Elite card holders - many Brits - spend 3,000 baht a day - company heading for profit as membership soars
Picture: Bangkok BIz News
The general manager of Thailand Privilege Card who run the Elite Card scheme has said they are heading for profit for the first time overcoming millions in losses since their inception.
He has also given details of where Elite members stay in Thailand, how much they spend and a little about where they are from.
Elite Cards - the scheme to give foreigners long term residency for up to 2 million baht - has been a loss maker in its 18 years since it started in 2003, said Somchai Sungsawang.
He admitted that the company had burned 246 million baht.
Now they have turned the corner and look set to fly into overall profit.
Their target for membership in the current fiscal year was 2,607 new members. But since October - just four months - they have had applications from 2,066 new members, reported Bangkok Business News.
Most of the new members have been Chinese businessmen spooked by the turmoil in Myanmar looking for a safe haven in Thailand.
Of all the Elite card holders the most are people from the UK with China in fourth place.
Somchai admitted the second wave of the pandemic had slowed applications by 70% but still predicted profit in the 2020-21 fiscal year.
He also said that 3,000 of the now 10,000 members are actually in Thailand at the moment. Around 200 a month arrived last year after restrictions were eased after the first throes of the pandemic.
The places where they reside most are Chiang Mai, Phuket and Chonburi (this would probably mostly mean the Pattaya area, notes Thaivisa).
Somchai said they spend $100 a day each on average or around 3,000 baht and on average stay in Thailand 4-6 months of the year.
He reckoned they spend between 360,000 to 540,000 baht on each visit that adds up to a 1,350 million baht contribution.
The company also said that they have signed agreements with 10 real estate developers regarding 46 different projects to attract foreigners to buy property worth 10 million baht and get long term residence under the Elite Flexible One plan.
The first locally made Covid-19 vaccine will enter its first phase of human trials next month and complete its final phase by the end of this year. The timetable update has raised hopes the country will soon be able to produce its Covid-19 vaccine at the rate of 30 million doses per year.
The Government Pharmaceutical Organization (GPO) has been working on the project with its international partners, including the global Programme for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH) and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York. Together they have developed a pilot NDV-HXP-S vaccine and lab tests have been showing promising results.
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Cambodia begins Covid-19 vaccinations with shots for PM's sons, ministers
PHNOM PENH: Cambodia launched its coronavirus inoculation drive on Wednesday, using 600,000 vaccine doses donated by China, with the sons of long-serving Prime Minister Hun Sen and government ministers among the first recipients.
The GPO and Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University are now working to prepare the pilot vaccine for the human trial.
Punnee Pitisuttithum, acting chief of the Vaccine Trial Centre at Mahidol University and head of the human trial project, said yesterday the first phase would start next month and involve 210 participants over a few months. The second trial will begin by April on 250 participants.
"We expect to get the final trial by the end of this year," said Ms Punee. "We required a large number of participants so it might be that the test will also be carried out abroad." The vaccine is based on an egg-based formula developed in the 1950s and still administered to ward off avian flu -- 1.48 billion doses were produced last year alone.
Researchers are confident this tried and trusted technology will ensure a high-quality vaccine that is safe and effective. Moreover, the vaccine can be conveniently stored in temperatures from 2-8 degrees Celsius.
Its is expected that vaccine will be ready to be submitted to the Thai Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for approval by next year.
Withoon Danwiboon, GPO's managing director, said the plant being used in Saraburi could produce 25-30 million doses per year. It is currently producing a vaccine for avian flu vaccine but could switch to the Covid-19 vaccine project if the human trials are successful.
Deputy Prime Minister and Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said the government had successfully restricted Covid-19.
He added that at least 63 million vaccine doses had already been set aside for Thai people in the coming months.
Putin's once-scorned vaccine now favourite in pandemic fight
The first shipment of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine is unloaded at Imam Khomeini airport in Iran's capital Tehran on Thursday. (Photo by Saeed KAARI / Imam Khomeini Airport City / AFP)
President Vladimir Putin's announcement in August that Russia had cleared the world's first Covid-19 vaccine for use before it even completed safety trials sparked skepticism worldwide. Now he may reap diplomatic dividends as Russia basks in arguably its biggest scientific breakthrough since the Soviet era.
