Court revokes order to delete Thanathorn’s statement questioning vaccine programme
NationalFeb 08. 2021Progressive Movement leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit
By The Nation
The Criminal Court on Monday revoked an order to remove Progressive Movement leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit’s statement on Thailand’s vaccine programme from all online sources.
The statement questions the role of the royally-owned Siam Bioscience pharmaceutical company in Thailand’s Covid-19 vaccination plans. Thanathorn claimed Siam Bioscience has been unfairly handed the contract to manufacture the AstraZeneca vaccine.
On Monday, the court said Thanathorn’s statement did not affect the Kingdom’s security since its aim was merely to criticise the government over its Covid-19 vaccination plans.
A team from the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) seized more than 100 broadcasting and streaming devices from a three-storey building in Nonthaburi’s Muang district on Monday.
No suspects have been arrested so far.
This was part of a crackdown on the “fwiptv” website, which violates copyright laws by streaming content, including films, TV series and live football matches, while collecting a monthly fee of Bt300 from viewers.
The website allegedly has more than 700,000 page views per month, said DSI chief Pol Lt-Colonel Korawat Parnpraphakorn, adding that it is the “729th most viewed website in Thailand and the value of infringed upon content may be as high as Bt2 billion.
“The case came to light when True Visions Group, Motion Picture Association and the Football Association Premier League filed complaints at DSI’s Information Technology Division that the website has been streaming their contents online without permission,” he said.
“Officials then tracked down the website operators to the building on Rattanathibet Road.”
Police believe the building has been used as a broadcasting/streaming station and will investigate further to track down those who may be involved.
“We also narrowed down other possible bases of operation to four locations in Nonthaburi and one in Nakhon Pathom,” Korawat added.
People who have information about cybercrimes are urged to contact DSI via the smartphone app “Rootan”.
A new cluster infection linked to a super-spreader in Samut Sakhon has resulted in at least 87 coronavirus cases around the country, the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) warned on Monday.
The super-spreader was identified as a female pork vendor at a market in Samut Sakhon who lives in Amphawa, in the neighbouring province of Samut Songkhram.
CCSA assistant spokeswoman Apisamai Srirangsan said the woman travelled regularly to Ratchaburi province to buy pork.
She discovered she had Covid-19 on January 28, while her daughter-in-law tested positive on January 30.
As of February 4, the pork vendor had been linked to 86 other virus cases around the country. They include 22 people infected in Samut Sakhon, five in Phetchaburi, and one each in Bangkok, Ratchaburi, and Suphan Buri.
Police have summoned Techin Ployphet aka DJ Matoom to acknowledge charges for violating the Communicable Diseases Act and Emergency Decree by holding a party on January 9.
Metropolitan Police chief Pol Lt-General Phukphong Phongpetra said on Monday that hotel CCTV footage shows an additional 14 people attended the party.
The party was held at Banyan Tree Hotel in Bangkok’s Sathorn area.
DJ Matoom has been summoned to acknowledge the allegations on February 15 but can postpone his visit if he requires medical attention. Police said guests at the party will also be invited to testify, adding that so far no illegal objects or drugs have been found in the banquet room where the gathering was held.
Officials also found that the hotel did not serve alcohol at the party and can therefore not be held responsible. Also, people are within their right to bring alcohol from outside as hotel rooms are not listed as sites where drinking is banned.
The party was seen as a “super spreader” event as 26 persons, including DJ Matoom, were infected and 113 people were at high risk.
Police called to the pavement in front of Government House on Monday found a distraught man threatening to slash his own throat with a utility knife.
The man, named as Praset Adam, 62, told police he had been cheated out of a large sum of money by a friend. Standing by a Government House entrance surrounded by police, guards and reporters, he held the knife to his throat and threatened take his own life unless the government helped pay off his debt of Bt800,000.
He had also brought a financial contract with him, as evidence of his friend’s fraud.
After a tense stand-off, police managed to calm the man down and disarm him. He was then questioned about the reasons for his action.
IT, digital-related jobs best paying this year, JobsDB survey shows
NationalFeb 08. 2021Pornladda Dathratwibul, JobsDB country manager
By The Nation
Asia’s leading job search platform JobsDB recently released its Salary Report 2021 identifying the highest and lowest paying jobs by category.
