Study shows Fah Talai Jone may kill Covid-19, but can offer no protection
NationalOct 09. 2020Dr Amporn Benjaponpitak, the deputy director-general of the Department of Health.
By The Nation
The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration on Friday released research results showing that Fah Talai Jone (Andrographis Paniculata) may help fight Covid-19.
However, the herb cannot provide any protection against the virus.
Research has proved that the herb can stop the virus from multiplying, said Dr Amporn Benjaponpitak, the deputy director-general of the Department of Health.
“Clinical tests conducted on Covid-19 patients in Samut Prakan, Chonburi and Banglamung hospitals showed good signs,” Dr Amporn said.
She added that the patients began responding to herb immediately and improved within three days. The medication also did not have any adverse effects on their liver or kidney.
The Department of Health will continue working with the Chulabhorn Research Institute to study the benefits of Fah Talai Jone.
Another study in collaboration with Ramathibodi Hospital is being conducted on fingerroot, which may have an inhibitory effect on Covid-19.
A Navy helicopter transporting personnel from the Princess Mother’s Medical Volunteer Foundation mistakenly landed in the Uttaradit’s Nan River on Thursday evening.
The helicopter had taken off from Kanchanaburi and was heading to Uttaradit.
There were 10 people onboard, including two pilots, two mechanics and six medical personnel from the foundation.
Both pilots and one foundation staff member sustained injuries and were sent to Nampad Hospital. The patients were to be transferred to the Army’s Vichaiyut Hospital on Friday.
The area of mangrove forest in Thailand increased by 203,000 rai (32,480 hectares) to total 1.737 million rai in 2020, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment announced on Friday.
Minister Varawut Silpa-archa explained that this information was from the Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency, gleaned from its aerial photographs of over 24 seaside provinces.
He said that the total mangrove forest of the country was around 1.534 million rai, and increased to 1.737 million rai, presently.
The minister added that this improvement in natural resources was not only the work of government agencies, but of all people. He urged people to take care of normal forests, as well as mangrove forests.
Police arrested 12 people related to online gambling on Thursday and learned that more than Bt500 million has been circulated in this business over the past two months.
After receiving tip-offs, Patrol and Special Operations Division raided three sites on Thursday and found evidence of online gambling.
The first site was an office in Soi Khlong Lam Chiak 8 of Bangkok’s Bueng Kum district. Five people were arrested there and electronic devices such as computers and aircards were confiscated.
The second site was a house in the same lane, where two Myanmar women, aged 24 and 23, were nabbed. Officials also confiscated 12 computers and four safes filled with cash and cheques worth Bt10 million in total. Police also got their hands on a list of 5,000 customers.
The last place was a house in Soi Sirindhorn 7 in Bangkok’s Bang Phlat district. Here five people were arrested and computers and bank books seized.
All 12 detainees confessed they had been operating online gambling websites and were involved in online cash transactions with customers.
Police said they learned that more than Bt500 million had circulated in their business over the past two months, adding that the operation will be expanded further based on the evidence confiscated.
GPO to produce masks, PPE in preparation for second Covid-19 wave
NationalOct 09. 2020Dr.Sopon Mekthon, chairman of the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation (GPO)
By The Nation
Dr Sopon Mekthon, chairman of the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation (GPO), said on Thursday that the agency has taken steps to deal with a possible second Covid-19 outbreak, so there are no shortages in masks and protective gear this time.
He said medical and N95 masks as well as top level personal protective equipment (PPE) can now be produced domestically.
“GPO has readied a production plant which will focus on quality gear and masks. At present there is only one N95 mask manufacturer in the country, and we worry it will not be enough. Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul’s policy is that we have to be self-sufficient. We plan to start producing medical masks this year and N95 masks by mid-2021,” Dr Sopon said.
The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration reported six new cases in quarantine facilities over a 24-hour period on Friday.
A 23-year-old Nepali female student arrived in Thailand on September 24 and tested positive on October 7 as an asymptomatic patient at the organisational state quarantine facility in Pathum Thani province.