Countries are lining up for supplies of Sputnik V after peer-reviewed results published in The Lancet medical journal this week showed the Russian vaccine protects against the deadly virus about as well as US and European shots, and far more effectively than Chinese rivals.
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Cambodia begins Covid-19 vaccinations with shots for PM's sons, ministers
PHNOM PENH: Cambodia launched its coronavirus inoculation drive on Wednesday, using 600,000 vaccine doses donated by China, with the sons of long-serving Prime Minister Hun Sen and government ministers among the first recipients.
At least 20 countries have approved the inoculation for use, including European Union member-state Hungary, while key markets such as Brazil and India are close to authorizing it. Now Russia is setting its sights on the prized EU market as the bloc struggles with its vaccination program amid supply shortages.
In the global battle to defeat a pandemic that's claimed 2.3 million lives in little more than a year, the race to obtain vaccines has assumed geopolitical significance as governments seek to emerge from the huge social and economic damage caused by lockdowns imposed to limit the spread of the virus. That's giving Russia an edge as one of a handful of countries where scientists have produced an effective defence.
Its decision to name Sputnik V after the world's first satellite whose 1957 launch gave the Soviet Union a stunning triumph against the U.S. to start the space race only underlined the scale of the significance Moscow attached to the achievement. Results from the late-stage trials of 20,000 participants reviewed in The Lancet showed that the vaccine has a 91.6% success rate.
"This is a watershed moment for us," Kirill Dmitriev, chief executive officer of the state-run Russian Direct Investment Fund, which backed Sputnik V's development and is in charge of its international roll-out, said in an interview.
While it's too early to gauge the political gains for Putin, Russia's already making much of the soft-power impact of the vaccine on its image after years of international condemnation over election meddling and targeting of political opponents at home and abroad. State television reports extensively on deliveries to other nations.
Sputnik's success won't change hostility toward Putin among Western governments, though it could strengthen Russia's geopolitical clout in regions such as Latin America, according to Oksana Antonenko, a director at Control Risks consultancy.
"With this vaccine, it's proven itself capable of producing something new that's in demand around the world," she said.
Production constraints are the biggest challenge facing all manufacturers as global demand far outpaces supply. Russia, pledging free shots for its 146 million population, began output last year and the vaccine is currently being manufactured in countries including India, South Korea and Brazil.
This week, it emerged a close ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed an agreement to produce Sputnik V in Turkey, even as the nation has deals to buy 50 million doses of China's Sinovac Biotech Ltd's CoronaVac vaccine and 4.5 million doses of the Pfizer Inc-BioNTech SE shot.
Despite Russia's success, domestic demand remains lukewarm so far, driven by public suspicion of the authorities. Putin, 68, fuelled the scepticism in December when he said he was waiting to get the inoculation until it had been cleared for people his age.
He still hasn't said whether he's been vaccinated, but other nations aren't waiting to find out. The day after announcing he'd contracted Covid-19, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Jan 25 he'd thanked a "genuinely affectionate" Putin for pledging 24 million doses of Sputnik V in the coming two months. Three days later, Bolivian President Luis Arce personally took delivery of a batch at La Paz airport.
Latin America is proving fertile territory. Argentina, which has struggled to obtain vaccine supplies, started its mass inoculation program after taking delivery of more than half a million Sputnik V doses by January. It's been joined by Nicaragua, Paraguay and Venezuela. In Brazil, the region's biggest market, a decision announced Feb. 3 to scrap the requirement for phase three trials for emergency use may speed up approval.
Guinea became the first African nation to start dispensing Sputnik V in December with Moscow-friendly President Alpha Conde and several ministers taking the vaccine. It expects to get 1.6 million doses this year and is also in talks on acquiring Chinese vaccines, along with AstraZeneca Plc's shot. Zimbabwe, the Central African Republic and Ivory Coast are among other potential customers for Russia.
