Waralak’s family. He and other police officers at the press conference stood in silence for one minute. Jirasan said Norawit would also enter the monkhood at an appropriate time to make merit for the deceased doctor. Jirasan said that after Norawit had received treatment for his injuries, he had turned himself at Phya Thai Police Station to face charges. Investigators are pressing seven charges: – Reckless driving causing death – Using a vehicle without a licence plate – Riding a motorcycle outside the far left lane – Riding a motorcycle without rear-view mirrors – Failing to observe traffic signs painted on the road – Using a vehicle for which tax has not been paid – Failing to stop for a pedestrian to cross at a zebra crossing. Jirasan said the case against Norawit would be forwarded to public prosecutors for arraignment by February 11. He said the policeman did not argue against any of the charges. Since Norawit had turned himself in, he was freed pending arraignment without having to place any asset as a guarantee, Jirasan said, adding that the same practice is also followed for general members of the public. He insisted that police investigators had not shown any leniency towards Norawit. Jirasan added that the investigators had checked the blood-alcohol level of Norawit when he had turned himself in but did not detect any alcohol. The deputy Metropolitan police chief said Norawit’s division had also set up an investigation committee to conduct a criminal and disciplinary probe against him and it would be wrapped up as soon as possible. Reacting to criticism that investigators at the scene had dragged their feet for too long, ostensibly to help Norawit, and had waited two hours before informing the family of the victim, Jirasan explained that the investigators initially could not identify the doctor. The investigators found the doctor’s mobile phone but it was locked so the investigators spent time checking footage of CCTVs at the spot to find out what had happened. Jirasan said police could identify Waralak only when her friend called her two hours later, at 4.30pm, to remind her to go to work at her hospital. Police then asked the friend to help contact the doctor’s family. Jirasan also denied that the suspect was driving a motorcycle seized as evidence for a crime. He said the motorcycle had been bought second-hand for Bt110,000 on December 14. The policeman had shown the purchase documents to the investigators, Jirasan added.
News that a golden Buddha figure and other sacred items will be placed inside a pagoda at Dhamma Chedi Museum in Udon Thani from January 27-30 went viral among Thai netizens on Monday.
The 50.5-kilogram Buddha figure is made of 99.99 per cent gold and worth approximately 100 million baht, according to press reports.
The museum is currently awaiting delivery of the statue from a factory in Bangkok, reports said. They clarified that the golden figure has nothing to do with the gold-donations project launched after the 1997 financial crisis.
Construction of Dhamma Chedi Museum is 80-90 per cent complete, according to the museum website. The Northeast province’s newest museum will commemorate one of Thailand’s most famous monks, Luangta Maha Bua Yannasampanno, who died on January 31, 2011 at the age of 98.
The death of a female doctor after being hit by a speeding big-bike motorcycle has prompted three Bangkok gubernatorial candidates to come up with ideas on how to prevent such tragic accidents.
The death on Friday of Dr Waralak Supawat-Jariyakul, an ophthalmologist at Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Medicine, led to an outburst of anger from netizens who accused Thai motorists of never caring about pedestrians.
The accident occurred on Friday afternoon when Dr Waraluck was using the zebra crossing at Phya Thai Road. She was struck by a Ducati big bike. She was admitted to Rajavithi Hospital where she succumbed to her injuries. The policeman who was allegedly riding the bike later surrendered, according to reports. Three contenders for Bangkok governor — Chadchart Sittipunt, Suchatvee Suwansawat and Wiroj Lakkhanaadisorn — joined the debate on Monday with ideas on improving safety at zebra crossings. Chadchart, a former prime minister candidate of the Pheu Thai Party, has announced that he would run for Bangkok governor as an independent candidate. Chadchart said the most important factor in road safety is the strict following of traffic discipline by motorists, and future accidents could be prevented only by strict enforcement of traffic laws. He said the traffic law required motorists to give top priority to pedestrians at zebra crossings. He cited Section 70 of the Land Traffic Act BE 2522, which requires motorists to slow down when a zebra crossing is in sight, but the off-duty policeman who hit and fatally injured the doctor did not slow down at all.