With more people working at home due to Covid-19 related restrictions, companies have been adapting themselves to the changing environment to keep their businesses running.
Accordingly, the nature of demand in the job market has undergone a huge change, with a drastic salary increase in specific areas to attract talent.
The recent report shows that the highest paying officer-level jobs are in the IT industry, followed by those in professional services and telecommunication-related areas. At supervisor-level, e-commerce ranks highest, followed by telecommunications and IT. The top three highest-paying jobs at the manager level include insurance, IT and banking respectively.
At the top level, the highest paying fields are professional services, followed by e-commerce and banking.
The JobsDB’s salary report also shows that several sectors are likely to make a comeback with IT professionals being in the highest demand.
Pornladda Dathratwibul, JobsDB country manager, said the platform conducted a salary survey for 2021, which covers the levels of officer, supervisor, manager and top executive.
The highest and lowest paying jobs by category are as follows:
Officer level
• Information technology: Bt23,225-Bt41,122
• Professional services: Bt22,872-Bt39,331
• Telecommunication: Bt22,785-Bt38,612
• Medical services: Bt21,945-Bt37,320
• E-Commerce: Bt21,599-Bt35,283
• Engineering: Bt21,406-Bt35,571
• Banking: Bt21,036-Bt37,623
• Insurance: Bt21,025-Bt34,860
• Merchandising and purchasing: Bt20,829-Bt33,442
• Marketing and public relations: Bt20,524-Bt32,589
Supervisor level
• E-Commerce: Bt36,857-Bt64,787
• Telecommunication: Bt36,541-Bt67,134
• Information technology: Bt36,522-Bt66,920
• Professional services: Bt35,962-Bt63,888
• Insurance: Bt35,802-Bt63,790
• Accounting: Bt35,252-Bt58,403
• Banking: Bt35,124-Bt64,460
• Transportation and Logistics: Bt35,049-Bt55,624
• Marketing and public relations: Bt35,037-Bt59,943
• Administration and human resources: Bt34,919-Bt56,372
Manager level
• Insurance: Bt55,762-Bt90,716
• Information technology: Bt54,435-Bt93,324
• Banking: Bt52,993-Bt94,481
• Telecommunication: Bt52,353-Bt94,607
• Professional services: Bt52,274-Bt90,941
• Accounting: Bt52,061-Bt86,158
• Administration and human resources: Bt51,803-Bt85,079
• Science, lab and R&D: Bt51,615-Bt88,427
• Transportation and logistics: Bt51,302-Bt80,680
• Engineering: Bt51,237-Bt84,776
Top executive
• Professional services: Bt113,563-Bt164,071
• E-commerce: Bt113,271-Bt161,588
• Banking: Bt112,917-Bt165,114
• Science, lab and R&D: Bt109,726-Bt160,753
• Manufacturing: Bt109,566-Bt161,045
• Medical service: Bt106,630-Bt158,478
• Information technology: Bt105,135-Bt160,033
• Accounting: Bt104,978-Bt159,970
• Admin and HR: Bt104,714-Bt156,134
• Engineering: Bt102,298-Bt153,763
Starting salaries for IT and digital-related jobs have risen at all levels against the same period in 2019. This signifies market demand for transformation as a result of digital disruption.
In this scenario, there are two more categories to watch out: telecom and banking.
This demonstrates growth potential after banks have started focusing on digital banking services, which has also resulted in a rising demand for IT and analytics professionals who can drive new digital banking product development.
For telecom-related positions, it is found that not only larger organisations offer highly competitive salaries, but so do small and medium companies looking for talent who can help develop infrastructure needed to meet digital technology requirements and applications in the economic sector. The ongoing Covid-19 outbreak requires organisations to adjust to the new normal and shift to digital platforms.
For more information, call (02) 670 0700 for more information or visit http://bit.ly/JobsDBEN.
Thai Airways (THAI) has decided to ground three kind of aircraft in its fleet, namely Airbus A-330-300, Airbus 380 and Boeing 747, as part of its rehabilitation plan.
The national carrier explained that this decision was made based on the current and expected situation of the airline industry, which has been hit hard by the Covid-19 outbreak.
The airline also plans to bring the number of pilots in its workforce down to 905, and to achieve this it is considering laying off 395 pilots. Thai Airways said it does not plan to hire more pilots between 2021 and 2022.
