Tuesday was a very unlucky day for a driver when some packages slipped off his trailer and policemen rushed to help him only to find the boxes were filled with amphetamine pills.
The 52-year-old was caught on a road in Phatthalung province with a haul of more than a million pills.
The man was on his way to Pattani and dropped the packages while doing a turn.
A couple of police officers on motorbikes parked nearby rushed to the driver’s aid. However, upon noticing the fallen boxes were full of amphetamine pills, they had the driver open his trailer and found more drugs inside.
The driver was arrested immediately and faces legal action.
A slip lands truck driver in the nickA slip lands truck driver in the nickA slip lands truck driver in the nick
Foreigners will flock to Thailand now that Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has announced that the country will be reopening on November 1, the Tourism and Sports Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said on Tuesday.
Pointing out that Thailand is a popular winter destination for travellers from the West, he said the Public Health Ministry should have a strict screening system ready in time.
However, he said, the arrival of foreign tourists will help kickstart the revival of Thailand’s tourism industry by yearend and in the first quarter of next year.
Thailand may be locked down again if people don’t observe Covid-19 preventive measures once the country reopens, Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul warned on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha announced in a televised address on Monday that he has instructed the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration and the Public Health Ministry to look into opening the country on November 1.
Initially, tourists from 10 low-risk countries will be allowed to travel to Thailand without having to quarantine provided they are fully jabbed and test negative.
The list will be expanded to cover more countries in the first week of December and then again in January 2022.
This morning, Anutin said that the detail of the 10 countries was under discussion and will be proposed to the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration on this Thursday.
Asked about a tendency to close the country again, the heath minister said it depends on Thai people. If they don’t follow the preventive measures strictly, Thailand tends to be shut again.
In addition, Anutin added that risk places like entertainment venues will be monitored seriously, in a bid to prevent the new outbreaks.
A drug addict got away after shooting his father in the leg with a harpoon as he was trying to let police officers in.
At about 10pm on Monday, police in Bangkok’s Rat Burana district received a call about an inebriated man setting the second floor of a foundry plant on fire. The caller was the father, who said he lived on the second floor with his wife and son. However, 31-year-old Ekkachai Saengthongdee got away after shooting his father in the left thigh just as his dad was opening the door to police officers.
The mother later told officers that their son is unemployed and a drug addict who sometimes assaults his parents.
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She said they decided to call the police this time because Ekkachai had arrived home drunk and set fire to their home. She added that Ekkachai had been arrested several times before but never kept behind bars for too long.
The fire was quickly brought under control and the mother has been invited to the district police station to testify. The father has been admitted to Rat Burana Hospital for treatment and his testimony will be taken later. Police, meanwhile, have launched a manhunt for the missing son.
Udon Thani is pushing to open its doors to tourists under a “sandbox” scheme from November 1, well ahead of the initial reopening schedule on New Year’s Day.
The provincial authorities say the sandbox scheme has become a standard operating procedure and Udon Thani should be able to open six districts to double-jabbed tourists or those with negative test results without them having to quarantine for 14 days. The six districts considered are Muang, Kumphawapi, Prachaksinlapakhom, Nong Han, Nam Som and Na Yoong.
The main targets are investors, regular tourists and medical tourists.
Udon Thani pushes to reopen under ‘sandbox’ on Nov 1Udon Thani pushes to reopen under ‘sandbox’ on Nov 1Udon Thani pushes to reopen under ‘sandbox’ on Nov 1
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Udon Thani pushes to reopen under ‘sandbox’ on Nov 1Udon Thani pushes to reopen under ‘sandbox’ on Nov 1
Ministry of Public Health reported on Tuesday (October 12) morning that in the past 24 hours there are 9,445 new patients who tested positive for Covid-19, 201 of whom have been found in prisons.
Death toll increased by 84, while 11,452 patients were cured and allowed to leave hospitals.
The country’s total caseload from Covid-19 stands at 1,730,364 – 1,604,355 of whom have recovered, 108,174 are still in hospitals and 17,835 have died.
Separately, another 368,278 people were given their first Covid-19 shot in the last 24 hours, 395,505 their second shot and 41,363 a booster, bringing the total number of Covid-19 vaccine doses administered nationwide to 61,033,251.
According to Worldometer, confirmed cases globally had risen to 239.04 million on Tuesday, 216.30 million of whom have recovered, 17.87 million are active cases (81,713 in severe condition) and 4.87 million have died (up by 4,657).