"We're not in a position where we can say no to any vaccine. We've opted for the Pfizer vaccine, but we're looking at other vaccines as well," said Professor Joseph Benie, head of the National Institute of Public Hygiene in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. "There's an urgency now to start inoculating."
Unlike the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, Sputnik V can be stored in a fridge rather than a freezer, making it easier to transport and distribute in poorer and hotter countries. At around $20 for a two-shot vaccination, it's also cheaper than most Western alternatives. While more expensive than AstraZeneca, the Russian inoculation has shown higher efficacy than the UK vaccine.
For some nations such as Iran, which received the first batch of a promised 2 million doses this week, Russia offers a more palatable political alternative than Western suppliers. But Russia is also making inroads into countries such as the United Arab Emirates, which is traditionally close to the US and has approved Sputnik V for use.
China, whose inoculations are as low as 50% effective in the case of Sinovac Biotech, retains a lead in Asia. Only a handful of countries have opted for Sputnik V, including the Philippines, which is in talks for 25 million doses.
Chinese developers may now team up with Russia. The RDIF struck a preliminary deal to test a combined regimen of shots from Sputnik V and China's CanSino Biologics to boost effectiveness against Covid-19, people with knowledge of the matter said Friday.
In what could represent the Kremlin's biggest potential breakthrough, Russia has asked European regulators to examine a request for authorisation of Sputnik V after Germany promised to help expedite the process. With top EU officials still smarting over a sluggish vaccine roll-out, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday the Russian shot could be used to protect people in the 27-member bloc as long as it was approved by the European Medicines Agency.
France's industry minister said she's "agnostic" when it comes to approving the Russian vaccine. "Any vaccine that's ready and that presents the safety and efficacy conditions is welcome in Europe," Agnes Pannier-Runacher said during an interview on France Info TV on Sunday. "We have an interest in having the maximum of different vaccines and volumes."
Hungary has already granted emergency approval, signing a deal for 2 million doses of Sputnik V with the first 40,000 shots delivered Tuesday. "The vaccine cannot be a political question," Prime Minister Viktor Orban told state radio Jan 29. "One can only choose between western and eastern vaccines when you have enough."
European approval may take several months because of the need to submit detailed data, The Lancet's Editor-in-Chief Richard Horton told Bloomberg's QuickTake. "I do think this Russian vaccine will come on tap," but "not quickly," he said.
While Russia says it expects the vaccine to be available to 700 million people this year, it's facing production bottlenecks. "We have to be realistic. Given our other commitments, we will not be able to supply to Europe before May, other than Hungary," said RDIF's Dmitriev.
Still, the vaccine is paying dividends for Putin. Even as he visited Moscow Friday to confront Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov over the imprisonment of opposition leader Alexey Navalny, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell took time to congratulate Russia on developing Sputnik V.
"It's good news for the whole mankind," Borrell said. "It means that we are going to have more tools to face the pandemic."
Lovande resultat för det ryska vaccinet Sputnik V
Foto: Istock
Det ryska covid-19-vaccinet Sputnik V har i en pågående fas III-studie visat sig vara säkert och 91,6 procent effektivt. Enligt studien, som har publicerats i The Lancet, ska vaccinet också fungera bra för alla åldersgrupper.
Inga allvarliga biverkningar av Sputnik V
Resultaten från interimsrapporten för det ryska vaccinet, som också är känt under namnet Gam-covid-vac, är ungefär i samma nivå som de redan EU-godkända vaccinerna från Pfizer och Moderna.
I studien ingår omkring 20 000 deltagare. Inga allvarliga biverkningar, som ansågs vara kopplade till vaccinet, har registrerats och vaccinet har även visat sig vara effektivt för personer över 60 år. Detta till skillnad från vaccinet från Astrazeneca, där läkemedelsmyndigheten EMA har ansett att det saknas data för att avgöra hur effektivt vaccinet är för personer över 55 år.
