Six restaurants in Thailand were given two Michelin stars for its new guide in 2022 including Chef’s Table, Le Normandie, Mezzaluna, R-Haan, Sorn and Sühring. 26 restaurants were given one star with six new entries including Aksorn, Côte by Mauro Colagreco, Gaa, IGNIV, Savelberg and Yu Ting Yuan. The Enquirer





Covid19 update December 16th.

 

Rules for Chonburi province from today December 16th. Pattaya News

As we are getting messages, yes a new Chonburi order has been released. A full article with analysis and statements is coming soon but in the meantime highlights. These rules apply for the whole province:

-All of Chonburi is a blue zone effective today as announced previously by the Center for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA).

-Bars, pubs, karaokes, nightclubs, entertainment venues, soapies, etc still legally and officially closed.

-Restaurants of all types can only sell alcohol if they are SHA+ and a Covid-free setting.  Hours are 11:00AM to 2:00 PM and 5:00 PM to 11:00 PM.

-The certifications must be placed VERY prominently in the shop for inspection.

-New Year's rules were discussed, more in detail later

-SHA+ restaurants can serve alcohol till 1:00 AM on New Years, but must be open air.

-Lots of Covid safety rules on New Years festivals, more in full article.

-Places like cockfighting stadiums, boxing stadiums, etc. where gambling often takes place must apply for a Covid-free setting certification.

-Covid free rules were discussed for restaurants such as seating in a restaurant in doors should not be more than 50% of the total number of seats, People should not sit opposite to each other, precautions like hand washing and alcohol gel should be available, etc. More in full article. If there is not room for tables to be a meter across there should be partitions.

-There is an extensive list of Covid-free rules discussed. We will cover this in full in the article shortly.

For those who asked, there was nothing about allowing Pattaya or similar areas to "officially" open all bars or entertainment venues, even with Covid-free settings and the extensive rules.

Booster recommendations. PRD

The Center for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) has approved shortening the period of the third dose, or booster dose, to tackle the COVID-19 Omicron variant, which is spreading across the world. The formula for the third dose is as follows: 

(1) Two doses of Sinovac or Sinopharm can be followed by AstraZeneca or Pfizer or Moderna,  four weeks or more after the second dose; 

(2) two doses of AstraZeneca can be followed by Pfizer or Moderna, three months or more after the second dose; 

(3) two doses of Pfizer or Moderna can be followed by Pfizer or Moderna, six months or more after the second dose; 

(4) mixed vaccination of Sinovac or Sinopharm and AstraZeneca can be followed by AstraZeneca or Pfizer or Moderna, three months or more after the second dose; 

(5) mixed vaccination of Sinovac or Sinopharm and Pfizer can be followed by Pfizer or Moderna, three months after the second dose; 

(6) mixed vaccination of AstraZeneca and Pfizer can be followed by Pfizer or Moderna, six months or more after the second dose. 

CCSA urges the public to get a booster dose to help protect themselves from severe illness and fatality.

Measures for entering Thailand effective from 16 December 2021. PRD



“The pile of paperwork and several organisations tourists have to deal with are inconvenient. The ministry wants this platform to help reduce their difficulties when planning trips to Thailand.” Tourism ministry unveils portal to assist visitors. Bangkok Post / The Thaiger

Tourism ministry unveils portal to assist visitors

Entry Thailand, a new tourism website

Thailand has launched a new tourism website, aiming to make travel to the country easier for the 8-15 million tourists expected to visit next year.

The central platform, named Entry Thailand, includes necessary information before arrival, providing basic information and documents that tourists have to prepare in advance with complete links to third-party organisations involved with entry requirements, websites for authorised SHA+ hotels, Covid-19 insurance, Thailand Pass registration and MorChana -- the official tracking app.

The extensive services also cover arrival, tax refunds and online alerts to the Tourist Police through an application.

Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn, the tourism and sports minister, said the ministry created the portal website as a part of its e-service roadmap between 2022 and 2024 to facilitate tourists who face more difficulties due to complicated requirements during the pandemic.

"The pile of paperwork and several organisations tourists have to deal with are inconvenient. The ministry wants this platform to help reduce their difficulties when planning trips to Thailand," said Mr Phiphat.

As the Covid-19 situation has improved recently, he said the government is hoping that border reopening to four neighbouring countries -- Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Malaysia -- will drive the number of tourists next year to 8-15 million, generating 1.3-1.8 trillion baht for the economy.