The airline has also called on aircraft lessors, engine manufacturers and service companies to reduce their charges.
A vaccine passport to avoid 14 days of quarantine is just an idea at the moment as there is no conclusive evidence yet of Covid-19 vaccine’s effectiveness against the virus, the Department of Disease Control (DDC) stated on Sunday.
DDC director-general Dr Opas Karnkawinpong said that exempting Covid-19 vaccinated people from 14 days of quarantine was just an idea because the World Health Organization (WHO) has said there is not enough information available to certify the Covid-19 vaccine as 100 per cent effective in preventing infection.
He said it is believed that in the future the world will adopt the vaccine passport idea for overseas travel.
To strictly control the spread of yellow fever, an international certificate of vaccination or Yellow travel book was adopted for people travelling from Africa and South America. This book must be shown every time when travelling internationally that they have been vaccinated against yellow fever.
Opas said that the adoption of the vaccine passport is an international rule. According to the International Health Regulation of 2005, the WHO rules when a vaccine passport can be used. While people in many countries are currently getting vaccinated against Covid-19, no other country has adopted this approach.
Therefore, the 14-day quarantine measure is consistent and appropriate for the situation. Opas said that It would be possible for Thailand to adopt it if there was enough information on the Covid-19 vaccine’s efficacy. His said the idea would be placed before the Communicable Disease Committee for consideration again.
More than 63 per cent of Thais are concerned about contracting the Covid-19 virus while nearly 70 per cent are satisfied with the government’s lockdown measures, the latest NIDA Poll on people’s opinions regarding the new wave of Covid-19 revealed on Sunday.
The survey was conducted by the National Institute of Development Administration from February 1-3 among 1,315 Thais above 15 years of age from all provinces.
The survey found that 25.86 per cent of respondents were “highly concerned” about contracting the virus, while 37.79 per cent were “moderately concerned”, as the number of infections during the new wave has been growing more rapidly than during the first wave in early 2020.
Some 18.86 per cent of respondents said they were only a little concerned about being infected but they were still confident that the authorities and medical personnel could contain the outbreak. Some 17.49 per cent said they had no concern, as most people were implementing preventive measures and stayed away from crowded areas to minimise the chance of the virus spreading.
Compared to NIDA’s previous survey in June 2020, the number of respondents who have high to moderate concern has gone up from 46.3 per cent to 63.6 per cent, while the number of respondents who have little to no concern have gone down from 53.7 to 36.4 per cent.
When asked about the government’s measures imposed since December 2020 to contain the outbreak, 27.6 per cent of respondents said they were “highly satisfied”, while 42.13 said they were “moderately satisfied” that the lockdown measures have been swift, comprehensive and not too strict as to affect most people’s livelihood. Some 20.99 per cent of respondents said they were “somewhat dissatisfied” that the lockdown measures on some activities, such as parties and interprovincial travel, were not strict enough. Some 9.28 per cent of respondents said they were not satisfied and wanted the government to impose a nationwide lockdown just like during the first wave.
When asked about their plans of getting a Covid-19 vaccine, 63.12 per cent of respondents said that they were planning to get a free vaccine provided by the government, 23.57 per cent said that they would not get vaccinated, 7.98 per cent said that they would get vaccinated at a private hospital once they get the greenlight from the government, by paying out of their own pocket, while 5.33 per cent of respondents said they do not have a plan yet.
More than 80 whistling ducks were found dead in a rice farm in Lampang’s Muang district on Friday.
Initial inspection showed that the duck massacre had been caused by a herbicide used by the farmer, Dr Pattarapol Maneeon, a veterinarian from the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, said in a Facebook post on Sunday.
He said the farmer who had rented the plot said he had sprayed herbicide over his rice, but because his neighbours complained about the smell, he diluted it first.
Official investigation showed the ducks had vomited before dying, and that they had not been suffering from any illness, the veterinarian said.
It is believed the birds had died on Wednesday last week, but were only discovered on Friday once the bodies began stinking.
Locals told the press that birds had died near the plot earlier, but this time the number was significantly high.
Progressive Movement leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit
Techin Ployphet
Pornladda Dathratwibul, JobsDB country manager
File Photo
