Public Health Ministry reported on Monday (April 25) morning that in the past 24 hours there are 14,994 new patients who tested positive for Covid-19, 43 of whom have arrived in Thailand from abroad.
Death toll increased by 124, while 23,524 patients were cured and allowed to leave hospitals.
Cumulative cases in the country since January 1, 2022 are at 1,957,433.
Advanced Info Service (AIS) has recently learned that more than 1,000 phone numbers are being used by alleged scammers and has called on the police to take action.
The mobile phone operator with the largest number of subscribers set up the AIS Spam Report Centre 1185 hotline on April 8. Since then, AIS subscribers have reported many suspicious calls and messages, and the centre has tracked more than 1,000 numbers to the alleged scammers.
“AIS customers can call the AIS Spam Report Centre for free, and thanks to calls received so far, we have learned that more than 1,000 phone numbers belong to gangsters,” said Pratthana Leelapanang, chief of the AIS consumer business department.
He said once AIS detects suspicious phone numbers, the AIS Spam Report Centre then informs the owner of the number that their service is either being blocked or suspended. This action is only applicable to AIS subscribers.
The numbers are then reported to the Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau, which investigates each case before arresting alleged scammers, he said.
The bureau’s chief Pol Lt-General Kornchai Klaiklueng said this AIS initiative has prompted other private firms to cooperate with police to fight against call-centre scammers.
Kornchai said cooperation with police allows the bureau to track down suspects much faster. He said his bureau was now compiling information provided by AIS to get summonses against suspects so it can take legal action.
Thailand should have eradicated malaria by 2024, the Department of Disease Control (DDC) announced ahead of World Malaria Day, which will be marked on Monday.
Dr Opas Karnkawinpong, DDC director-general, said on Sunday that Thailand was motivated by the World Malaria Day 2022 theme – “Harness innovation to reduce the malaria disease burden and save lives” – to take on the challenge.
Opas explained that Thailand should successfully eradicate the disease within two years thanks to the new innovative strategy it has been using to fight malaria since 2017. He said this scheme has already brought infections down by 72 per cent as of last year compared to before 2017.
Since January this year, Thailand has seen 731 malaria infections, 17 of whom were found to have contracted the severe P.falciparum strain. Those affected by the severe strain were found in Surat Thani, Kanchanaburi, Ratchaburi, Phetchaburi and Prachuap Khiri Khan.
Opas said his department aims to get rid of the severe strain by next year in line with the target set by the World Health Organisation.
He added that the Public Health Ministry is cooperating with the Defence, Interior and Education ministries to launch public awareness campaigns.
Meanwhile, Dr Chanthana Padungthet, director of the National Vector Borne Disease Prevention and Control Division, said her division will launch a Facebook Live session on Monday to hold special online activities to mark World Malaria Day.
The Facebook session will feature video clips and a seminar providing tips on how people can protect themselves from the disease.
Residents of provinces around the country want the same right as Bangkokians to vote for their provincial governors, according to a poll conducted by the National Institute of Development Administration (Nida).
The poll was conducted on April 18-20 among 1,320 voters from different educational and occupational backgrounds living outside Bangkok.
Respondents were asked if they wanted to choose their provincial governors:
– 66.14 per cent were strongly in favour
– 18.64 per cent were moderately in favour
– 10.07 per cent were strongly against
– 3.79 per cent were moderately against
– 1.36 per cent said they don’t care
Respondents were also asked whether development was different in provinces where governors are elected, not appointed:
– 57.80 per cent said totally different
– 27.05 per cent said moderately different
– 8.71 per cent said not different at all
– 5.91 per cent said there was little difference
– 0.53 per cent said they were not sure
Of the respondents, 28.41 per cent lived in Central region, 19.62 per cent in the North, 37.05 per cent in the Northeast and 14.92 per cent in the South.
Separately, respondents in a Nida poll released last Sunday (April 17) said candidates’ policies will be the key factor in determining who wins the Bangkok governor election on May 22.
A car bomb planted at the foot of the first Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge near the Myawaddy-Mae Sot border checkpoint exploded late on Saturday night damaging a four-storey building and shops nearby.
No casualties or injuries were reported. Thai border checkpoint officials said it took firefighters about an hour to get the flames under control.
A little later, a group of people showed up at the site and clashed with Myanmar officials. The clash reportedly lasted for about 15 minutes before the group withdrew to the south of Myawaddy.
Reports say a team of Myanmar soldiers were deployed on Sunday to control the situation and collect evidence.
Meanwhile, security at the Mae Sot border was immediately stepped up on Saturday night and the patrol team found a group of Myanmar citizens who had reportedly crossed over to Thailand before the explosion.
The officers rounded up 24 men and 25 women, who said they were waiting for job agents to take them to Bangkok and other provinces. They claimed to have paid 20,000 baht each to job brokers.
The group will be deported after undergoing legal proceedings at the Mae Sot Police Station.
The Commerce Ministry and other related agencies have been tasked with launching measures to mitigate the rising price of basic necessities.
“The prime minister has also urged them to monitor the price of consumer goods closely to ensure people are not being taken advantage of,” government spokesman Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana said on Sunday.
He said the government, especially the Commerce Ministry, is doing its best to control the price of basic consumer products.
Thanakorn added that the Commerce Ministry will add another 20 venues in Bangkok where goods can be bought at a fixed price. The capital already has 50 such venues.
