Rumour that unmarried foreign-Thai couples banned from Phuket debunked by tourism body
The Phuket Tourist Association (PTA) has debunked a rumour that foreigners and their Thai partners seeking to enter Phuket from July 1 must be legally married.
“The rumour stemmed from a misunderstanding of an interview given by association president Phummikit Raktaengam on Wednesday,” said a PTA Facebook post on Friday.
“During the interview, Phummikit said that the cohabitation of Thai and foreign nationals in Phuket must comply with the law. However, this rule is yet to be clarified by authorities.”
Some online news channels interpreted Phummikit’s words as meaning that foreigners in non-legally binding relationships, such as with a Thai girlfriend, as well as couples of the same sex, would be barred from visiting Phuket.
“To prevent any further misunderstanding, please disregard this as a rumour,” said the association.
The government’s tourism sandbox scheme will launch in Phuket on July 1 followed by three islands in Surat Thani – Koh Samui, Koh Pha Ngan, and Koh Tao – on July 15. Under the sandbox scheme, foreign tourists with Covid vaccination certificates and negative tests can fly into Phuket and move around freely in the province without having to quarantine. After staying in Phuket for 14 days and testing negative three times, the tourists can travel to other provinces in Thailand.
Daily caseload drops by almost 500 but deaths rise
Thailand recorded 3,644 new Covid-19 cases and 44 deaths on Friday. The daily caseload fell but deaths were up on Thursday’s figures of 4,108 and 31, respectively.
Bangkok led the list on Friday with 1,142 infections, followed by Samut Sakhon (295), Yala (215), Pathum Thani (192) and Samut Prakan (186). The total included 162 prison inmates and 31 returnees.
Meanwhile, 1,751 patients have recovered and been discharged in the last 24 hours.
The accumulated number of cases recorded in Thailand rose to 236,291. Of these, 193,106 have recovered, 41,366 are still in hospital and 1,819 have died.
Separately, 188,929 people got their first Covid-19 shot in the last 24 hours, while 68,174 people got their second, bringing the total number of vaccine doses administered in Thailand to 8,657,423.
According to Worldometer, as of 10am on Friday, the number of confirmed cases globally had risen to 180.76 million (up by 399,009), 165.41 million of whom have recovered, 11.44 million are active cases (81,097 in severe condition) and 3.91 million have died (up by 7,998).
Thailand ranks 76th on the global list of most cases, which is topped by the US with 34.46 million, followed by India 30.13 million, Brazil 18.24 million, France 5.76 million and Turkey 5.39 million.
DSI, Navy team swoops down on ship with cargo of smuggled cigarettes in Trang
A team comprising Department of Special Investigation (DSI) officials and Navy officers raided a cargo ship off the coast of Trang on Tuesday and seized a haul of smuggled cigarettes.
Officials had received a tip-off that a smuggling ring was bringing in a large quantity of “John Black” cigarettes on board a cargo ship named Decho Cargo 89.
The ship was using counterfeit documents declaring the shipment was heading to Indonesia.
The ship reportedly departed from Krabi and arrived at Koh Waen in Trang’s Kantang district at midnight on Monday, and two speedboats were spotted unloading goods from the ship. Officials intercepted the operation a few hours later and found 1,900 crates of the smuggled cigarettes on board.
The Customs Department said the haul of smuggled cigarettes cost the government over 34 million baht in lost tax revenue and that the smugglers will face a fine of 686 million baht as a penalty.
DSI will question the crew and ship owner to track down those behind the operation.
COVID-19 vaccine: Any suspected symptoms deserve attention until actually ruled out: Dr Jadej
Confidence in the COVID-19 vaccine remains thin in the air. Any time news breaks about a fresh case of suspected adverse reactions or side effects of the vaccine being experienced by someone, the already low public confidence is shattered even more.
COVID-19 vaccine: Any suspected symptoms deserve attention until actually ruled out: Dr JadejAnd despite an assertion by the National Health Security Board that all COVID-19 vaccine recipients will be taken good care of and compensated for in the event of them encountering adverse events after vaccination, a lot of questions have arisen over the financial compensation programme for people suffering serious enough side effects of the vaccine.
Dr Jadej Thammatach-aree, Secretary-General of the National Health Security Office (NHSO), has therefore offered in a recent interview clarification of terms and conditions of the compensation programme.