He said if the upward trend gains momentum in 2023, Thailand should receive 20 million international tourists, and that will require the country to have an established system to handle such huge demand.

According to the ministry, the portal website will help centralise the scattered information regarding travel experiences in Thailand, such as attractions, transportation and food.

In the next phase, the ministry will encourage other state authorities to feature their services on the platform and will also leave the backdoor open for startups who want to connect Entry Thailand with their products and services.

The first phase of the website has been allocated a 49.6-million-baht budget and the ministry hopes the system can help connect Thailand with 7 billion tourists globally.

Bangkok Post highlights 16/12

🔴 #COVID19 update on Thursday: ⬆️ 3,684 new cases ⬆️ 1,427 probable cases (ATK) ⬇️ 26 deaths. Richard Barrow







Statistics for arrivals in #Thailand. Richard Barrow

Statistics for arrivals in #Thailand. In November, there were 133,061 arrivals. In just the first 14 days of this month, we've already had 103,263. What's interesting is the infection rate percentage which is circled. Test & Go remains the best at 0.12% but it has increased. 

Percentage of positive cases has risen compared to last month

Test & Go: 0.08% ~> 0.12%

Sandbox: 0.21% ~> 0.23%

Quarantine: 0.81% ~> 2.16%

1-30 November: 171 cases

1-14 December: 189 cases

Richard Barrow: In November, most people flew to #Thailand from USA, Germany, Netherlands, UK and Russia. This month:

1️⃣ Germany - 8,739

2️⃣ UK - 6,818

3️⃣ Russia - 4,549

4️⃣ UAE - 3,966

5️⃣ USA - 3,705

6️⃣ France - 3,702

7️⃣ Sweden - 3,637

8️⃣ Singapore - 3,260

9️⃣ Israel - 3,000

🔟 S. Korea - 2,813

Omicron infection climbs to 9 out of 14 potential cases – THE Public Health Ministry said this afternoon (Dec. 15) that one more patient has been confirmed to be infected with the Omicron variant of coronavirus taking the total to nine out of 14 potential cases, Matichon newspaper said. Dr. Supakit Sirilak, head of the Medical Sciences Department, said the nine cases were confirmed by whole genome sequencing. Thai Newsroom

 Omicron infection climbs to 9 out of 14 potential cases

December 15, 2021  TNR Staff

THE Public Health Ministry said this afternoon (Dec. 15) that one more patient has been confirmed to be infected with the Omicron variant of coronavirus taking the total to nine out of 14 potential cases, Matichon newspaper said.

Dr. Supakit Sirilak, head of the Medical Sciences Department, said the nine cases were confirmed by whole genome sequencing.

He added that Thailand stepped up surveillance after the World Health Organisation declared Omicron a variant of concern on Nov. 26 by postponing the move to switch the testing of travellers from RT-PCR method to antigen test kit (ATK) as part of the move to safely reopen the country to tourism.

"In this regard, since the reopening of the country on November 1 we have been randomly testing thousands of samples for strains collected from infected people and those critically ill found at the border as well as all foreign travellers and among strange clusters and cases of unknown causes.

"Mostly the Delta variant was found and if Omicron crops up it will be detected.

"If we act fast it will not be a problem and we hope to detect cases when people come in and conscientiously undergo a test and not sneak in as happened with Delta.

"I still confirm that the RT-PCR test is not a problem because we test many genes and even ATK can detect it by 90% … the only thing is the first few days the viral load is low and the tests may yield false negative results," he said.

He reiterated that Omicron is not a descendant of the pre-existing Delta and Beta variants but a new one. What has been found so far is that firstly it spreads faster secondly as yet there is not news of the symptoms being severe with no indication that it is any worse than Delta but thirdly there is more information now that it is able to evade vaccine protection.

The ministry earlier in the day said there were 3,370 Covid cases and 29 deaths over the past 24 hours with this taking the cumulative confirmed total since April 1 to 2,149,413.

Of the new batch of patients 3,161 emerged in the surveillance and healthcare systems, 78 were found through proactive search in communities, 111 fell sick in prisons and detention centres while 20 foriegn arrivals tested positive.

Another 4,557 patients were cured taking total recoveries since April 1 to 2,083,275 while 46,315 are still undergoing treatment.