A 29-year-old Lithuanian man travelled from Norway on October 3. He was asymptomatic but tested positive on October 6 at an alternative state quarantine hotel in Bangkok.
Two Thais, a 21-year-old female student and a 23-year-old man, travelled from the United States on October 3 and went into a state quarantine facility in Bangkok. Both tested positive on October 7.
Two Thais, a 43-year-old male and a 47-year-old female office employee, returned from Myanmar on October 5 and tested positve on the same day in Tak’s local state quarantine facility.
Meanwhile, two patients have recovered and been discharged.
The total number of confirmed cases in Thailand increased to 3,628 (690 in state quarantine), 124 are in hospital, 3,441 have recovered and been discharged and 59 have died.
According to Worldometer, as of 10am on Friday, the total number of confirmed cases increased to 36.74 million (up by 348,630), 27.66 million have recovered, 8.01 million are active cases (67,946 in serious condition) and 1.06 million have died (increasing by 6,424).
Thailand ranks 139th for most cases in the world, while the US has the most number with 7.83 million, followed by India 6.9 million, Brazil 5.02 million, Russia 1.26 million and Colombia 886,179.
The CCSA expressed concern about the Covid-19 situation in Myanmar, as cumulative cases have reached at least 21,433 of whom 6,084 have recovered and 510 have died since the outbreak in Yakhai province on August 16.
The baht opened at 31.20 to the US dollar on Friday, weakening from 31.18 at close on Thursday.
The Thai currency is likely to move between 31.10 and 31.30 on Friday, said Jitipol Puksamatanan, multi-assets strategist at SCB Securities.
On Thursday night, all markets saw a jump. The S&P 500 and Stoxx 600 indices increased by 0.8 per cent, while the WTI crude oil price rose to $41.20 per barrel. Gold price also increased to $1,893 per ounce, or by 3 per cent.
This movement was triggered by investors’ expectation that the US would launch economic stimulus measures before the election this November.
In the US, the dollar weakened by 0.2 per cent compared to other main currencies.
The Ten-Year Treasury decreased by two basis points to 0.77 per cent. The initial jobless claims announced this week was at 840,000 positions.
In Thailand, the baht was traded in a wide range, but with low liquidity.
In the next phase, Jitipol advised investors to monitor the reopening of tourism in Asian countries, as well as the US presidential election result.
These two issues were estimated to pressure the baht to move between 30.2 to 32.5 per US dollar in the fourth quarter.
The SCB expected the baht to stay at 30.8 per US dollar at the end of this year, if the Democratic Party wins the election. Moreover, international travelling will recover in 2021.
An ice factory in Khao Kho district of Phetchabun province has been ordered to shut down for 15 days to inspect the cause of an ammonia gas leak incident on Wednesday, as well as to assess the environmental and health impact on the nearby community.
Yang Yeun ice manufacturing factory had alerted Khao Kho Police Station that the canister that stores ammonia gas was leaking from the valve and could not be shut off. Officials wearing protective suits sprayed the area with water from seven fire engines to prevent the gas leak spreading in the air. Local people were evacuated 500 metres away from the factory area.
At 2.30am on Thursday, officials managed to close the valve and control the leakage. There has been no report of casualties.
The Phetchabun Public Health Office reported later on Thursday that the preliminary testing of ammonia content in the air around the factory is in the normal range and poses no danger to the human respiratory system. However, the ammonia content in water at a pond in the factory is at 7.82 micrograms/litre, higher than the normal rate of 0.5 microgram/litre. They have instructed the factory owner to fix the issue immediately.
Preliminary investigation also revealed that the leakage originated from the canister’s damaged solenoid valve. The authority therefore has told the owner to replace the damaged equipment and have technicians certified by the Department of Industrial Works perform a test on the whole system before they would allow the factory to resume operation.
The Songkhla Provincial Court on Thursday (October 8) issued an arrest warrant for Kosin Rattanawiboon, a former official of Songkhla Zoo, for allegedly stealing a rhinoceros horn from the Faculty of Science, Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai campus, back in 2013.
