The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration reported one new case in a state quarantine facility over a 24-hour period on Sunday.
A 24-year-old asymptomatic male student, who had returned from the United States on September 22, tested positive on September 25 at a state quarantine facility in Chonburi.
The total number of confirmed cases in Thailand increased to 3,523 (585 in state quarantine), of whom 97 are in hospital and 3,367 have recovered and been discharged, while the death toll remains 59.
According to Worldometer, as of 10 am on Sunday, the total number of confirmed global cases had increased to 33 million (up by 294,650 over a 24-hour period), 24.4 million have recovered, 7.94 million are active cases (65,331 in serious condition) and 998,716 have died.
Thailand ranks 138th for most cases in the world, while the US has the most number with 7.28 million, followed by India 5.99 million, Brazil 4.71 million, Russia 1.14 million and Colombia 806,038
The CCSA also reported on infection numbers in Myanmar. On September 26 (8.30pm), there were 880 cases and 24 deaths, bringing the total number of cumulative cases to 9,901, with 7,112 active cases and 198 deaths.
Medical expert warns of disaster if govt eases quarantine restrictions for tourists
NationalSep 27. 2020Dr Thira Woratanarat, from the Faculty of Medicine at Chulalongkorn University
By The Nation
The government has clarified that the suggestion by the Minister of Tourism to reduce the quarantine period for tourists entering Thailand to seven days was yet to be considered.
Currently tourists are having to spend 14 days in quarantine.
Traisuree Taisaranakul, deputy government spokesperson, said that Tourism Ministrr Pipat Ratchakitprakarn’s proposal to reduce quarantine for tourists to seven days was not being considered as of now, and measures to ease restrictions would be implemented only when the situation gets better.
The Special Tourist Visa scheme will be discussed by a meeting of the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration on September 28, chaired by Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha.
Dr Thira Woratanarat, from the Faculty of Medicine at Chulalongkorn University, expressed his concern in a Facebook post. He said global virus cases now averaged 350,000 per day, a million every three days.
Many European countries, including France, the UK, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Canada, Iran, Bangladesh, the Philippines and Indonesia continued to add thousands of new cases while Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and Myanmar, Singapore and Australia were adding hundreds per day.
“In Thailand, if we decide to follow the proposal to reduce the quarantine time to seven days, it would be an invitation to disaster,” Thira warned.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha is expected to pick Arkhom Termpittayapaisith as finance minister, according to a report by Thansettakij newspaper.
Arkhom is expected to fill next month the vacancy created by Predee Daochai, who resigned abruptly after being in office for less than a month.
Predee cited health reasons for resigning but observers believed he had a conflict with his deputy over the promotion of senior officials at the Finance Ministry.
Arkhom was the transport minister in the Prayut government formed after the 2014 military coup. Before that, he was secretary-general of the National Economic and Social Development Board, a state think-tank, now known as National Economic and Social Development Council.
He is said to be one of many influential people who pushed for upgrading the railway system in order to solve the traffic congestion in big cities and between provinces, and reduce excessive dependence on road transport.
Some local media speculated that Prasong Poontaneat, permanent secretary at the Finance Ministry, who retires at the end of this month, would be appointed the new finance minister.
The new finance minister will face multiple challenges due to conflicts in the coalition government and pressure from youth-led protests against the government.
The Thai economy is expected to contract sharply this year, with some research houses projecting contraction of almost 10 per cent while the Bank of Thailand has forecast a 7.8 per cent contraction. Exports and tourism, the main engines of growth for the Thai economy, have been hit hard by the Covid-19 outbreak. The ongoing anti-government protests are also putting high pressure on the local stock market.
Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha on Saturday presided over the opening ceremony of Job Expo Thailand 2020, along with other Cabinet members at Bitec Bangna.
“The various activities at this event conform to the national strategy in the area of development and empowerment of human resources with the goal of human development in all dimensions. Unskilled labour will be upgraded to intelligent workers who can access funding sources, technology innovation and information news easily,” the PM said during the opening ceremony.
Hundreds of fresh graduates and other job seekers are visiting the three-day event that ends on Monday. There are 1,239,091 positions on offer nationwide from the government, state enterprises and private sector, such as finance, banking, real estate, transportation, wholesale and retail among others.
NationalSep 27. 2020Credit: Meteorological Department
By The Nation
More showers are forecast for most of the country with isolated heavy rain in the Northeast, the East and the South, the Thailand Meteorological Department said on Sunday.