Det ryska vaccinet har kritiserats för flera saker under utvecklingen, bland annat för vaccineringen att påbörjades innan resultaten från fas III-studien var klara. Det har också funnits kritik mot att vaccintillverkarna inte öppet redovisade testresultaten under processen.
Det första i EU som har slutit avtal om att köpa vaccinet är Ungern, rapporterar Yle. Det ungerska läkemedelsverket har preliminärt godkänt vaccinet trots att det ännu inte är godkänt av EMA. Det är i nödfall tillåtet för en enskild EU-land att godkänna ett vaccin temporärt. Samtliga EU-länder har dock hittills följt EMA och EU-kommissionens beslut.
Bygger på två olika förkylningsvirus
Det ryska vaccinet är ett vektorvaccin som precis som vaccinet från Astrazeneca bygger på förkylningsvirus. En skillnad är dock att Sputnik V innehåller två olika förkylningsvirus som används vid dos ett och dos två. Doserna ska ges med 21 dagars mellanrum. Genom att använda två olika förkylningsvirus förebygger man det potentiella problemet att kroppen blir immun mot själva vektorviruset.
Scientists say coronaviruses related to Sars-CoV-2 may be circulating in bats across many parts of Asia.
A virus that is a close match to the Sars-CoV-2 virus, which causes Covid-19, has been discovered in bats at a wildlife sanctuary in eastern Thailand.
The researchers predict that related coronaviruses may be present in bats across many Asian nations and regions.
Their discovery extends the area in which related viruses have been found to a distance of 4,800km (2,983 miles).
The area includes Japan, China and Thailand, the researchers said in a report published in Nature Communications.
Writing in the journal, the researchers said the sampling site (Thailand only) and sampling size was limited, but they were confident that coronaviruses "with a high degree of genetic relatedness to Sars-CoV-2 are widely present in bats across many nations and regions in Asia".
In the latest research, a team lead by Lin-Fa Wang of the University of Singapore detected a close relative of Sars-CoV-2 in horseshoe bats kept in an artificial cave at a wildlife sanctuary in Thailand.
The isolated virus, named RacCS203, is a close match to the genetic code of SARS-CoV-2 (exhibiting 91.5% similarity in their genomes).
It is also closely related to another coronavirus - called RmYN02 - which is found in bats in Yunnan, China, and which shows 93.6% similarity to the genome of Sars-CoV-2.
The researchers, from Thailand, Singapore, China, Australia and the US, looked at antibodies in the bats and in a trafficked pangolin in southern Thailand.
They say the antibodies were able to neutralise the pandemic virus, which is further evidence that SARS-CoV-2-related coronaviruses are circulating in Southeast Asia.
Prof Martin Hibberd of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, who was not involved in the study, said the finding emphasised the broad distribution of the bats and viruses that may include the originator of the current outbreak.
"Further work is required to understand how Sars-CoV-2 passed from animals to humans, with the recent WHO investigators in Wuhan showing that as of yet, these is no conclusive evidence of how this happened," he said.
BANGKOK, Feb 9 (TNA) – Thailand has been ranked fourth at responding to the Covid-19 outbreak among 98 countries, according to the Lowy institute, an independent think tank based in Australia.
Anutin Charnvirakul, Deputy Prime Minister and Public Health Minister said New Zealand has been ranked the best with a high score of 94.4 out of 100, followed by Vietnam with 90.8, Taiwan with 86.4 and Thailand in the fourth place at 84.2.
The ranking used the assessment period of 36 weeks, ending on Jan 9, 2021 with several indicators including the number of infections, the fatalities, the total infections and the fatalities per one million people, Covid-19 tests per 1,000 people.
"The ranking is the pride of the Thai people. It indicates the country's success in control the Covid-19 with cooperation from the government, the private sector and the people, who followed the Public Health policies and measures, the minister said.
The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration on Tuesday reported 189 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total cases to 23,746 and no new deaths. The death toll stood at 79. (TNA)
Human vaccine trials to start in Thailand next month
THAILAND: Deputy Prime Minister and Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul confirmed today (Feb 10) that Thailand will start clinical trials of a locally developed COVID-19 vaccine in March, the country's first inoculation program to enter human trials.
