Ministry of Public Health reported on Saturday (April 9) morning that in the past 24 hours there are 25,298 new patients who tested positive for Covid-19, 78 of whom have arrived in Thailand from abroad.
Death toll increased by 98, while 22,003 patients were cured and allowed to leave hospitals.
Cumulative cases in the country since January 1, 2022 are at 1,634,911.
Five Vietnamese fishermen were caught while trying to fish in waters off the coast of Narathiwat province in the South on Friday.
Thai marine officers arrested the fishermen shortly after 8am on Friday morning and confiscated their boat called CM99263.
At the time of arrest, the boat was about 61 kilometres off the coast of Narathiwat’s Muang district, said Captain Thattham Na Songkhla, deputy director of the Thai Maritime Enforcement Command Centre in Narathiwat.
He added that the five fishermen were handed over to Narathiwat police for questioning and legal action. Their fishing boat was moored at a pier owned by Asia Mineral Processing Co Ltd.
Mobile service provider Advanced Info Service (AIS) has launched a new hotline for users to report spam and fraudulent calls.
AIS customers can now report dubious phone calls and SMS messages by calling the AIS Spam Report Centre’s 1185 hotline, the operator’s chief consumer business officer Pratthana Leelapanang said on Friday.
Upon receiving complaints, AIS will check details of the suspicious phone numbers’ registration and track usage to see if the numbers were used for fraudulent activities.
These numbers will then be blocked, and the complainant will be notified within 72 hours, Pratthana said.
These cases will also be reported to the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission and the Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau (CCIB) for legal action, he said.
“The information we collect can help make cybercrime investigations more efficient and have the culprits punished,” he added.
Describing the AIS hotline as a “new standard in the industry”, he said this was a pre-emptive move against fraudsters.
Mobile phone scams have become more prevalent, with fraudsters calling or texting prospective victims to manipulate them into transferring funds to fraudulent bank accounts.
CCIB chief Pol Lt-General Kornchai Klaiklueng on Friday lauded AIS for setting up the hotline, saying it was “useful for phone users as well as our work”.
He added that information collected by AIS about suspected fraudsters would help cyber crime police work faster in catching perpetrators for legal prosecution.
“We will also be able to stop these people from harassing others,” he said.
The Culture Ministry will hold special events from April 20 to 24 to mark the founding of Bangkok on April 21, 1782.
The plan was announced by Culture Minister Itthiphol Kunplome on Thursday at the National Art Gallery in Bangkok.
He said the celebrations will be held in honour of the Chakri Dynasty, who reigned during the 240-year-old Rattanakosin Period.
Apart from the “soft power” of building pride in “Thainess”, the celebration will also serve as a driver for economic and social development.
The festival will include the following events:
Offering ceremony at Bangkok City Pillar Shrine
Making merit for former Chakri kings at the Temple of the Reclining Buddha (Wat Pho)
Sound-and-light shows plus special food and cultural fairs at the National Museum and National Theatre
Paying homage at temples in Bangkok’s historic Rattanakosin Island
Cultural expos at the Rattanakosin Exhibition Hall
Cultural expo, fairs at Santi Chai Prakan Public Park
Contemporary art show and events on “Asean Communities in Rattanakosin: From Past to Present” at the Ratchadamnoen Contemporary Art Centre
Performances at Sala Chalermkrung Theatre
Guided bicycle tour along Khlong San after dusk
Lakhon Chatree Dance Drama Contest in honour of HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn at Wat Prayoon
All events will be held in line with strict Covid-19 prevention measures. The Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) will provide free shuttles from one venue to another.
A recent opinion survey shows that many Thais still do things that put them at risk of contracting Covid-19, while some lack basic knowledge on protecting themselves.
The survey was conducted by a division under the Public Health Ministry’s Health Service Support Department from March 5 to 31. The 113,847 respondents, mostly women, were aged between 25 and 26, the department announced on Friday.
The survey found that only some 30 per cent of the respondents knew how to protect themselves against the virus. The results show the percentage of respondents who ignore or are unaware of restrictions that put them at risk of contracting Covid:
35.1%: Eat with friends and family
35.1%: Attend gatherings and public activities
30.5%: Avoid taking ATK tests
22.6%: Do not know that Covid-19 can kill people with chronic conditions
22.6%: Do not clean commonly touched areas like doorknobs12%: Do not know that wearing two masks is safer
5.3%: Refuse to stay indoors
3.9%: Do not know how fast Covid can spread
2.3%: Refuse ATK tests despite being in the high-risk group
1.6%: Fail to wash hands regularly
The department said the survey proves that the government must step up campaigns urging the public to comply with universal prevention measures.