Also, he said, 25 grocery trucks or “pumpuang” will be deployed across the capital to sell basic necessities such as chicken, eggs, sugar, rice, vegetable oil, instant noodles, canned fish, soap and toothpaste at cheap prices.
Provincial Commercial Offices have also set up venues where basic goods are sold cheaply, he said.
Daily Covid-19 testing and vaccination must be increased to declare Covid-19 an endemic disease by July, the Public Health Commission said on Sunday.
Under the Public Health Ministry’s roadmap for transition to an endemic, the death rate must drop below 0.1 per cent of cases, while over 60 per cent of the population – including the elderly – must have had three shots, and 80 per cent of the elderly must have received their first jab.
The death rate currently stands at 0.35 per cent of an average 36,512 cases per day, said commission vice-chairman Chalermchai Boonyaleephan.
However, that rate would be lower if testing was increased to get a more accurate picture of the true daily infection rate, he added.
Hence, he urged the government to increase testing by 3.5 times, especially via ATKs.
Accelerating Covid-19 screening was a crucial way to reduce the death rate, he emphasised.
Meanwhile, the booster campaign must be accelerated to 245,882 shots per day to reach the targeted 60 per cent coverage by July 1, Chalermchai said. The elderly population must receive 37,647 booster shots per day to reach the same target.
He said 84.1 per cent of the elderly have already received their first vaccine dose.
Chalermchai said it would be a challenge to meet the testing and vaccination targets for the transition to endemic Covid-19, adding success would depend on cooperation between all stakeholders in society.
Two-million discounted rooms will be offered under the proposed fifth phase of the “Rao Tiew Duay Kan” (We Travel Together) co-payment scheme, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) said.
Discounts for plane tickets and coupons for restaurants would be cancelled in the fifth phase to focus on subsidising accommodation costs, TAT governor Yuthasak Supasorn said.
The accommodation subsidies will be funded by money left over from the fourth phase topped up by a new budget.
The proposal will be discussed with Tourism and Sports Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn before being handed to the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration for consideration, he said.
TAT also asked Phiphat to extend the “Tour Tiew Thai” co-payment scheme until September as more than 130,000 discounts on tourism packages are still available.
The fourth phase of Rao Tiew Duay Kan saw about 2 million subsidised discounts booked by April 16 for use by May 31.
The scheme offers domestic tourists a 40 per cent discount on room bookings up to 3,000 baht per night (maximum 10 rooms or nights). They also get coupons worth 600 baht per day to buy meals or tickets at participating venues, as well as a 40 per cent discount on plane tickets capped at 3,000 baht per passenger.
Twelve of Thailand’s 77 provinces should be able to declare Covid-19 an endemic disease soon, before the national deadline to end the pandemic in July, the Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) said.
Provinces will transition to an endemic when the Covid-19 death rate drops below 0.1 per cent of cases for two consecutive weeks.
The death rate is currently at 0.31 per cent across Thailand.
The government has set a deadline of July 1 to declare an end to the pandemic.
However, 12 provinces where the death rate is declining are close to declaring an endemic. These provinces are Phetchaburi, Surat Thani, Krabi, Ranong, Trang, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Phuket, Satun, Songkhla, Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat, CCSA spokesman Taweesilp Visanuyothin said on Friday.
The timeline for transition to endemic Covid-19 has four phases:
– Combat (level 4): March 12 to early April
– Plateau (level 3): April to May
– Decline (level 2): End of May to June
– Post-pandemic (level 1): July 1 onwards
Another 21 provinces are currently in the combat phase. These are Lamphun, Phrae, Lampang, Phitsanulok, Sukhothai, Kamphaeng Phet, Nakhon Sawan, Sakon Nakhon, Bueng Kan, Loei, Udon Thani, Khon Kaen, Nakhon Phanom, Nong Khai, Yasothon, Maha Sarakham, Sisaket, Nonthaburi, Nakhon Nayok, Kanchanaburi and Uthai Thani.
The remaining 44 provinces are in the plateau phase. These are Bangkok, Mae Hong Son, Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai, Nan, Phetchabun, Uttaradit, Phayao, Phichit, Chainat, Ayutthaya, Pathum Thani, Singburi, Lopburi, Tak, Samut Songkhram, Samut Sakhon, Ratchaburi, Nakhon Pathom, Ang Thong, Saraburi, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Suphan Buri, Phatthalung, Phang Nga, Chumphon, Chonburi, Samut Prakan, Mukdahan, Chachoengsao, Chanthaburi, Rayong, Prachinburi, Trat, Sa Kaew, Nong Bua Lamphu, Amnat Charoen, Ubon Ratchathani, Nakhon Ratchasima, Roi Et, Kalasin, Chaiyaphum, Buriram and Surin.
However, the national Covid-19 death rate is still rising even though the number of infections is likely to drop, Taweesilp said.
Most Covid deaths are among people who have not been vaccinated and have chronic diseases, he added.
The CCSA has adopted the following three-point roadmap for the transition to an endemic:
– Easy, efficient public access to treatment with fatality rate lower than 0.1 per cent.
– More than 60 per cent of the population given booster shots.
– Building public awareness of how to transition from pandemic to endemic Covid-19 safely.
Public Health Ministry reported on Sunday (April 24) morning that in the past 24 hours there are 17,784 new patients who tested positive for Covid-19, 78 of whom have arrived in Thailand from abroad.
Death toll increased by 126, while 22,846 patients were cured and allowed to leave hospitals.
Cumulative cases in the country since January 1, 2022 are at 1,942,439.
SootinClaimon.Com 