Thailand ranks 24th in the global list of most cases, which is topped by the US with 45.31 million, followed by India with 33.98 million, Brazil with 21.58 million, the UK with 8.19 million and Russia with 7.80 million.
Samut Prakan Central Prison since September 20 has sent 145 prisoners to work with selected entrepreneurs in industrial sector in the province as part of the ‘Samut Prakan Model’ initiative.
“The programme aims to provide prisoners with an opportunity to improve their industrial skills and increase the chance of employment after they finish serving their sentence,” said Justice Minister Somsak Thepsuthin on Monday. “Prisoners to join the program will have to wear EM (electronic monitoring) bracelets while the entrepreneurs will provide lodging, wages and other benefits as required by the labour law.”
Two entrepreneurs in Samut Prakan have joined the programme since September 20 under the MOU with Ministry of Justice and Department of Probation, namely Retail Business Solutions Ltd. and Tai Thong Machinery Ltd.
“The ministry hopes that more entrepreneurs will join the programme in the future and the Samut Prakan model can be developed into a bigger initiative,” said Somsak. “For example, we are studying the possibility to establish Department of Correction’s Industrial Estate to specifically provide career opportunity to prisoners, which will be a great way to reduce prisons’ crowdedness while giving a second chance to prisoners and providing industrial sector with much needed skilled labours.”
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Samut Prakan sends prisoners to work in industrial sector
Meanwhile, Witthawan Sunthonkhajit, Department of Probation director-general has added that more than 74,000 prisoners wearing EM bracelet have been released under the department’s partial release programme. “We have encountered no problem so far,” he said. “Entrepreneurs can rest assured that the released prisoners will not cause problems to your businesses, as they will be monitored at all times via the bracelets. We also have deployed officers and volunteers to keep an eye on released prisoners at workplaces periodically.”
The Thailand Meteorological Department said on Tuesday (October 12) that the strong southwest monsoon prevails across the Andaman Sea, the South and the Gulf of Thailand while the monsoon trough lies across the lower North, the Central, the East and the lower Northeast into the tropical storm KOMPASU over the upper South China Sea.
Waves in the Gulf and the Andaman Sea are 2-3 meters high and over 3 meters high in thundershowers. All ships should proceed with caution and keep off thundershowers, while small boats should keep ashore.
The department also mentioned that the tropical storm KOMPASU over the upper South China Sea is moving west through Hainan, China, and will make landfall over upper Vietnam during October 13 to 14. It will downgrade into a tropical depression and an active low-pressure cell respectively.
The weather forecast for the next 24 hours is as follows:
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North: Thundershowers in 60 per cent of the areas with isolated heavy rain; temperature lows of 22-25 degrees and highs of 29-33 degrees Celsius.
Northeast: Thundershowers in 40 per cent of the areas with isolated heavy rain; temperature lows of 23-25 degrees and highs of 29-32 degrees Celsius.
Central: Thundershowers in 70 per cent of the areas with isolated heavy rain; temperature lows of 24-26 degrees, highs of 31-33 degrees Celsius.
East: Thundershowers in 70 per cent of the areas with isolated heavy to very heavy rain; temperature lows of 24-28 degrees, highs of 27-33 degrees Celsius; waves 2-3 meters high and over 3 meters during thundershowers.
South (east coast): Thundershowers in 40 per cent of the areas; temperature lows of 23-25 degrees, highs of 31-35 degrees Celsius; waves 2 meters high and over 2 meters during thundershowers.
South (west coast): Thundershowers in 40 per cent of the areas with isolated heavy rain; temperature lows of 20-26 degrees, highs of 27-33 degrees Celsius; waves 2-3 meters high and over 3 meters during thundershowers.
Bangkok and surrounding areas: Thundershowers in 60 per cent of the areas with isolated heavy rain; temperature lows of 25-27 degrees, highs of 31-33 degrees Celsius.
Visitors from the 10 low-risk countries are not required for a mandatory quarantine but must be fully vaccinated and enter Thailand by air.
The prime minister said on Monday that the visitors are required to carry an RT-PCR test result document before entering and leaving the country. The government aims to allow more countries to travel to Thailand by December, while the next phase is expected to be on January 1, 2022.
Meanwhile, alcohol consumption in restaurants and the entertainment venues reopening are to be considered for approval on December 1.