It said people also need to be told that they should take ATK tests regularly when they are at risk of catching the virus.
The government has maintained the 11pm closing time for restaurants that serve alcohol, as part of measures to prevent a Covid-19 outbreak during next week’s Songkran holidays.
The decision was reached at Friday’s meeting of the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA), which was chaired by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.
The 11pm closing time has been in force in the “blue zone” tourism provinces and the “orange zone” provinces under Covid control — which cover almost the entire country.
The CCSA also agreed on Friday that eateries selling alcoholic drinks must meet the requirements under the Safety and Health Administration’s SHA Plus programme, Thai Stop Covid 2-Plus or Covid-Free Setting measures.
Entertainment venues seeking to operate as restaurants need to apply for one of those permits from the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration or the Communicable Disease Committee in their province.
The Royal Thai Navy is expected to make a decision on the Chinese submarine deal by the end of this month.
Commander-in-chief Admiral Somprasong Nilsamai said on Friday that the Navy will hold talks with the manufacturer China Shipbuilding & Offshore International Co (CSOC) at the end of the month. The production of the Yuan-class S26T submarine came to a halt in early March when Germany blocked the export of the MTU396 diesel engine to China.
When asked if the Navy would consider changing the submarine’s engine, Somprasong only said he would wait for negotiation results first.
The admiral also chose not to confirm if the Navy will cancel the contract in line with Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha’s earlier statement. Prayut had told the press that the contract should be cancelled if the engine is not the same as specified in the agreement. Somprasong only said things would become clearer after the negotiation.
Meanwhile, Navy chief of staff Admiral Thalerngsak Sirisawat said an agenda has been set for the negotiation with CSOC.
The Navy signed a 13.5-billion baht deal in 2017 with CSOC for the purchase of an S26T submarine fitted with MTU396 diesel engines from Germany’s Motor and Turbine Union Company.
However, Germany blocked the export in line with a European Union arms embargo imposed on China after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.
People who travel to meet their parents and elderly family members during the Songkran holidays should take precautions to help prevent a new Covid-19 outbreak, a medical expert has advised.
Dr Udom Kachintorn, an adviser to the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA), said on Friday that travellers should try and wear masks all the time and maintain social distance with aged relatives, to prevent the risk of infection, in case they are asymptomatic Covid carriers.
“Please avoid hugging and kissing. Meeting and talking in person with your family members should be enough,” he said, adding that rooms with poor ventilation pose “a very high risk” for infection.
Udom also advised Songkran travellers to avoid places with a high risk of Covid infection before their trip to visit their parents and older family members in the provinces.
“You may catch the virus unknowingly and bring it to your parents,” he said.
A clinical professor emeritus, Udom is a former president of Mahidol University and former dean of the institution’s Faculty of Medicine at Siriraj Hospital.
The medical expert on Friday also stressed the importance of getting a third booster shot for Thailand to curb the spread of the Omicron variant, citing a recommendation by the World Health Organisation.
He said double doses of vaccine would mainly protect against the older Covid-19 strains, with only 30 per cent effectiveness against the new variant.
Only 35 per cent of Thai population has received the booster shot, and less than 60 per cent are among the high-risk group of elderly people and those with chronic diseases, he noted.
The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) on Friday postponed its decision on stopping RT-PCR tests on foreign arrivals until after the long Songkran holidays.
CCSA spokesman Taweesilp Visanuyothin said the CCSA meeting resolved that it would wait to see the infection ratio after the Songkran holidays before deciding on whether to approve the proposal of the Public Health Ministry to end the mandatory RT-PCR test.
The CCSA convened its meeting on Friday to mainly consider the proposal of the Public Health Ministry, which echoed the calls of tourism and hospitality operators for ending RT-PCR tests on foreign arrivals to further boost tourism.
“The CCSA agrees with the proposal in principle, but it has not approved it yet,” Taweesilp said.