Research on the program started in the middle of last year and initial testing on animals yielded positive results, Mr Anutin confirmed. The program is being driven by the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation, the Programme for Appropriate Technology in Health, and Mahidol University.
"Thailand isn't just relying on one source for vaccines," commented Mr Anutin.
"We're actively looking for ways to procure the shots, including producing them ourselves.
"We're not placing our bets on one horse, what we're doing now is owning a whole stable."
He added that the state drug manufacturer will be able to produce 25 to 30 million doses of the vaccine per year, assuming the human trials are successful.
New report gives fascinating insight into salary levels in Thailand
FILE PHOTO: A view of Chao Phraya river in Bangkok, Thailand August 30, 2016. REUTERS/Chaiwat Subprasom
A new report has explored the different salary levels of people working across various industries in Thailand.
The Salary Report 2021 carried out by Thailand's leading recruitment website JobsDB, ranked the highest and lowest paying jobs by position - officer, supervisor, manager and top levels in each sector.
It is perhaps of little surprise that top level legal directors, business development directors and financial directors are among some of the highest paid professionals in Thailand in 2021.
Thailand's top full time earners are typically paid anywhere between 112,000 and 165,000 baht per month and will work in sectors such as professional services, E-commerce and banking, new data has revealed.
However, perhaps more interesting are the salaries Thailand's 'officer level' workers can expect to earn each month.
The report found that jobs in the IT industry paid the best for those at officer level, where programmers and IT support staff can expect to take home between 23,225 and 41,122 baht per month.
At supervisor level, those working in E-Commerce received the highest salaries earning between 36,857 and 64,787 baht per month.
At manager level, a job in the insurance industry offered the highest paid salary of between 55,762 and 90,716 baht.
The report also found that salaries of those working in IT had increased across all levels since 2019.
"This signifies the market demand for transformation as a result of Digital Disruption, said Pornladda Dathratwibul, JobsDB Thailand Country Manager.
JobsDB also highlighted 3 essential skills that workers in Thailand should possess, these included IT knowledge, language skills and data analysis. Other important skills needed included communication, critical thinking and creativity.
The Food and Drug Administration revealed that Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine is requesting emergency use authorization in Thailand.
So far, there are three companies that have requested the authorization: (1) AstraZeneca, which is already approved; (2) Sinovac, which is in the process of requesting; and (3) Johnson & Johnson, which is in the process of requesting.
The emergency use authorization in the Kingdom has a period of use for one year, and the side effects after use must be followed up to evaluate its safety.
Life isn't getting any easier for retirees wanting to return to Thailand.
Thousands of expats aged over 50 face additional hurdles if they leave Thailand and wish to return. Thai embassy websites worldwide have confirmed that foreigners requesting a non-O visa abroad, based on retirement, will need two kinds of insurance before the certificate of entry can be granted. The latest ruling also applies to expats who have a one-year retirement extension granted by Thai Immigration and based on a non-O visa, and wish to return to Thailand using a valid re-entry permit.
The first compulsory insurance requirement – for every single foreigner wishing to enter Thailand – is cover of at least $100,000 for Covid-related illnesses. The policy is available online from a cartel of Thai companies under the aegis of The Thai General Insurance Association at http://covid19.tgia.org Costs vary according to the country of departure and length of stay, but the age of the applicant (up to 99 years) is irrelevant. A 12-months' policy for travellers coming from UK is 43,200 baht or 12,160 for three months. The cover must be for the entire stay of the visa, or the period of reentry validity.
The more difficult insurance, for some, is the separate requirement to have cover for general medical treatment (unrelated to Covid) for at least 400,000 baht for inpatient treatment and 40,000 baht for outpatients. Until recently, this requirement has been limited to retirees with 0/A (one year) and 0/X (10 years) visas granted by Thai embassies in the home country. It is also mandatory for those applying for the Special Tourist Visa (STV) which can be extended up to 270 days for long stay leisure travellers.