Here are the highlights of the prime minister’s national address.
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1. “During the last weeks some of Thailand’s most important tourist source countries have begun to ease their travel restrictions on their citizens… With these developments, we must act quickly but still cautiously, and not miss the opportunity to entice some of the year-end and new year holiday season travelers during the next few months to support the many millions of people who earn a living from our tourism, travel and entertainment sectors as well as the many other related sectors.”
2. “I have instructed the CCSA and the Ministry of Public Health to urgently consider within this week to allow, as of 1st November, international visitors to enter Thailand without any requirement for quarantine if they are fully vaccinated and arrive by air from low-risk countries. Visitors will need to show that they are COVID-free at their time of travel with an RT-PCR test undertaken before they leave their home country, and do a test in Thailand. Initially, we will begin with at least 10 countries on our low-risk, no-quarantine list, including the United Kingdom, Singapore, Germany, China, and the United States of America, and enlarge that list by 1st December, and, by 1st of January, move to a very extensive list.”
3. “By 1st December, we will also consider allowing the consumption of alcoholic beverages in restaurants as well as the operation of entertainment venues.”
4. “I would like to recognise the extraordinary achievements of our public health workers, other officials and all citizens for their response to my appeal in June to ready the country for quarantine-free arrivals within 120 days.
• “After we adopted the 120-day goal, extraordinary efforts were made to increase our supply of vaccines, and deliveries jumped threefold, from around 4 million doses in May to almost 12 million arriving in July, then almost 14 million arriving in August, and now running at over 20 million a month until the end of the year, totaling over 170 million doses, far ahead of the goals I had set.
• “Similarly, our public health staff worked tirelessly to accelerate vaccinations to support our 120-day goal, and the public gave great cooperation to register for vaccinations. As a result, our daily vaccinations shot up threefold in July, from around 80,000 doses a day in May, and kept increasing until Thailand rose to be among the fastest ten countries in the world for administering shots. We currently frequently administer more than 700,000 shots a day, and sometimes even exceeding one million shots a day.”
5. “…Our country was one of the first in the world to move quickly and decisively to confront the pandemic. With the collaboration of all sectors of society, and with everyone joining hands to face this crisis together, we have been among the most successful countries in the world in saving lives.”
My fellow citizens, brothers and sisters:
In the last one-and-half years, we have lived with some of the greatest peacetime challenges our country has ever faced in its history, brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, and one that has left nobody untouched and no country in the world undamaged.
It has been one of the most painful experiences in my life, too: to make decisions that balance the saving of lives with the saving of livelihoods – a choice that is not always clearly separate, and where we may save lives, but commit those lives to the unbearable pain of trying to survive with little or no income; or where we may save livelihoods but commit one’s family, friends and neighbours to loss of life and the loss of their breadwinner.
In facing this terrible choice, it was my decision that we could not allow a slow, wait-and-see approach to confronting the pandemic and let it claim the lives of so many of our countrymen and women, as we, ultimately, saw happen in so many other countries.
As a result, I acted decisively on the advice of many of our outstanding public health experts to make our country one of the first in the world to move quickly with lockdowns and tight regulations.
With the collaboration of all sectors of society, and with everyone joining hands to face this crisis together, we have been among the most successful countries in the world in saving lives.
But it has come at very great sacrifices of lost livelihoods, lost savings, and destroyed businesses – what we have all given up so that our mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, children, friends and neighbours may live for today.
The threat of a large scale, lethal spread of the virus in Thailand is now diminishing, even though the risk of resurgence is always there, and even though there are still serious constraints on our hospital and medical staff capacities.
The time has come for us to ready ourselves to face the coronavirus and live with it as with other endemic infections and diseases, much as we have learnt to live with other diseases with treatments and vaccinations.
Today, I would like to announce the first small but important step in decisively beginning the process of trying to restore our livelihoods.
During the last weeks some of Thailand’s most important tourist source countries have begun to ease their travel restrictions on their citizens – countries like the UK, that now allow convenient travel to our country, as well as countries like Singapore and Australia that have started to ease travel restrictions on their citizens visiting other countries.
With these developments, we must act quickly but still cautiously, and not miss the opportunity to entice some of the year-end and new year holiday season travelers during the next few months to support the many millions of people who earn a living from our tourism, travel and entertainment sectors as well as the many other related sectors.