Basically, vaccine recipients should never decide on their own whether symptoms they are experiencing after vaccination are side effects of the vaccine or not, said Dr Jadej.
Instead they should notify the NHSO about these symptoms and the NHSO’s sub-committee responsible for processing a request for financial compensation in each health region, comprising a sufficient number of medical experts, will decide on the request, he said.
And if the sub-committee agrees that the case should be compensated for, the compensation will be then paid within five working days, he said.
All suspected cases should be first assumed to be true
The fact is these COVID-19 vaccines are currently approved for emergency use only, which means some side effects of them will possibly be experienced by a number of vaccine recipients, he said.
Even those vaccines fully developed may still have some side effects and are not totally safe, he said.
After all, the risk of suffering side effects of the COVID-19 vaccines cannot compare with the risk of developing severe or deadly symptoms as a result of contracting the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, he said citing the data collected from more than 100 million injections of the vaccines worldwide.
“We can’t say there aren’t any such side effects. But several side effects can actually be mitigated or cured [if a medical intervention is performed in time],” he said.
That explains why all vaccine recipients are advised to remain at the vaccination venue for about half an hour after vaccination for observation of possible side effects of the vaccine that usually occur in the first 30 minutes after injection, he said.
Especially in case of death that follows a recent COVID-19 vaccination, he said, the death should be first assumed to be a result of the vaccination, considering that the vaccine has been approved for emergency use only.
“I believe every medical doctor should first bear in mind such a death may have something to do with the vaccine injected and then continue proving until it is clearly known if it was the vaccine or not that caused the death,” he said.
So, personally, he said, he was wondering why some medical doctors were quick to rule out the COVID-19 vaccine as the possible cause of some recent deaths reported by the media to have occurred after vaccination.
These medical doctors should have presumed the vaccine could be the cause of these deaths until it is actually ruled out in a formal investigation, he said.
All requests for compensation are welcome
The financial compensation being offered in case of COVID-19 vaccination adverse events, allowed under Section 41 of the 2002 National Health Security Act, is simply preliminary assistance.
That explains why no results of a formal investigation into these suspected vaccination adverse events are required before the financial compensation is paid to the affected party requesting for the financial assistance, he said.
“Just submit your requests and the NHSO’s 13 sub-committees in all health regions nationwide will examine your cases with the help of a panel of medical experts who will base their decisions on your medical history and all other information concerned,” he said.
“So, please submit every suspected case to the sub-committee even if your doctors told you it wasn’t the vaccine that caused these suspected symptoms. The sub-committee will examine and decide on the case, not your doctors or anyone else,” he said.
Since the NHSO hasn’t specified as to how long from vaccination until a person begins experiencing symptoms suspected to be vaccination adverse events, he or she may still submit a request for the compensation even if it is two weeks after vaccination.
And even though it will be less likely to be the vaccination that causes such symptoms, one should never judge on his or her own that any suspected symptoms aren’t the vaccine’s side effects, he said.
No recalls of money already paid
In case of illnesses or injuries suspected to have been caused by side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine, even though the NHSO has indicated that only “persistent conditions” will be compensated for those suffering temporary conditions can still submit their cases to the NHSO for consideration, he said.
The reason is, he said, some patients may not be totally aware of their symptoms that actually developed from the beginning until they realise they actually have these symptoms when later asked about them by their doctors.
“A key reason behind our willingness to receive all complaints about possible side effects of the vaccine is because we would like to hear about as many as possible side effects of the vaccine. And there are no better ways to know than to listen to the vaccine recipients,” he said.
“Without feedback from vaccine recipients, improvement in the vaccine development won’t happen,” he said. “We also want to know what type of side effects of the vaccine we will have to prepare to cope with when a larger number of people get vaccinated.”
“Everyone has to understand that the one who will decide as to who will or will not be compensated for isn’t doctors handling the vaccination or vaccine recipients themselves, but the NHSO’s sub-committee,” he said.
COVID-19 vaccine: Any suspected symptoms deserve attention until actually ruled out: Dr Jadej“And once again the money already paid as preliminary assistance to affected parties under the sub-committee’s decisions won’t be recalled, no matter what happens later,” he said.