Chadchart said motorists must also comply with traffic signs that warn them about a zebra crossing ahead. When motorists see the sign, they must be alert for pedestrians crossing the road and must stop to let them pass safely, but the big bike did not stop for the pedestrian,” Chadchart added. He said violators of traffic laws must face severe penalties, both fines and imprisonment, and their driving licence must also be revoked. “We can see that motorists are often lax in traffic discipline. They often run through a red light when they see no vehicles on the other way. We often see motorcyclists drive against the traffic and drive on sidewalks. We see double-parkings on the roadside,” Chadchart said. He suggested that the BMA urgently implement the following measures on Bangkok roads to prevent more accidents: ▪️ Repaint zebra crossing to have bright and clear patterns and enlarge the width of the crossings to be clearly visible from afar ▪️Put up street lamps at zebra crossings and alert signal lamps to warn motorists ▪️Place warning signs to show a zebra crossing is ahead ▪️Instal CCTV to catch law-breaking motorists ▪️Zebra crossings used by many pedestrians must have on-demand traffic lights for them to press for motorists to stop. Suchatvee, who has announced he would contest the Bangkok election under the Democrat Party banner, offered three proposals to make Bangkok roads safe. First, he said, a road accident must not be allowed to fade from public attention like major cases in the past. Instead, a committee of experts should be formed to find out the cause of the accident whether it is a human error, a fault in the road design and environment, or an error on the part of the driver. He said Bangkok must have an agency in charge of conducting an investigation when a major accident occurs and the agency should have different representatives, such as road experts, traffic engineers, medical experts, and independent experts, so they will be able to analyse and come up with solutions. They may suggest changes to the road structure and the use of technologies to prevent more accidents, or propose stricter enforcement of the law depending on their findings, Suchatvee said. Secondly, he said, the people and communities must send representatives to inspect the safety of sidewalks and zebra crossings in their community once in a while. He said a road safety audit must be carried out by licensed experts and people’s representatives at least twice a year. Thirdly, Suchatvee said, young kids must be instilled with the right attitude towards road safety and traffic law discipline from the time they are in kindergarten so that they can warn their parents to observe the law and grow up as traffic-law abiding citizens. Wiroj, who has announced he would run as a candidate of the Move Forward Party, said the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration must improve some 4,000 zebra crossings around the capital. “Traffic lights and CCTV for speed checking should be installed at zebra crossings. Roads should be painted with patterns to warn motorists to slow down before they reach the crossings,” Wiroj said. He said the Metropolitan Police Bureau should also be reminded to strictly enforce traffic laws, and motorists must be reminded to give priority to pedestrians at zebra crossings. “From now on, zebra crossings must be safe zones for pedestrians. Never again should people be allowed to die on the crossings,” Wiroj said. He said the Bangkok governor of the Move Forward Party will be empowered to carry out these measures to ensure safety for pedestrians. Wiroj also visited the site of the accident. He said the current Bangkok governor must do something regarding the accident.
The Cabinet on Monday approved phase four of the government’s “Khon La Khrueng” (Let’s Go Halves) subsidy scheme with a budget of 34.8 billion baht.
The scheme pays up to half the cost of food, general goods, massage, spa and salon services, and public transport.
The subsidy is capped at 150 baht per person per day up to a maximum of 1,200 baht, and available from February 1 to April 30.
The scheme aims to aid economic recovery by boosting demand and supply while stimulating spending to help small operators. It is also designed to soften the financial impact of rising living costs.
The Cabinet also approved a budget of 8.07 billion baht to raise payments to welfare card holders by 200 baht per month for three months until April, plus a budget of 1.351 billion baht for vulnerable people who need special assistance.
The aim is to reduce burdens on cardholders whose income has dropped during the Covid-19 crisis.
Thailand unsurprisingly topped the list in Southeast Asia and Asia for road deaths in the last World Health Organisation (WHO) report, averaging at 32.7 people for every 100,000.
Coming in after Thailand in the 2018 WHO Global Status Report on Road Safety were Vietnam (26.4), Malaysia (23.6), Myanmar (19.9), Cambodia (17.8), Laos (16.6), Timor-Leste (12.7), the Philippines (12.3), Indonesia (12.2) and Singapore (2.8).
Thailand was also ranked No 9 in the top 10 countries with the highest number of road fatalities globally. This list was led mostly by African countries.
In a report published in 2019, the Thai Health Promotion Foundation’s road safety centre said pedestrians are the most vulnerable.
The fate of pedestrians on Bangkok roads came to light last week when a police lance corporal on a motorcycle hit and fatally injured a doctor while she was using a zebra crossing.
CCTV footage shows Dr Waralak Supawat-Jariyakul, an ophthalmologist at Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Medicine, crossing the walkway in front of Bhumirajanagarindra Kidney Institute Hospital in Phya Thai district on January 21. A van slows to let her pass, before a powerful red Ducati motorcycle zooms in at the right-hand lane and hits Dr Waralak, sending her flying through the air.
Lance Corporal Norawit Buadok, the off-duty policeman who crashed into Waralak, was slammed with five charges on Sunday, including reckless driving causing death, using a vehicle without a licence plate, not driving on the left lane as required, not following road markings and not paying annual tax. Court decision on punishment is pending.
Statistics released by the Department of Highways between 2013 and 2017 showed that an average of 55 per 100 accidents involve pedestrians being hit by motorists coming from the opposite direction, while 40 deaths per 100 accidents were caused by overtaking.
“Most of the pedestrians killed were aged between 45 and 59,” the report said.
Between 2014 and 2017, Thailand has seen some 20,000 road fatalities, 740 of whom were pedestrians, the Digital Government Development Agency (DGA) showed.
