The Chonburi Department of Public Health announced 205 new and confirmedcases of Covid-19 today with no new deaths, November 24th. Pattaya News

Chonburi announces 205 new and confirmed cases of Covid-19 and no new deaths

Wednesday, 24 November 2021, 13:29

Highlights:

• 205 new confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Chonburi today

• 185 people recovered and were released from medical care

• no new deaths

The Chonburi Department of Public Health announced 205 new and confirmedcases of Covid-19 today with no new deaths, November 24th.

This makes a total of 106,511 cases of Covid-19 in the current round of infections, with 2,111 people still under medical care/supervision, and with a total of 753 recorded deaths in Chonburi since the start of this recent round of infections in early April.

Additionally, 185 people were also released and recovered yesterday in Chonburi. 103,647 people in total have now been released from medical care and recovered in Chonburi since this current wave of Covid-19 began.

Only four cases out of 2,111 were listed as being in serious condition in Chonburi currently, either on a ventilator or pneumonia.

In total, 1,806,479 people in Pattaya and Chonburi have received their first dose of a Covid -19 vaccine which is 77.56 percent of the total Chonburi population. Of those, 284,714 have received their first dose and are what the Thai government calls 608 groups (elders, have chronic health problems, and pregnant) which is 76.96 percent of those in these risk groups in Chonburi.

The district-level new cases were as follows today:

Mueang Chonburi 40, Si Racha 71, Banglamung (Pattaya) 28, Panat Nikhom 10, Sattahip 9, Ban Bueng 15, Phan Thong 2, Bor Thong 11, and 19 people transferred from other provinces for medical care

The details on the cases are as follows:

1. Work and stayed in Rayong, transferred from other provinces for medical care, 28 cases
2. Cluster Non Hua Kun Jae restaurant in Ban Bueng, 7 cases
3. Cluster, Thai Samsung Electronics company in Si Racha, 4 cases
4. Risky occupations meeting many people, 2 cases
5. 1 medical personnel
6. Back from other provinces in Chahoengsao – 2 cases, Prachuap Khiri Khan – 1 case, and 1 Sisaket – case
7. Close contacts from previously confirmed cases in families – 49 cases, in workplaces – 49 cases, close friends – 6 cases, and 1 joined a party
8. Close contact of a confirmed patient (under investigation), 11 case
9. 43 close contacts of a confirmed patient (under investigation)

Pattaya bar owners seriously doubt worst is over for Thai economy. November 24, 2021. A Thai bank’s research department said the worst is over for Thailand’s economy, but recovery will be slow in 2022. Pattaya Mail

Pattaya bar owners seriously doubt worst is over for Thai economy

November 24, 2021

Pattaya bars are still closed and don't seem to think that the worst is over as claimed by financial experts.

A Thai bank's research department said the worst is over for Thailand's economy, but recovery will be slow in 2022.

Amornthep Chawla, assistant managing director for CIMB Research, said Nov. 22 that the economy already had bottomed out and was trending upward, fueled in part by the country's partial reopening.



He predicted there will not be any recessionary quarters going forward, although Thailand's growth remains the lowest in Southeast Asia.

But too much of Thailand's economy relies on tourism and, because not many tourists will return this year, recovery will be slow. Real signs of progress won't be evident until he second quarter of 2022, Amornthep said.

So far Pattaya businesses are very doubtful of what the financial experts say, seeing that the most of the city is still closed, businesses that could bring income are not allowed to fully operate and nightlife is still shut. "Let us operate as we should, only then will we believe that the economy is trending upward" said one business owner.

Amornthep Chawla, Asst. MD for CIMB Research says that the economy has already bottomed out and was trending upward.

People waiting for paid mRNA vaccines asked to get free Pfizer jabs at state facilities | He made clear, however, that the Public Health Ministry will not negotiate refunds with the Private Hospital Association if they do abandon their bookings now “because it is not the duty of the ministry to do so”, adding that he warned previously that there is no need to make paid-for bookings with private hospitals. Thai PBS World.

People waiting for paid mRNA vaccines asked to get free Pfizer jabs at state facilities

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Thailand's Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul is urging unvaccinated people, who are waiting for Pfizer or Moderna vaccines booked with private hospitals, to cancel their bookings and get free jabs of Pfizer vaccine at state vaccination facilities.

The minister stressed the urgent need to speed up vaccinations, to reach the target of 100 million doses administered by the end of this month.

He made clear, however, that the Public Health Ministry will not negotiate refunds with the Private Hospital Association if they do abandon their bookings now "because it is not the duty of the ministry to do so", adding that he warned previously that there is no need to make paid-for bookings with private hospitals.

Anutin said that the ministry will provide free Pfizer vaccine injections for the unvaccinated who are still waiting for the Moderna vaccine from private hospitals.