Payment guaranteed to be done in five working days
As soon as the sub-committee approves the compensation, the payment is normally done in five working days after that, said the NHSO Secretary-General.
Over the past three weeks after the compensation programme was launched, about 260 requests for the compensation have been received, 162 of which have already been compensated for, he said.
The most common form of symptoms compensated for was persistent numbness, which ranged from one day to a month, he said.
A total of six requests for death compensation have also been received, he said.
Request submission is very simple as only some information is needed when filling in a compensation request form, namely the national ID number, the name of the vaccination venue, symptoms and a bank account number, he said.
The request form may be submitted to the vaccination venue, the Provincial Public Health Office or the NHSO’s Regional Offices, he said.
•And following the launch of the mass vaccination drive on June 7, 2021, the NHSO now allows health volunteers across the country to receive filled in compensation request forms from the affected vaccine recipients and submit them on their behalf to the NHSO through the three main channels aforementioned, he said.
Active case finding on social media
Moreover, the NHSO’s Regional Offices are now assigned to monitor posts on the social media that may contain a complaint about possible COVID-19 vaccination adverse events and promptly contact the persons posting the information online in order to help them to seek compensation, he said.
And in the event that the number of cases of suspected vaccination adverse events surges and overwhelms the existing 13 sub-committees, more sub-committees will be appointed to ease the workload, he said.
“More importantly, some representatives of the public will possibly in the future be allowed to sit on these sub-committees as well, in a bid to garner more views from the public on the compensation programme,” he said.
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Because the compensation programme for adverse events following COVID-19 vaccination is such a new process in Thailand, it will need more time to be adjusted and fine-tuned, he said.
Any questions about the compensation programme are therefore encouraged to be asked without hesitation to the NHSO hotline 1330.
Low participation forces anti-government groups to call off protests at Nang Loeng Junction
Weak response from the public to anti-government protests on Thursday forced the organisers to cut short the event.
The two groups, “Thai Mai Thon” (Impatient Thais) and “Prachachon Kon Thai” (Thai Citizens), have rescheduled a protest gathering for Saturday.
The two groups gathered at Nang Loeng Junction in Bangkok’s Dusit district to protest against the government of Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha.
Jatuporn Prompan, former red-shirt leader who led the Thai Mai Thon group, and human rights lawyer Nititorn Lamlua, who led the Prachachon Kon Thai group, together announced the conclusion of Thursday’s gathering at 7.30pm and asked people to meet again on Saturday. They cited “low number of participants and risk of interference by third party” as reasons for calling off the demonstration.
Low participation forces anti-government groups to call off protests at Nang Loeng Junction
Meanwhile, a protest organised by the Ratsadon group, who gathered at Democracy Monument and then marched to Government House, ended at 9pm with about 500 participants.
Low participation forces anti-government groups to call off protests at Nang Loeng Junction
The three groups held protests on Thursday in remembrance of the 89th anniversary of the Siamese revolution that took place on June 24, 1932 and resulted in the transition of Siam into a constitutional monarchy system of government.
Suspect in hospital shooting case blames bullying in Army for alleged murders
The suspect in the Pathum Thani hospital shooting case reportedly told police that he was bullied in a boot camp, which angered him to go on Thursdays shooting spree.
The suspect, Kawin Saengnilkul, 23, accused of double homicide, early on Thursday allegedly fired multiple shots through a glass door in Thanyarak Hospital in Pathum Thani province and then shot dead a 54-year-old Covid-19 patient who was getting out of the toilet, before fleeing the scene.
Before the shooting in the hospital in Thanya Buri district, he had allegedly shot dead a 7-Eleven employee in Bangkok’s Phaholyothin area. The reason for this shooting was that he did not want to pay for the bottles of beer he had broken while shopping.
Kawin reportedly surrendered on Thursday afternoon at his relative’s house in Ranong province. He was found to be a former soldier who had been relieved of his duties in 2019. He also reportedly underwent treatment for mental illness in 2019 and 2020.
Suspect in hospital shooting case blames bullying in Army for alleged murders
Kawin was flown in a helicopter from Ranong to Bangkok by officials for interrogation as well as for testing for Covid-19. Before getting on the chopper, he reportedly told the press that he had committed the crime because he was angry at two people who were his seniors when he was a recruit in the Army.