“Most of those killed were teenagers aged 15 to 19, followed by people aged 50 to 69,” DGA said. “Most of the accidents were caused by motorcycles, followed by cars and trucks.”
The Ministry of Public Health is working on a plan for fully vaccinated people who have already received a booster shot of Covid-19 vaccine to keep their immunity high, especially against the Omicron variant, a news source said on Monday.
“The ministry has been advised by the Centre of Covid-19 Situation Administration [CCSA] to draw up plan for giving a fourth shot of the Covid-19 vaccine from February,” said the source. “Priority will be given to people in high-tourism provinces and areas with high infection rate.”
Based on these criteria, it is likely that the residents of Phuket, Surat Thani, Krabi and Phang Nga, the four provinces currently accepting foreign visitors, will get the fourth shot first.
Six other provinces fit the criteria of being tourism pilot areas and/or having high infection rate. They are Bangkok, Chonburi, Samut Prakan, Nonthaburi, Kanchanaburi and Pathum Thani.
“The ministry has also suggested that people who have received two doses of Sinovac, followed by an AstraZeneca booster shot, should get an AstraZeneca dose as the fourth jab,” said the source. “People who have got two doses of AstraZeneca, followed by a Pfizer booster, should get the Pfizer vaccine as their fourth shot.”
The national telecom watchdog plans to move Bangkok’s infamous entangled overhead communication cables underground starting next month.
Trairat Wiriyasirikul, acting secretary-general of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission, said the NBTC regards moving the overhead cables on Bangkok roads as a priority.
The operation will start in February in cooperation with the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration and the Metropolitan Electricity Authority. Communication lines with a combined length of about 400 kilometres hanging on power poles above Bangkok’s roads will be moved underground, Trairat said. The scenes of entangled communication lines in Bangkok often made negative headlines when foreign celebrities took their pictures and shared them on social media, prompting the Thai government to promise to tackle the problem. In October, Hollywood actor Russel Crowe who was in Thailand to film a movie, took a picture of Bangkok’s communication cables and posted it on his Twitter page with the caption: “Bangkok dreaming …”. In 2016, Microsoft co-founder-turned-philanthropist Bill Gates posted a photo and commented about the tangled cables on his Facebook page but he later deleted the post apparently because he had inaccurately identified the communication lines as power cables.
Trairat said that after completing the operation in Bangkok, the NBTC would get down to moving communication cables totalling some 2,000 kilometres in the provinces underground. The NBTC will work with the Provincial Electricity Authority to handle the cables in the provinces. He said the whle project could take three years. Once all the communication lines go underground, the country would look tidy in line with the policy of Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha, Trairat added. He said the NBTC had resolved at its meeting on January 21 to provide financial support for the operation, following up on a Cabinet resolution on November 23 to tackle the tangled overhead communication lines.
The Laos-China railway will offer Thailand more opportunities and help Chumphon become an export hub very soon, Alongkorn Ponlaboot, adviser to the minister of agriculture and cooperatives, said on Sunday.
He was in Chumphon on behalf of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives Minister Chalermchai Sreeon to release 1.5 million giant freshwater prawns and other marine life into a canal in Muang district.
The aim of the ceremony is to help fishermen and locals affected by Covid-19 as well as repopulate the waters.
At the event, Alongkorn said the 3-billion-baht irrigation system and flood-prevention project in Chumphon had made good progress and would be completed by 2024.
He also pointed out that Chumphon province has great potential, especially since its per capita income at 200,000 baht per person is among the top 20 in the country.
He added that the minister is working towards boosting Chumphon’s gross provincial product (GPP) to 100 billion baht this year, with the agricultural sector being the key driver.
Apart from key cash crops like durian, oil palm, rubber, coconut and coffee, Chumphon’s economy will also benefit from the tourism sector, he said.
Meanwhile, Chalermchai’s plan is to develop Chumphon’s economy from three aspects, namely:
Turning the province into a fruit hub in the South. Alongkorn said Thailand’s fruit exports had surged in the first 11 months of 2021, hitting an all-time high at 150 billion baht. Last year was also the first time that 100 billion baht worth of durians had been exported. Chumphon is the second largest supplier of fruit in Thailand.
Turning Chumphon into a hub for Robusta coffee. The minister aims to develop the coffee industry in Chumphon along the lines of the Arabica coffee project applied in the North.
Turning Chumphon into a gateway to the South. The province has ports connecting the mainland to islands in the Gulf of Thailand and can serve as a kick-off point for divers. Alongkorn advised the province to prepare for an influx of travellers once the Covid-19 situation improves.
Suchatvee, who has announced he would contest the Bangkok election under the Democrat Party banner, offered three proposals to make Bangkok roads safe.
Trairat said that after completing the operation in Bangkok, the NBTC would get down to moving communication cables totalling some 2,000 kilometres in the provinces underground. The NBTC will work with the Provincial Electricity Authority to handle the cables in the provinces.
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