“The CCSA will first wait to see the results of the Covid prevention measures during the Songkran holidays. We will wait to see whether Thais will cooperate with the measures to minimise the new infections or not.”
The Centre for Tourism and Sports Emergency Administration also proposed that the CCSA reduce the documents required for seeking entry approval via the Thailand Pass website and to reduce the insurance coverage to US$20,000.
“All the proposals have not been approved, but the CCSA just agreed with them in principle,” Taweesilp emphasised, after Deputy Public Health Minister Sathit Pitutecha came out of the meeting room and told reporters that the RT-PCR proposal had been approved.
Sathit said the proposal would make it more convenient for foreign tourists to visit Thailand. He said the RT-PCR test would be irrelevant now that infections in the country have come to a manageable level and local people also used rapid antigen test kits (ATKs) to test themselves.
Regarding self-testing by Thais using ATKs, Taweesilp said the CCSA was informed of the progress of the policy initiated by the National Health Security Office (NHSO).
He said the NHSO has distributed 22.8 million kits to public health offices around the country for people in risk groups to test themselves. So far, 3.1 million kits have been used on 1.2 million people and 2.3 per cent of them had tested positive.
The CCSA spokesman said the ATKs on average cost THB55 per kit. So far, the NHSO has received a THB170 million budget for buying the kits.
He said the meeting was informed that Siriraj Hospital is now working with two private firms to make ATKs costing about THB40 per kit and they can make about 200,000 kits a month.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha then suggested that the Government Pharmaceutical Organization should help the programme so that one million ATKs could be produced per month, the spokesman added.
The National Health Security Office (NHSO) has paid 1.71 billion baht in compensation to 14,034 people who developed side effects from Covid-19 vaccines over the past year.
Jadet Thammathat-Aree, NHSO secretary-general, said on Friday that on April 15, 2021, the government instructed the NHSO to set up a system to compensate people suffering from Covid-19 vaccine side effects. He said the NHSO and its 13 regional offices have been focused on helping affected people since then.
As of Thursday, 17,171 people had filed complaints to seek compensation for what they claim to be side effects from the Covid-19 vaccines, Jadet said.
He added that the NHSO has approved payment to over 80 per cent or 14,034 applicants so far, and rejected 2,551 cases. The remaining 586 cases are still being reviewed.
The top five regions with the highest number of complaints about vaccine side-effects are:
• Region 13 (Bangkok): 2,811 cases
• Region 10 (Ubon Ratchathani): 1,984 cases
• Region 1 (Chiang Mai): 1,809 cases
• Region 8 (Udon Thani): 1,651 cases
• Region 9 (Nakhon Ratchasima): 1,155 cases
He said 9,452 complainants (55.05 per cent) were entitled to medical rights under NHSO, while 4,061 complainants (23.65 per cent) came under the Social Security Office. Of the complainants seeking compensation, 18.89 per cent or 3,244 are government officials, while the remaining 412 complainants are not beneficiaries under any of the three government healthcare schemes.
Jadet said that of those compensated, 9,938 complainants fell under Category 1 or no severe side effects and were paid 100,000 baht each. Meanwhile, the 426 complainants who fell under Category 2 or had side effects that made them partially disabled were paid 240,000 baht each. As for the 3,670 who fell under Category 3, which covers deaths or permanent disability, they were given 400,000 baht in compensation each, he said.
People who develop side effects from Covid-19 vaccines can file a complaint at the vaccination venue or at the provincial public health office or at any of the 13 NHSO regional offices. Complaints must be filed within two years of receiving the vaccine.
Once a complaint is received, a provincial sub-committee comprising doctors and people’s representatives will study details to see if the applicant is entitled to compensation and how much. If the complaint is rejected, the applicant can appeal to the NHSO head office within 30 days.
He said 9,452 complainants (55.05 per cent) were entitled to medical rights under NHSO, while 4,061 complainants (23.65 per cent) came under the Social Security Office. Of the complainants seeking compensation, 18.89 per cent or 3,244 are government officials, while the remaining 412 complainants are not beneficiaries under any of the three government healthcare schemes.
People who develop side effects from Covid-19 vaccines can file a complaint at the vaccination venue or at the provincial public health office or at any of the 13 NHSO regional offices. Complaints must be filed within two years of receiving the vaccine.
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