“Those two bullied and assaulted me until I had to do this,” he said, adding that “I thought the patient I shot was a drug addict, so I want to apologise to everyone.”
The southwest monsoon prevails across the Andaman Sea, Thailand and the Gulf of Thailand, while a low-pressure cell covers upper Laos and upper Vietnam.
Thundershowers are forecast all over the country with isolated heavy rains in the Northeast, the Thailand Meteorological Department said on Friday.
Waves in the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand are 1-2 metres high and two metres high during thundershowers.
The weather forecast for the next 24 hours:
North: Thundershowers in 30 per cent of the areas; temperature lows of 24-26 degrees Celsius, highs of 33-36°C.
Northeast: Thundershowers in 40 per cent of the areas with isolated heavy rains; temperature lows of 24-26°C, highs of 32-37°C.
Central: Thundershowers in 20 per cent of the areas; temperature lows of 24-26°C, highs of 34-37°C.
East: Thundershowers in 20 per cent of the areas; temperature lows of 24-28°C, highs of 32-36°C; waves a metre high and 1-2 metres during thundershowers.
South (east coast): Thundershowers in 40 per cent of the areas; temperature lows of 23-25°C, highs of 33-35°C; waves a metre high and 1-2 metres during thundershowers.
South (west coast): Thundershowers in 60 per cent of the areas; temperature lows of 21-25°C, highs of 32-34°C; waves 1-2 metres high and two metres during thundershowers.
Bangkok and surrounding areas: Thundershowers in 10 per cent of the areas; temperature lows of 26-28°C, highs of 33-37°C.
Anutin ready to listen to all sides of Bangkok lockdown debate
After the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) aired plans to put Bangkok under a seven-day lockdown, Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said on Thursday he was willing to listen to the pros and cons.
CCSA suggested the lockdown to control the capital’s soaring infections, but it also admitted that it may cost workers their jobs and may spread the virus further if labourers head to their hometowns.
Anutin, meanwhile, said he has discussed the issue with Bangkok governor and was ready to support any step taken to control the spread of Covid-19.
He also said he will speak to the operator of Muang Thong Thani and ask for the Bussarakham field hospital to be kept open for another two or three months. This is because most of the Covid-19 infections are in Bangkok and adjoining provinces.
Of the 4,108 infections on Thursday, 1,359 were in Bangkok, followed by 297 in Samut Prakan, 259 in Samut Sakhon, 254 in Chonburi, 170 in Nonthaburi and 157 in Pathum Thani.
As for the 120-day countdown for the country’s reopening, Anutin said every aspect of the situation will be considered before the country opens to tourists. If the risk is still high, the opening may be delayed, he said.
Royal Thai Air Force trainee smashes international military record for push-ups
A trainee Royal Thai Air Force (RTA) officer has smashed the record for push-ups at the international Joint Chiefs of Staff Course in Russia.
On June 18, Wing Commander Tanawat Kitcharoensakkul stunned the might of the Russian military by doing 222 non-stop push-ups, shattering the record of 141 held by a Russian military student since 2017.
The RTA said Tanawat’s name now tops the military academy’s board of record holders after he excelled in the physical fitness test, which is an integral part of the military course.
For the push-up test, candidates are allowed no rest periods and must keep their feet together and back and arms straight in the upward position. Lowering themselves, candidate’s chests must touch the counting device, a 2-inch box with lights that signal each correctly executed push-up.
The push-up challenge is one of 24 physical fitness tests included in the course. All Russian military students and international counterparts are obliged to complete this endurance test. Record holders in each category are officially inducted into the academy’s roll of honour.
COVID-19 vaccine: Any suspected symptoms deserve attention until actually ruled out: Dr JadejAnd despite an assertion by the National Health Security Board that all COVID-19 vaccine recipients will be taken good care of and compensated for in the event of them encountering adverse events after vaccination, a lot of questions have arisen over the financial compensation programme for people suffering serious enough side effects of the vaccine.
COVID-19 vaccine: Any suspected symptoms deserve attention until actually ruled out: Dr Jadej“And once again the money already paid as preliminary assistance to affected parties under the sub-committee’s decisions won’t be recalled, no matter what happens later,” he said.
Low participation forces anti-government groups to call off protests at Nang Loeng Junction
Low participation forces anti-government groups to call off protests at Nang Loeng Junction
