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Ministry hits back at MP’s claims of vaccine mismanagement, monopoly

NationalFeb 18. 2021

By The Nation

The Public Health Ministry has stepped up to deny claims made during Wednesday’s no-confidence debate that Thailand’s Covid-19 vaccination programme has been mismanaged.

The ministry held a press conference after opposition MP Wiroj Lakkhanaadisorn (Move Forward) attacked the government over its delayed vaccine plan and Siam Bioscience’s “monopoly” in manufacturing the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Kiattaphum Wongrajit

Health Ministry permanent secretary Kiattaphum Wongrajit said the effectiveness of Thailand’s efforts to contain the outbreak had been recognised by international organisations. Meanwhile, 63 million doses of vaccine had been reserved to vaccinate people this year.

National Vaccine Institute director Nakorn Premsri added that Thailand had used three methods to procure vaccine since April 2020 – supporting domestic vaccine research, helping support foreign vaccine research, and following up on research before negotiating with vaccine-makers.

Nakorn Premsri

Thailand began negotiating with foreign companies when they launched human tests for mRNA and viral vector vaccines, he said.

After developing a viral vector vaccine in July-August last year, AstraZeneca and Oxford University assessed Thai companies’ capabilities and chose Siam Bioscience as a suitable firm to receive the technology transfer for vaccine production, he added.

Partnering with another company would have meant merely taking shipment of vaccines. “But with AstraZeneca, Thailand will gain the potential to produce world-class vaccines in the country,” Nakorn said. Siam Bioscience was among 25 companies around the world selected by AstraZeneca to make the vaccine, he added.

He also dismissed rumours highlighted in the no-confidence debate that Thailand had rejected an offer of vaccines from India. He said India had never offered to sell the AstraZeneca shots to Thailand, but the two countries had signed an MoU for vaccine research.

Meanwhile, he dismissed another claim made during Wednesday’s no-confidence debate – that Thailand had been left out of the World Health Organisation (WHO)’s COVAX vaccine procurement programme. He said the government was still negotiating with the WHO to seek conditions that were suited to Thailand.

Nakorn said that if MPs had checked details about COVAX they would have found that most of its vaccine comes from AstraZeneca with a small percentage from Pfizer. Since Thailand will soon launch production of AstraZeneca vaccine, it did not need to join the WHO programme, he added.

Opas KarnkawinpongOpas Karnkawinpong, director-general of the Disease Control Department, said the ministry had also prepared a system to track the effects of vaccination. After being vaccinated, people would have to wait in the hospital/clinic for at least 30 minutes before returning home, and then receive a check-up the following month. Anyone who suffered harmful side-effects from the vaccine could claim compensation from the National Health Security Office under a new regulation (Section 41).

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Myanmar nationals in Bangkok ask US to protect families back home

NationalFeb 18. 2021

By The NationMyanmar nationals in Thailand gathered outside the US Embassy in Bangkok’s Pathumwan on Thursday, calling on the United States to protect fellow citizens from the new military regime in their home country.

They submitted a list of 5,000 vulnerable Myanmar nationals in Thailand to an embassy official, while police and Special Branch officers oversaw the demonstration.

One demonstrator, 33, said they were worried about the safety of their families’ back home.

Myanmar’s military leaders have struggled to gain control of the streets since ousting the government led by Aung San Suu Kyi, whose party won a landslide victory in November elections. She has urged the country’s 55 million people to oppose the army’s February 1 coup, calling it “an attempt to bring the nation back under military dictatorship”.

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3 Koreans arrested in Bangkok over illegal gambling website

NationalFeb 18. 2021

By THE NATION

Immigration police have arrested three South Korean men at a building in Bangkok’s Yannawa district after receiving a tip-off that it was being used as a base to operate a South Korean gambling website.

“Preliminary investigation revealed that the three suspects have been hired by a South Korean employer to operate the website from Thailand, each receiving a salary of Bt100,000 per month plus special overseas expenses of Bt30,000 per month,” Immigration police chief Sompong Chingduang said on Thursday. “The website, which is accessible from South Korea and targets mainly South Korean customers, has circulating cash estimated at Bt2 million-Bt3 million per day.”

“One of the suspects said that their jobs are daily system administration and answering customers’ questions and that they have been doing this for about a year,” added Sompong.

The three suspects, all aged 29-30, have initially been charged with working without work visas. Police are investigating whether they were involved in illegal acts, including money laundering.

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Mahasarakham doctor becomes first medic to die from Covid in Thailand

NationalFeb 18. 2021

By THE NATION

A doctor in Mahasarakham province succumbed to Covid-19 on Thursday morning, becoming the first medic to die from the virus in Thailand.

Dr Panya Hanphanitphan, 66, was the 18th person to be infected by the virus in Mahasarakham in the new wave. He reportedly picked up the infection from his patients.

He tested positive on February 1 and was treated in Mahasarakham Hospital before being shifted to Khon Kaen Hospital.

Though Panya’s death was announced on Thursday morning, it was not included in the daily announcement from the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration.