Zuellig Pharma Thailand, the sole distribution of the Moderna vaccine in the country, has recently informed the Thai Food and Drug Administration (TFDA) that about 1.4 million doses of the mRNA vaccine will be arriving in Thailand through the end this month and into December, from a production source in the United States, after the TFDA approved the inclusion of the new production source in the US, in addition to those in Europe, said Government Spokesman Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana.

The expected arrival of the new batch of Moderna vaccine will increase the amount of the vaccine delivered to Thailand this year to 1.9 million doses.

Goodbye Bitcoin, Hello Buddhacoin: Thai Temple Issues Own Cryptocurrency, Sparking SEC Warning - Bangkok Herald

Goodbye Bitcoin, Hello Buddhacoin: Thai Temple Issues Own Cryptocurrency, Sparking SEC Warning

24 November 2021

Wat Pa Mahayan, a monastery in Trang Province, has issued a cryptocurrency called Somdejcoin with more than 66 million tokens available for purchase at an as-yet-unspecified rate.

A Buddhist temple's decision to issue its own cryptocurrency has sparked concerns among financial regulators about monks finding another way to deceive worshippers for financial gain.

Wat Pa Mahayan, a monastery in Trang Province, has issued a cryptocurrency called Somdejcoin with more than 66 million tokens available for purchase at an as-yet-unspecified rate.

The temple has named its currency after Somdet Phra Buddhacaryaa, a Buddhist monk who lived in the 19th century and is still widely revered as a saintly man and miracle worker.

On its website for the tokens, the temple explains in poor English that it has created the cryptocurrency using blockchain technology "so that Thai people and people around the world have access to the world's first digital coin Somdej. Based on the history of Thais and Asians with long-standing culture."

"Somdejcoin has been produced in a limited quantity worldwide, only 66,186,727 million tokens, equal to the population of people in Thailand in 2020," the website said, offering an erroneous number for the country's population, which stands at about 70 million.

"The creators want Thai people to have the opportunity to collect commemorative coins and have access to digital Somdejcoin coins. At least one token for each person as a souvenir that can be a world heritage site for future generations," it added.

However, in a statement late last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission warned traders and interested buyers against investing in the temple's currency, saying it remained unclear how financially sound the coins were.

Many people have taken to social media to allege that the cryptocurrency was a fraudulent means of getting people to send money to the temple and enrich people behind the scheme.

"Yet another scam by the temples and because they use the name of a revered monk Thais will fall for this scam," one commenter argued. "They have nothing to do with religion — everything is about making money from gullible Thais."

Many of Thailand's more than 40,000 Buddhist temples have been known to engage in dubious practices by offering worshippers various get-rich-quick schemes or the hope of winning the lottery by supernatural means.

Wat Chedi, a temple in southern Thailand, has in recent years become a draw for millions who have been flocking to the Buddhist sanctuary to present votive offerings to the statue of a boy in the hope of winning the lottery.

The 10-year-old boy is believed to have been an assistant of a revered monk who lived in the 17th century until he drowned in a river and turned into a potent spirit who grants his worshippers their wish.

Last year the monastery, which has been the locus of a cottage industry catering to visitors from across the country, started selling amulets printed with the boy's image.

However, skeptics, including Thai monks, have decried the veneration of the boy's statue in the hope of financial gain as a misunderstanding of Buddhist teachings.

A Buddhist temple "should be a place where we can seek peace of mind and find a path to purify ourselves," a commentator in Bangkok observed.

"Even though the Buddha never told us to say no to wealth, he taught us to believe in our potential to acquire it through decent means."

The original version of this story appeared in UCA News, a Bangkok Herald partner. 

It has been three weeks since the country reopened to vaccinated tourists and there has been no spike in the number of daily Covid cases, according to data released by the Centre for Covid-19 Situation (CCSA) on Tuesday. Thai Enquirer

Covid numbers not spiking three weeks after reopening

November 23, 2021

It has been three weeks since the country reopened to vaccinated tourists and there has been no spike in the number of daily Covid cases, according to data released by the Centre for Covid-19 Situation (CCSA) on Tuesday.

A total of 90,737 air passengers arrived between November 1 and 22. Of that, 118 or 0.13 per cent tested positive for Covid.

From the total number of passengers, 69,809 went through the "Test & Go" procedure which is what the CCSA is calling the one-night quarantine and test period.

This option is only available to vaccinated tourists from 63 designated countries and territories so far.

The remaining 16,997 have entered tourist sandboxes or the "Blue Zone" in 17 destinations which comes with a seven days quarantine period within these destinations, 1,426 entered seven-day quarantine facilities and 2,505 entered 10-day quarantine facilities.

At the same time, the daily number of Covid cases in the general Thai population (excluding cases found in prisons and imported cases) continued to decline from 7,049 confirmed cases on November 2 to 5,014 cases on November 23.