I have, therefore, instructed the CCSA and the Ministry of Public Health to urgently consider within this week to allow, as of 1st November, international visitors to enter Thailand without any requirement for quarantine if they are fully vaccinated and arrive by air from low-risk countries.
All that visitors will need do is to show that they are COVID-free at their time of travel with an RT-PCR test undertaken before they leave their home country, and do a test in Thailand, after which they will be free to move around Thailand in the same way that any Thai citizen can do.
Initially, we will begin with at least 10 countries on our low-risk, no-quarantine list, including the United Kingdom, Singapore, Germany, China, and the United States of America, and enlarge that list by 1st December, and, by 1st of January move to a very extensive list.
Visitors from countries not on the list, will, of course, still be much welcomed, but with quarantine and other requirements.
By 1st December, we will also consider allowing the consumption of alcoholic beverages in restaurants as well as the operation of entertainment venues under appropriate health precautions to support the revitalization of the tourism and leisure sectors, especially as we approach the new year period.
I know this decision comes with some risk. It is almost certain that we will see a temporary rise in serious cases as we relax these restrictions. We will have to track the situation very carefully, and see how to contain and live with that situation because I do not think that the many millions who depend on the income generated by the travel, leisure and entertainment sector can possibly afford the devastating blow of a second lost new year holiday period.
But if, in the months ahead, we see an unexpected emergence of a highly dangerous new variant of the virus, then, of course, we must also act accordingly and proportionately when we see the threat. We know that this virus has surprised the world several times, and we must be ready for it to do so again.
In mid-June of this year, I had set a 120-day goal for quarantine-free entry into Thailand and to accelerate our vaccinations.
I would like to take this opportunity to recognise the extraordinary achievements of our public health workers, other officials and all citizens for their response to my appeal in June.
• After we adopted the 120-day goal, extraordinary efforts were made to increase our supply of vaccines and compete with many other countries to get deliveries. And they were very successful. Our vaccine deliveries jumped threefold, from around 4 million doses in May to almost 12 million in July… then to almost 14 million in August, and will now run at over 20 million a month until the end of the year, totaling over 170 million doses, far ahead of the goals I had set.
• Similarly, our public health staff worked tirelessly to accelerate vaccinations to support our 120-day goal, and the public gave great cooperation to register for vaccinations despite the inconveniences that may have been caused in schedulings. As a result, our daily vaccinations, which were running at around 80,000 doses a day in May, shot up immediately. One month after our goal-setting, our public health team tripled the number of shots being administering a day, and they kept increasing that number until Thailand rose to be among the fastest ten countries in the world for administering shots! Currently, they have frequently been administering more than 700,000 shots a day, and sometimes even exceeding one million shots a day.
Shortly after my address to the nation in mid-June setting our goal for quarantine-free entry into Thailand in 120 days, the world was struck by the highly infectious Delta variant. Worldwide cases spiked up and peaked in August, just as they did in Thailand, and few thought that it would be possible to achieve any quarantine-free entry into Thailand this year.
The fact that we can begin quarantine-free entry in November, and despite many countries still trying to contain Delta variant infections with restrictions on the travel of their
While visiting the Thailand Digital Valley in Chonburi, Digital Economy and Society (DES) Minister Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn said investment in technology is an important factor in driving the country’s business sector.
The minister also assigned the Digital Economy Promotion Agency to accelerate the construction of TDV3: Digital Innovation Centre, which will be at the heart of the project. The 40,000-square-metre centre, said to be the largest in the Asean region, will take about two years to be ready.
Once Thailand’s 50-billion-baht Digital Valley is ready, it will create more than 20,000 jobs and help Thai digital start-ups grow and step into the international arena.
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The construction is nearly 80 per cent complete and the valley should be ready by December.
Thailand’s very-own Digital Valley close to completion
A slip lands truck driver in the nick
A slip lands truck driver in the nick
A slip lands truck driver in the nick
Inebriated son escapes police after spearing father’s left thigh
Udon Thani pushes to reopen under ‘sandbox’ on Nov 1
Udon Thani pushes to reopen under ‘sandbox’ on Nov 1
Udon Thani pushes to reopen under ‘sandbox’ on Nov 1
Udon Thani pushes to reopen under ‘sandbox’ on Nov 1
Udon Thani pushes to reopen under ‘sandbox’ on Nov 1
Samut Prakan sends prisoners to work in industrial sector
Thailand’s very-own Digital Valley close to completion
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