The monsoon trough moves down to lie across the North and the Northeast to the low cell over the middle South China Sea. The southwest monsoon prevailing across the Andaman Sea, Thailand and the Gulf is strengthening, the department said.
From September 27-29, the monsoon trough will move down to lie across the lower North, the Central and the Northeast while the low cell over the South China Sea will follow the monsoon trough to the East, the lower Central and the upper Gulf. The southwest monsoon prevailing over the Andaman Sea, Thailand and the Gulf will strengthen. Winds and waves in the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand will strengthen, with waves rising about two metres high in the Andaman Sea, 1-2 metres high in the Gulf of Thailand and above two metres in thundershower areas, the department forecast.
The weather forecast for different parts of the country:
Bangkok: Cloudy with scattered thundershowers; minimum temperature 26-27 degrees Celsius, maximum temperature 33-36°C; southwesterly winds 10-25kph.
North: Cloudy with scattered thundershowers mostly in Mae Hong Son, Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai, Phayao, Phrae, Nan and Tak provinces; minimum temperature 24-26°C, maximum 32-35°C; southwesterly winds 10-20kph.
Northeast: Cloudy with scattered thundershowers and isolated heavy rains in Mukdahan, Yasothon, Amnat Charoen, Surin, Si Sa Ket and Ubon Ratchathani provinces; minimum temperature 24-26°C, maximum 32-34°C; southwesterly winds 10-20kph.
Central: Partly cloudy with isolated thundershowers mostly in Uthai Thani, Chai Nat, Nakhon Sawan, Kanchanaburi and Ratchaburi provinces; minimum temperature 24-25°C, maximum 34-36°C; southwesterly winds 10-25kph.
East: Cloudy with scattered thundershowers and isolated heavy rains in Chon Buri, Rayong, Chanthaburi and Trat provinces; minimum temperature 24-26°C, maximum 32-34°C; southwesterly winds 15-30kph; waves about a metre high and 1-2 metres high during thundershowers.
South (east coast): Cloudy with scattered thundershowers mostly in Nakhon Si Thammarat, Phatthalung, Songkhla, Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat provinces; minimum temperature 23-26°C, maximum 33-34°C; southwesterly winds 15-30kph; waves about a metre high and 1-2 metres in thundershowers.
South (west coast): Cloudy with scattered thundershowers and isolated heavy rains in Phuket, Krabi, Trang and Satun provinces; minimum temperature 23-24°C, maximum 32-33°C; southwesterly winds 15-30kph; waves about a metre high and 1-2 metres high during thundershowers.
Seven days forecast:
From September 27 to October 2, the monsoon trough will shift to lie across the lower North, the Central and the Northeast, while the low cell over the South China Sea will follow the monsoon trough to the East, the lower Central and the upper Gulf. The southwest monsoon prevailing over the Andaman Sea, Thailand and the Gulf will strengthen. More rain is expected over Thailand with isolated heavy to very heavy rain. Winds and waves in the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand will strengthen — about two metres high in the Andaman Sea, 1-2 metres high in the Gulf of Thailand and above two metres in thundershower areas.
People in the risky areas should beware of the severe conditions, the department said, also advising all ships in the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand to proceed with caution and avoid thundershowers.
Pheu Thai chief Sompong Amornwiwat on Saturday resigned as leader of the main opposition party.
In his resignation letter, Sompong said the current structure of the executive committee did not support executive members in performing their duties effectively and achieve the policy goals. He said it was appropriate that the executive committee be changed in order to help the party catch up with rapid social change, and work much more effectively. He added that he had decided to step down with immediate effect to pave the way for the election of a new committee.
Sompong was elected party leader on May 12 last year.
On Friday, Sudarat Keyuraphan announced her resignation as the party’s chief strategist.
In a Facebook post on Friday evening, she said that although she was no longer the chief strategist, she was still a party member who was committed to working for the people and pushing for the amendment of the Constitution.
Also on Friday, four other members of Pheu Thai’s strategic committee — Kittiratt Na Ranong, Watana Muangsook, Phongthep Thepkanjana and Bhokin Balakul — also posted on their Facebook pages that they had quit the committee.
A school in Nonthaburi province on Friday apologised to the parents of kindergarten students who were subjected to physical abuse by a teacher.
Sarasas Witaed Ratchaphruek School has also offered legal assistance to the parents whose children were ill-treated by the teacher.