The top ten nationals that have arrived between November 1 and 22 including 11,032 from the United States, 9,469 from Germany, 7,824 from the Netherlands, 4,354 from the United Kingdom, 3,984 from Japan, 3,677 from Russia, 3,350 from France, 3,255 from South Korea, 2,413 from the UAE and 2,317 from Israel.  

Despite the low numbers of infected arrivals and the continuous decline in the daily number of cases, Dr Apisamai Srirangsan, a deputy spokeswoman for the CCSA, said on Monday that some foreign tourists who came for business meetings within the tourist sandboxes were not following the Thai government's Covid prevention guidelines, especially refusing to wear a facemask at a social gathering.

She warned that a tourist who entered the tourist sandboxes could still be fined up to 20,000 baht if they refused to wear a face mask at a social gathering or a public space. 

Thailand takes tentative first steps into new era of post-pandemic tourism - La Prensa Latina Media

Thailand takes tentative first steps into new era of post-pandemic tourism

Online News EditorNovember 23, 2021

By Gaspar Ruiz-Canela

Bangkok, Nov 23 (EFE).- Thailand's main tourist attractions remain half empty, although the number of visitors has been gradually increasing since the country opened its borders to fully vaccinated travelers from more than 60 countries this month.

The authorities also took advantage of its pandemic border closures to advocate for a more environmentally sustainable reopening focused on fewer visitors but with greater purchasing power.

Tourism, which until the pandemic accounted for up to 20 percent of the Thai GDP, plummeted from 40 million visitors in 2019 to just 6.7 million in 2020, a drop of more than 80 percent, due to Covid-19 travel restrictions.

Although tourist arrivals are now increasing, iconic landmarks in the capital Bangkok, such as the Grand Palace and the Temple of Dawn (Wat Arun) remain almost deserted, hurting businesses and workers in the sector but offering some advantages to visitors.

"You can go to places, it's not so crowded, there is access to everything. I think it's quite nice," Mattias Ekstroem, a 40-year-old Swedish tourist, tells Efe.

Ekstroem arrived on the island of Phuket on Nov. 5 and plans to return to his country later this month.

"In Phuket, you don't see many tourists. Where I was staying, eighty percent of bars and restaurants were closed," explains the Swede, who works as a tour guide in his country.

While Ekstroem enjoys the lack of queues at the Grand Palace in Bangkok's historic center, Niu Nin, the owner of a clothing store in front of the monument's entrance, laments the lack of visitors.

"We have been closed for many months. There are still not many tourists," says the 85-year-old salesman in his little shop, the only one open on the street.

On Nov. 1, Thailand began to apply a one-day quarantine period to fully vaccinated arrivals from 63 countries and territories, including all European Union members, all of Southeast Asia, Chile, the United States, the United Kingdom, China and India, among others.

The Southeast Asian country has been a mecca for mass tourism and backpackers, who benefit from cheap hostels, transport and food combined with adventures on tropical islands, in jungles or among Buddhist temples, and a famously hedonistic nightlife.

However, the authorities now want to take advantage of the paralysis of the sector to promote a new type of tourism that is less crowded but with higher spending per traveler.

On its website, the Bank of Thailand advocates that the country promote domestic and niche travel, such as medical, business, green and community tourism, and also for digitization to strengthen the sector in the face of crises such as the pandemic.

In a report, the bank proposes an increase in average spending per tourist per trip from around $1,450 in recent pre-pandemic years to $1,810-$2,115.

The central bank argues that with higher spending, Thailand could increase income while reducing the numbers of tourists.

A major stumbling block to incentivize the sector is travel restrictions in China, which accounted for nearly a third of foreign tourists arriving in Thailand in 2019.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, China has prohibited the departure of groups of tourists from the country. For people returning, a number of Covid-19 tests are required as well as a quarantine period of at least two weeks.

After more than a year of restrictions, the Thai authorities have lifted almost all those on travel and economic activity to revive the economy, which fell 6.1 percent last year.

However, some Thais fear that the opening of the borders will create more Covid-19 outbreaks, which have so far caused more than 2 million infections and 20,400 deaths in the country, most of them just since April.



🔴 #COVID19 on Wednesday: ⬆️ 5,857 new cases ⬆️ 1,860 probable cases (ATK) ⬆️ 55 deaths. Richard Barrow





Bangkok Post highlights 24/11



Direct flight between Istanbul and Phuket reopens | Thaiger

Direct flight between Istanbul and Phuket reopens

By 

Luke Albers

Monday, November 22, 2021 18:30

Turkish Airlines flight | Photo via Kevin Hackert at jetphotos.com

A direct flight into Phuket operated by Turkish Airlines has just reopened. The first flight of this renewed Istanbul to Phuket route landed on Saturday, according to the Phuket News. This is the first flight directly from Istanbul Airport, historically a major travel hub, since the Covid-19 pandemic and ensuing lockdown disrupted international air travel.