Returning Elite visa holders need less insurance than retirees with a one year permit.
Such insurance is readily available from several Thai companies online, but typically has an age cut-off point for new entrants of 70 or 75 years. In this regard, it is quite unlike the Covid insurance. Older expats may find it very difficult to obtain general medical cover or receive endorsed policies which exclude any claims. Some embassies, moreover, are insisting on a policy issued by a Thailand-based company and are said to be refusing foreign ones or ones that don't specifically meet the small print of the above regulations.
It is stressed that the above regulations apply only to those requesting a non-O visa, based on retirement, from Thai embassies abroad and to those requesting entry based on a re-entry permit. The requirement does not currently apply to retirees applying to Thai Immigration for an annual extension of stay based on an original non-O visa. They will meet the new requirement only after they leave the country and need a certificate of entry from their local Thai embassy.
All other categories of foreigners entering Thailand are unaffected by the double whammy and need only Covid-19 insurance as described. In other words, work permit holders, tourists, permanent residents with a police red book, Elite card holders, business travellers, certain property owners, students and foreigners holding family or marriage visas need only insurance of at least US$100,000 in case they need coronavirus-related treatment. Fuller details of the documentation needed to enter Thailand are available at Thai embassy websites.
Eleanor Dawson, spokesperson for the UK Travel Association said, "Thailand's entry requirements are amongst the most complex in the world, with similar categories having quite different rules." Asked when she thought matters might get back to normal, she added, "I think we are years away from international travel requiring only a passport and an air ticket. Perhaps never."
Visa agents in Thailand are suggesting that the expansion of double health policies for retirees may have various consequences. It may make the Elite visa more attractive as it provides multi-entry cover and needs only Covid cover to return to Thailand. A five year Elite visa costs 600,000 baht. Some retirees abroad may choose to enter Thailand with a tourist visa or visa exempt stamp – neither requiring the general medical insurance – and then apply at Thai Immigration for a new non-O visa and an annual extension based on it.
The Ministry of Public Health is pledging to have 30 million Thais vaccinated against Covid-19 by the end of the year.
"If everything goes to plan, we can start administering at least five million doses per month and later, up to 10 million doses per month, to complete 61 million doses in 2021," Dr Opas Karnkawinpong, chief of the Department of Disease Control (DDC), said on Monday.
"This is the largest vaccination programme in our history and we need to get all our staff ready to do the job."
The DDC is preparing to soon launch the mammoth three-phase programme, with two million doses given by the end of next month. The second and third phases will follow from June onwards, using 61 million doses of the Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccine.
The way ahead has become clearer since news broke that Chinese health officials recently approved the vaccine for general public use, paving the way for the Thai Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to speedily approve its second vaccine for emergency use.
The FDA last month already approved the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Oxford University/AstraZeneca. The first 200,000 doses should arrive this month and will be given to people in high-risk areas, especially Samut Sakhon province, the epicentre of the recent infection outbreak.
It is envisaged that 20,000 doses of the initial batch will be administered to frontline health workers. The remaining doses will be given to high-risk groups in Samut Sakhon, including those aged over 60, patients with non-communicable diseases, and vulnerable groups.
A total of 600,000 doses are planned next month for high-risk people in maximum-control provinces, plus provinces bordering Myanmar and areas in the South; 200,000 doses will be used as second jabs for those in the first group.
One million more doses are due to arrive in April, of which 600,000 will be given as second jabs and 400,000 reserved for those in urgent need.
Dr Opas was confident 50% of the population would be vaccinated this year and said the injections would be performed at thousands of public and community hospitals.
Central storage sites at the Department of Disease Control and the Government Pharmaceutical Organization (GPO) will be responsible for distributing the vaccine nationwide.
The Public Health Ministry has also developed what it is calling an Adverse Event Following Immunisation (AEFI), a mandatory process to trace the vaccine's side-effects and efficacy.
Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said the country will use more than one or two vaccines. – Bangkok Post