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CCSA considers pulling some provinces out of red zone

NationalFeb 18. 2021

By The Nation

The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration will consider lifting some restrictions on “red-zone” provinces now that the number of new cases is dropping.

The topic will be discussed at the next CCSA meeting on Monday, deputy spokesperson Apisamai Srirangsan said on Thursday.

The CCSA created colour-coded control zones based on the number of Covid-19 infections when Thailand was struck with a new wave in December.

According to the codes, red stands for maximum control, orange medium control, yellow high-surveillance area, while green stands for minimum surveillance.

Apisamai said if the CCSA agrees to ease restrictions then the number of provinces marked green will rise from 35 to 54, while those marked orange will drop from 20 to eight. However, she said, Samut Sakhon will remain a red-zone province.

She also said that though restrictions are expected to be eased, people should still maintain strict hygiene to protect themselves.

She added that the authorities aim to get everyone inoculated against Covid-19, including foreign expats and migrant workers, so infections can be curbed, the burden on state healthcare system eased and the economy revived.

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Stolen ancient lintels to make their way to Thailand soon

NationalFeb 18. 2021

By THE NATION

The Foreign Ministry confirmed on Thursday that San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum was returning the two ancient lintels that had been smuggled out of Thailand in the 1960s.

The lintels, depicting the Hindu deity Vishnu (Phra Narai) had been stolen from Prasat Khao Lon in Sa Kaeo and from Prasat Nong Hong in Buri Ram.

The return of the artefacts will be overseen by the US Department of Justice.

The ministry’s spokesperson Thani Saengrat thanked US authorities for their help in the years-long fight to retrieve the lintels.

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Will you buy Karon beach?

NationalFeb 18. 2021

By The Nation

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is cooperating with Winning Moves, a leading maker of board games, to come up with a Phuket edition of the classic trading game Monopoly.

Thapanee Kiatphaibool, TAT’s executive director for tourism products, said a Phuket edition of the game will make people familiar with the province’s tourist attractions.

Photo credit: Tourism Authority of Thailand

She is also inviting people to suggest their favourite beaches, activities, hotels or restaurants.

“Let’s see if the places you suggest become one of the squares in the game,” she said.

Suggestions can be made on TAT’s Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/thaitourismnews/posts/3654275931359053

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Govt’s property stimulus measure not having much effect: REIC

NationalFeb 18. 2021

By THE NATION

The reduction of property transfer and mortgage fees has not helped stimulate all sectors of the housing market, the Government Housing Bank’s Real-Estate Information Centre (REIC) said.

In 2019, the government tried to boost the real-estate business by lowering property transfer fees from 2 per cent to 0.01 per cent and mortgage fees from 1 per cent to 0.01 per cent for properties costing no more than Bt3 million. This campaign will run until the end of 2021.

“This measure does not benefit consumers who can afford condominiums in the Bt3 million-Bt7 million range, and houses in the Bt5 million-Bt7 million. These consumers account for 80 per cent of the market,” Wichai Viratakaphan, REIC’s acting director-general, said.

“The government needs to expand the measure so consumers eyeing properties worth more than Bt3 million will be tempted to buy,” he said.

“As for those who can only afford properties below Bt3 million, they are still unable to get housing loans due to strict conditions imposed by financial institutes. This problem needs to be addressed, so the benefits of the stimulus measure can be maximised.”

REIC expects the property market this year to contract by 1 to 2 per cent thanks to the fallout of the new wave of Covid-19 infections.

“Property transfer nationwide is likely to see a 10.6 per cent dip in the first quarter, while for the entire year, it is expected to drop by 1.5 per cent or by 353,236 units compared to the previous year,” Wichai said.

“Meanwhile, the total value of transferred properties in the first quarter is expected to drop by 7.2 per cent, while for the entire year, it will drop by 5.6 per cent, or Bt876.1 billion.”

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Crackdown on business recycling used rubber gloves

NationalFeb 18. 2021

By THE NATION

Police raided a warehouse in Pathum Thani on Thursday after getting a tip-off about an operation in which used rubber gloves were being cleaned and resold.

Officials questioned the caretaker Wanida Srichumpa, 53, who said the 37 tonnes of cleaned gloves and several bags of used gloves found on the premises belonged to an executive from Samsung Life Insurance (Thailand).

The warehouse is located in Lat Lum Kaeo district.

The evidence was confiscated and Wanida was escorted to the Consumer Protection Division under the National Police Bureau.

Police explained to her that reselling used gloves violated the Consumer Protection Act and other related laws.

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Thailand named 5th most culturally influential country

NationalFeb 18. 2021

By The Nation

Thailand was ranked fifth among countries with the best cultural influence in 2021 by the CEOWORLD magazine, the Foreign Ministry said.

The top 10 countries with cultural heritage influence this year are Italy, Greece, Spain, India, Thailand, Portugal, Japan, United Kingdom, China and Germany.

For the ranking, the magazine analysed and compared 165 countries across nine key attributes, namely architecture, artistic legacy, fashion, food, music, literature, history, cultural attractions, and cultural accessibility.

Visit https://ceoworld.biz/…/best-countries-for-cultural…/…# for more information.