The Turkish Airlines flight landed in Phuket on Saturday with 168 foreign visitors. Phuket News reports that airline staff were waiting in the terminal to welcome the tourists back to the island at last. Right now Turkish Airlines is maintaining 2 flights a week between Istanbul and Phuket, and is planning on increasing that number to 7 flights a week by next month. The airline is also running 9 flights a week from Istanbul to Bangkok.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand reported that over 2,000 foreigners arrived in Phuket on Saturday, from 12 different airlines. Those that host direct flights into Phuket now are Thai Airways, Aeroflot, Air Astana, Etihad Airways, Emirates, Finnair, Qatar Airways, El Al, Scoot, Jetstar, Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines, Turkish Airlines and S7 Airlines.

The Tourism Authority added that the majority of arrivals are coming in via the 'Test and Go' scheme, as opposed to the previous Phuket Sandbox. A total of 16,659 arrived under Test and Go, whereas only 8,413 arrived for the Sandbox.

SOURCE: Phuket News

CCSA admits some hotels are scamming Thailand Pass travellers. Some Thai hotels are deceiving foreign arrivals by letting them book a room without transport or Covid testing, then trying to sell them a new package on arrival. The Thaiger / Bangkok Post

CCSA admits some hotels are scamming Thailand Pass travellers

By 

Maya Taylor

Tuesday, November 23, 2021 10:01

PHOTO: PR Bangkok

Some Thai hotels are deceiving foreign arrivals by letting them book a room without transport or Covid testing, then trying to sell them a new package on arrival. CCSA spokesperson Apisamai Srirangson says some hotels are deliberately only selling a room, whereas the Thailand Pass requirements stipulate that the package must include transportation from the airport to the hotel and PCR testing on arrival.

The Bangkok Post reports that when unsuspecting travellers arrive, they must then purchase a new package or risk being denied entry to the kingdom. Apisamai says some hotels that have deliberately misled tourists will then refuse to refund them if they cancel their reservation and book a Thailand Pass package at another property.

"Some hotels had the packages that included limousine and Covid-19 testing, but also allowed visitors to reserve only rooms and seek PCR testing themselves. This shows that such hotels intentionally deceived visitors. Visitors who were unaware of the requirement and bought incomplete packages later had to cancel their reservation and, in some cases, did not receive a refund."

Thailand re-opened on November 1 with minimal quarantine for vaccinated travellers from 63 approved countries. All arrivals must complete Thailand Pass registration, which replaces the much-criticised Certificate of Entry. Thailand Pass requires all international arrivals to have proof of being fully vaccinated, a negative PCR test within 72 hours of travel, and US$50,000 in Covid-19 insurance coverage. They must also have transportation from the airport booked through their hotel and must undergo a second PCR test organised by the hotel.

Apisamai says participating hotels have been advised of all conditions pertaining to the Thailand Pass system and foreign arrivals who have not purchased a limousine service from the airport to their hotel, as well as a second PCR test, will be denied approval to enter the country.

For more information on how to get into Thailand during the pandemic, CLICK HERE.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post

The Chonburi Department of Public Health announced 147 new and confirmedcases of Covid-19 today with 1 new death, November 23rd. Pattaya News

Chonburi announces 147 new and confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 1 new death

Tuesday, 23 November 2021, 12:13

Highlights:

• 147 new confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Chonburi today

• 246 people recovered and were released from medical care

• 1 new death

The Chonburi Department of Public Health announced 147 new and confirmedcases of Covid-19 today with 1 new death, November 23rd.

This makes a total of 106,306 cases of Covid-19 in the current round of infections, with 2,091 people still under medical care/supervision, and with a total of 753 recorded deaths in Chonburi since the start of this recent round of infections in early April.

The one new death today was a 61-year-old elder who had personal health problems and was not vaccinated.

Additionally, 246 people were also released and recovered yesterday in Chonburi. 103,462 people in total have now been released from medical care and recovered in Chonburi since this current wave of Covid-19 began.

The district-level new cases were as follows today:

Mueang Chonburi 31, Si Racha 38, Banglamung (Pattaya) 25, Panat Nikhom 7, Sattahip 3, Phan Thong 4, Bor Thong 4, Soldiers in Sattahip 28, and 11 people transferred from other provinces for medical care

Only two cases out of 2,091 were listed as being in serious condition in Chonburi currently, either on a ventilator or pneumonia.

In total, 1,801,278 people in Pattaya and Chonburi have received their first dose of a Covid -19 vaccine which is 77.34 percent of the total Chonburi population. Of those, 284,372 have received their first dose and are what the Thai government calls 608 groups (elders, have chronic health problems, and pregnant) which is 76.87 percent of those in these risk groups in Chonburi.