Chiang Mai is set to reopen its weekend markets and walking streets from Wednesday, now that no new Covid-19 cases have been reported in the province for six consecutive days.
Governor Charoenrit Sanguansat announced on Monday that the provincial communicable disease committee has agreed to relax shutdown measures on weekend markets and walking streets, which have been closed since January 6.
“Organisers, vendors and customers will still have to follow the measures put in place by the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration to curb the spread of Covid-19,” the governor said.
Chiang Mai has not reported any new Covid-19 cases for six consecutive days. The number of accumulated confirmed cases in the province stands at 69, 23 of which came from the new wave that surfaced in December.
The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) reported 171 new cases on Tuesday, including 13 overseas travellers in quarantine.
Of the returnees, seven are Thai nationals — one from the United States, two from Japan, two from Malaysia, one from United Arab Emirates, and one from United Kingdom.
Six foreigners — a Taiwanese woman, a Belgian man, a Turkish man, two French men and a Czech woman who flew in from their respective nations — also tested positive in quarantine.
Of the new local cases, 33 were exposed to the virus while visiting high-risk areas. The province with the highest number of infections is Samut Sakhon with 18 — four Thais and 14 foreigners.
Proactive testing led to finding 125 cases, mostly in Samut Sakhon where 106 foreigners and 14 Thais tested positive.
Meanwhile, 150 patients have recovered and been discharged.
Taweesin Visanuyothin, spokesperson for the CCSA, said that the virus situation in Malaysia was a cause of concern due to the high number of daily cases on the southern border with Thailand.
Thirty-one provinces in Thailand don’t have any patients, 32 provinces have around 1-10 patients in all hospitals, 10 provinces have around 11-100 patients, and four provinces have more than 100.
The total number of confirmed cases in Thailand has risen to 12,423 – 10,134 of which were contracted domestically, including 3,982 found via proactive testing and 2,289 returnees. So far, 9,206 have recovered and been discharged, 3,168 patients are still in hospital, and 70 have died.
According to Worldometer, as of midnight on Monday, the total number of confirmed cases globally had risen to 96 million (up by 474,092), 70.68 million have recovered, 25.33 million are active cases (111,883 in severe condition) and 2.05 million have died (up by 9,167).
Thailand ranks 128th on the global list for most cases, while the US tops the list with 24.63 million, followed by India 10.58 million, Brazil 8.51 million, Russia 3.59 million and the United Kingdom 3.43 million.
The State Railway of Thailand (SRT) will have to adjust its development plan for the Bang Sue Grand Station’s Plot A now that nobody has shown any interest in bidding for the project.
Bidding envelopes, each costing Bt500,000, have been put up for sale since December 28, but not a single one has been sold, a source said. The bidding wraps up on January 29.
“It is believed that nobody has shown interest in the project because of the new wave of Covid-19 infections. Also the Plot A project has low potential for commercial profit as an elevated expressway passes over it and it has limited access,” the source said.
“If nobody buys an envelope in the next 10 days, SRT will not reopen the bidding again,” the source said. “Instead it will adjust details of the development plan for Plot A and either make it the site of an SRT office building or let other state agencies rent the land, which will not require any bidding because it will not be a private-public partnership.”
The source also said that SRT is looking into the possibility of bundling Plot A with Plot E, because Plot E has higher commercial potential and will attract more bidders.
The 79-rai Plot E, with an estimated value of over Bt30 billion, is located next to the nation, while the 32-rai Plot A is about 140 metres away from the station.
Airports of Thailand (AOT) expects operational losses at Bt10 billion in fiscal year 2021 for the first time since its establishment 40 years ago, AOT president Nitinai Sirismatthakarn said.
“However, with the current cash flow of Bt32 billion, AOT would continue to expand six airports in 2021 as planned, with total investment of Bt92 billion,” he said.
Nitinai added that this year AOT would propose a plan for expansion of the eastern, western and northern terminals at Suvarnabhumi Airport, aiming to accommodate 120 million passengers per year.
“Total investment for expansion at Suvarnabhumi would be close to Bt60 billion,” he added.
“The rest Bt32 billion investment will include the third phase of Don Mueang Airport expansion, which consists of constructing a new southern terminal to replace the existing domestic terminal.
“AOT is now conducting environmental impact assessment of the Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang projects and expects to submit the proposals to the Ministry of Transport and the Cabinet within May. The bidding process could start before the end of 2021,” Nitinai said.
Despite a projected loss in 2021, Nitinai is confident that the company’s situation will improve by the end of 2022 when the Covid-19 vaccine should become widely available in Thailand and international travel should be fully restored.
“With enough cash flow we will not need to borrow additional funds in 2021,” he added. “Furthermore, in 2020 we managed to reduce our cost by 29 per cent and expect to further reduce 9 per cent this year.”
Currently AOT’s airports have around 15,460-25,000 passengers per day, dropping drastically from the average 200,000 passengers per day before Covid-19, which generated cash flow of Bt40 billion annually.
The baht opened at 30.12 to the US dollar on Tuesday, weakening from Monday’s close of 30.12.
The Thai currency is likely to move between 30.05 and 30.25 on Tuesday, Krungthai market strategist Poon Panichpibool said.