“The case timeline starts on February 25, 2012 when a white rhinoceros at the zoo died and zoo officials cut its two horns, a pointed one and a blunt one and gave them to the Prince of Songkla University,” said Pol Lt-General Keerati Treewai, deputy chief of Kho Hong Police Station, who requested the arrest warrant.
“On June 11, 2018, the zoo contacted the university to ask the horns back, but the university reported that two zoo officials had already taken them back on March 21, 2013, using what appeared to be a fake documentation from the zoo.
“The zoo fired the two staff whose names appeared on the paper and filed a complaint at Kho Hong Police Station on July 3, 2018 to track down the missing horns,” added Keerati. “Officials managed to track down the blunt one that Kosin allegedly took, but the whereabouts of the pointed one are still unknown as the other official who allegedly took them died of a chronic disease.”
The missing horn reportedly has an estimated value of around Bt1 million on the black market.
Songkhla Zoo has been under public scrutiny since last week when the director-general of Zoological Park Organisation of Thailand, Suriya Saengpong, was shot dead by a senior zoo official, while investigating the case of the missing rare albino barking deer. The official allegedly also shot himself later.
Samsung Electronics on Thursday announced an earnings surprise for the third quarter of this year, posting the largest operating profit in two years.
The South Korean tech giant said in its preliminary earnings report that it would register 66 trillion won ($57.01 billion) in revenue and 12.3 trillion won in operating profit for the July to September period.
It was a surprise, since the financial market’s profit forecasts hovered around 10 trillion won.
If confirmed, the Q3 revenue will have soared 58.1 percent from the same period last year, with operating profit gaining 6.45 percent during the same period.
The operating profit would be at its highest since the third quarter of 2018, when Samsung achieved 17.5 trillion won.
The revenue figure would be the largest since the fourth quarter of 2017.
Although the company didn’t provide a breakdown for the figures, it is widely believed that the chip business gained a boost from the US restrictions on Huawei, one of Samsung’s major customers. Reportedly, Huawei aggressively procured memory chips from Samsung in the third quarter before the US sanctions took effect.
“Samsung has posted big growth of 4 percent for DRAM and 13 percent for NAND flash due to Huawei’s orders in August,” said Song Myung-sub, an analyst at Hi Investment & Securities.
The semiconductor business’s Q3 operating profit is estimated to be around 5 trillion won.
The mobile device business is also expected to report an improved performance, including high sales of the latest Galaxy Note 20 series and premium foldable devices.
Samsung’s smartphone shipments are projected to have jumped over 40 percent in the third quarter, reaching 80 million units, according to market analysts.
The mobile unit is expected to post over 4 trillion won in Q3 operating profit, which would be an increase of about 120 percent from the previous quarter.
The consumer electronics business is predicted to announce its largest profit since the second quarter of 2016 due to the pandemic and consequent trends toward social distancing and staying at home.
As more people around the world sought to replace their old home appliances with new ones in recent months, the result of spending more time at home, Samsung saw expanded sales of home electronics both at home and abroad.
The consumer electronics unit is likely to post over 1 trillion won in operating profit in the third quarter, according to market forecasts.
LG Electronics announced on the same day the company is likely to achieve the largest revenue and operating profit for the third quarter to date this year, beating market expectations.
In a preliminary earnings report, the company said it would see 16.91 trillion won in revenue and 959 billion won in operating profit between July and September.
Its revenue and operating profit enjoyed a 7.8 percent and 22.7 percent increase, respectively, compared to the same period last year.
The announcement comes as somewhat of a surprise, as the third quarter is traditionally considered offseason in the home appliances industry, but it was thanks in part to strong home appliances and TV sales in countries like the US where COVID-19 stimulus packages have led to pent-up demand.
High-end products such as OLED and NanoCell TVs also helped deliver the performance, as well as clothing care appliances.
Both Samsung and LG are expected to announce consolidated financial statements later this month.
Dr Amporn Benjaponpitak, the deputy director-general of the Department of Health. 
The last place was a house in Soi Sirindhorn 7 in Bangkok’s Bang Phlat district. Here five people were arrested and computers and bank books seized.
Dr.Sopon Mekthon, chairman of the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation (GPO) 
(Yonhap) 