This week, a group of parents found their children unhappy about going to school and had wounds on their bodies.
These incidents made them reach out to each other. On Thursday they approached the school authorities and suggested using a CCTV camera in the children’s classroom.
The video showed the children being physically assaulted many times by a teacher, who was named as Onuma Ploadprong. The teacher reportedly banged the children’s heads on their desks, pushed them to the ground, and twisted their ears until they screamed in pain.
Other teachers too did not stop Onuma from abusing the children.
The school said Onuma was called for questioning and sacked after she confessed to her actions. The school said that it would punish other related persons as well.
The school representatives and parents have filed a complaint at Ratchaphruek Police Station in Nonthaburi on September 24.
The school also informed the parents that it would facilitate prosecution of the teacher and other related persons by providing a legal team.
More solutions will be discussed with the parents on September 29.
Hundreds of visitors have flocked to the Khao Nor mountain in Nakhon Sawan province to catch a glimpse of the giant “monkey king”, after news that he had been spotted was reported on Friday.
Intuch Sirichanto, an officer at Ban Daen subdistrict municipality, reportedly was able to take a picture of a giant monkey on Khao Nor mountaintop in Banphot Phisai district. People in the province said it was a legendary monkey king and he was larger than the Samae monkey.
After the news was reported, hundreds of visitors flocked to the mountain, while retailers have set up stalls to sell food and beverages.
Kimlieng Yooyod, a 61-year-old female villager who lives near the Khao Nor mountain, said she knew of the legend of the monkey king from her mother and grandmother, adding that the giant monkey is larger than other apes and is rarely seen.
She explained that about 50 years ago, a large number of monkeys would not go down from the mountain until the former abbot of Wat Khao Nor rang the bell to call them.
“Nowadays, thousands of monkeys have started to live in the temple are, but no one has found the monkey king again until his picture was taken by a municipality officer,” she said.
Thailand’s Action Taskforce for Information Technology Crime Suppression (TACTICS) on Friday arrested a 19-year-old male for alleged cyber-fraud, for tricking several people to transfer their money to him.
TACTICS arrested the man at a condominium in Bangkok’s Bang Sue subdistrict.
The teen, whose name was withheld, reportedly claimed that he was an administrator of online marketplaces, and allegedly tricked people to transfer 40 per cent of their goods value to him.
During interrogation, he reportedly said that his modus operandi involved contacting people who sold products in online marketplaces. When both he and sellers agreed for trading, he said he was not sure selling this way would be secure and then asked sellers to sell their products via the LINE channel of an administrator.
The LINE channel was fake and also run by him. When sellers joined the channel, he claimed to be the administrator and told sellers that they must pay 40 per cent of their goods value as a deposit to guarantee the buyer will really get the goods, and the deposit would be returned once the buyers received their merchandise.
After the transaction was completed, the teen reportedly abandoned the LINE channel and created new ones to trick other victims.
Complaints related to his alleged crimes were filed several times in seven police stations. The latest one was on Thursday.
Adherence to the multilateral system and unity among member countries are important to overcome the Covid-19 crisis, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said on Friday while addressing the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly via video conference.
The prime minister congratulated the chairman of the meeting on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the UN.
“During the past 75 years, the United Nations and member countries have overcome various challenges without hesitation,” he said.
“This year, the world has faced the Covid-19 outbreak that has caused severe impacts on people’s lives, economy and society. However, this tremendous challenge will prove that adherence to the multilateral system and unity among member countries are the way to overcome this crisis.”
Prayut asked countries to believe in cooperation with each other.
“Every country must believe in cooperation with each other and be unwavering against nationalism and anti-globalisation, which will help create unity and encourage us to overcome the crisis because it is clear that no one can face the challenge alone, and this is the future we want,” he said.
Prayut wished a quick recovery for Covid-19 patients in all countries, and urged medical personnel organisations around the world who are fighting the pandemic to be safe and achieve success.
He outlined Thailand’s measures to deal with the Covid-19 outbreak, including Covid-19 vaccine development.
“The Thai government has cooperated with international partners on Covid-19 vaccine development for a while and I suggest that every country must have the right to seek Covid-19 vaccines and antiviral drugs equally, so this is the United Nations’ duty to do so,” he added.
Dr Thira Woratanarat, from the Faculty of Medicine at Chulalongkorn University 
Credit: Meteorological Department 
Pheu Thai chief Sompong Amornwiwat 
PM Prayut Chan-o-cha 