Poon said that the financial markets were still in risk-off state, due to concerns about the Covid-19 crisis around the world. Also, the market is monitoring the US Treasury Department under Janet Yellen, the new Treasury secretary, he added.
Yellen’s opinion on the dollar could weaken the currency, as she wants it to move in line with the market mechanism. The market strategist explained that if the US political situation stabilises, the Biden government would push stimulus measures and the market would return to a risk-on state again.
In Thailand, the baht’s main factor was fund flows from foreign investors, which depends on the Covid-19 situation in the country.
In the short term, he advised investors to keep an eye on stimulus packages issued by the government this week. Poon added that the packages could soon strengthen the baht.
The Thailand Meteorological Department said on Tuesday that the rather strong high-pressure system from China covers upper Thailand, resulting in temperatures falling by 2-4 degrees Celsius in the North, making the weather cool to cold.
Meanwhile, the strong northeast monsoon prevails over the Gulf and the South, bringing strong winds and triggering waves 2-3 metres high in the lower Gulf.
All ships should proceed with caution and small boats should keep ashore until January 20, the department said.
The weather forecast for the next 24 hours:
North: Cold weather with strong winds; temperature lows of 11-14 degrees and highs of 28-31°C; temperature on hilltops is likely to drop to 4-12°C.
Northeast: Cold weather; temperature lows of 9-14°C and highs of 25-28°C; temperature on hilltops is likely to drop to 4-12°C.
Central: Cool weather; temperature lows of 16-18°C, highs of 29-31°C.
East: Cool weather; temperature lows of 16-20°C, highs of 31-33°C; waves a metre high and 1-2 metres offshore.
South (east coast): Cool weather with thundershowers in 10 per cent of the areas; temperature lows of 20-24°C, highs of 29-31°C; waves 2 metres high and 2-3 metres during thundershowers.
South (west coast): Partly cloudy with thundershowers in 10 per cent of the areas; temperature lows of 22-24°C, highs of 31-33°C; waves 2 metres high and over 2 metres offshore.
Bangkok and surrounding areas: Cool weather; temperature lows of 18-20°C, highs of 30-32°C.
The disembowelled carcass of a dugong was found floating in the sea near the twin islands of Ko Lao Ka in Krabi province, authorities said on Monday.
According to the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation’s Facebook page, the dead dugong was discovered on Sunday by a travel boat operator, who informed officials of Than Bok Khorani national park.
The carcass was retrieved from the sea and taken to a research centre in Trang for post-mortem examination. Dugongs are an endangered species, with only around 200 thought to remain in Thai waters.
Two courts in Bangkok on Monday granted bail to six protesters arrested at Victory Monument and Samyan Mitrtown on Saturday.
Dusit Municipal Court granted bail of Bt20,000 bail each to two leaders of a group arrested at Victory Monument while creating a 112-metre-long banner with slogans criticising the prime minister.
They are charged with violating the emergency decree concerning Covid-19 and the Communicable Disease Act.
Meanwhile, Patumwan Municipal Court granted Bt20,000 bail each to four protesters who had been arrested in front of Samyan Mitrtown complex at a demonstration demanding the release of the two leaders arrested at Victory Monument earlier.
They are charged with violating the emergency decree.
The Covid-19 situation in Nakhon Ratchasima and Lampang seems to have improved, with schools and walking streets being reopened.
Nakhon Ratchasima’s educational office announced that 602 of the 615 schools temporarily closed have been reopened. The remaining 13 will have to remain closed because some staff members or students were related to confirmed cases.
The provincial authorities also said on Monday that no new Covid-19 cases had been found over the past six days and the total number of infected persons in the new wave was 10, seven of whom have returned home.
Lampang authorities, meanwhile, said all three patients in the new wave of infections have recovered and discharged. The province plans to reopen its Lampang Cultural Street on Friday and the Kad Kong Ta street market this weekend.
Thanommit Market in Bangkok announced via its Facebook page that a male vendor who ran a food stall at the market had tested positive for Covid-19.
The vendor was among 10 cases confirmed by Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) on Sunday.
“Upon receiving the notification from the Bang Khen public health office, market staff told the vendor to close his stall and go home immediately to prepare for treatment,” the announcement said.
“After he left, we cleaned his stall and the nearby areas with disinfectant and closed the areas off temporarily.”
The market will be shut from January 19 to 21 to perform thorough cleaning in all areas and reopen on January 22, the FB post said.
“On Tuesday, officials from the Ministry of Public Health and Bang Khen district office would collect samples from merchants and market staff and would release the results by January 21,” said the announcement. “Merchants who test negative will be allowed in the market to prepare their stalls for the opening on Friday.”
The market also posted a timeline and travel history of the merchant, who is the 437th case in Bangkok.
From December 29 to January 9, he came to work at Thanommit Market on a personal motorcycle.
On January 10, he visited a relative at Chatuchak Market on his personal motorcycle, while having symptoms of coughing and phlegm.
From January 11-13, he came to work to Thanommit Market on his personal motorcycle.
On January 14, he received testing from Bangkok’s mobile testing unit and was found to be infected at 7pm.
On January 15, he was admitted to a hospital for treatment.
(File Photo)
