Thailand News - Corona - By Ola J. - Palmtree

In a late-night attack on his province's tourism and F&B industries, Chonburi's governor issued an order mandating that customers of restaurants of all sizes produce a negative coronavirus test result before entering.

The laughably unenforceable dictate from Gov. Pakarathorn Thienchai late Jan. 1 replaced a similarly absurd proclamation issued in the wee hours the same day that had spared smaller restaurants from the onerous unfunded mandate.

Both orders were issued out of panic over the coronavirus omicron variant, which has now made its way to Chonburi as the highly transmissible mutation sweep across Thailand to inevitably become the dominant strain in the country.

The original order had applied only from Dec. 31-Jan. 2 and required all staff, including entertainment performers, at restaurants – and the thousands of bars masquerading as restaurants – to be tested daily with rapid antigen kits.

Customers, however, would only have to produce proof of a negative coronavirus test from within the past 72 hours or take a test on-site before entering if the venue regularly served more than 100 people or "looked busy or congested" even without actually serving 100 people.

The new order, however, does away with the time limit – it's now in force until further notice – and requires all customers, regardless the size of the venue or the customer's vaccination status, to either take a test on-site or provide proof of a recent negative test.

Restaurant owners unable or unwilling to foot the testing bill or make customers wait 15 minutes outside for test results are given no other choice than to simply close down.

The order immediately drew the wrath of both operators and customers who pointed out impracticality of the mandate as well as the lack of required specificity.

"All food and beverage business? In malls? Food markets? Food carts? Smoothie stands? Coffee shops? This is really clear as mud," one commenter wrote on Facebook when the order was posted online. "Equivalent (to) a lockdown because who can afford to test everyday just to work and every 72 hours to dine or drink outside of their home?"

As always, there is law in Thailand there's what actually happens. The proof of the pudding will come tonight at the free-wheeling Tree Town Market on Pattaya's with its food stalls and nightclub, er, "restaurant" in the back, where the is no food but plenty of supposedly prohibited dancing, as well as the brothels on Soi 6 and Cheap Charlie 60-baht beer bars on Soi Buakhao and Soi 7.

With his extreme measure, Pakarathorn has stuck a shiv in the gut of every Chonburi restaurant owner, employee and entertainer. The province fought two months for the right for its venues to sell alcohol, which finally got them off the revenue mat.

Now, with one kneejerk sweep of the pen, the governor has put up a barrier to entry few customers will be willing to bear. Pakarathorn only needs to look at the thousands of empty seats at this weekend's Pattaya Countdown – where only 8% of 2,500 seats were filled on the first two nights – to learn that people won't put up with needless and pointless regulation.

Chonburi, at this point, has only a couple dozen documented omicron cases. And while daily case numbers have quadrupled to more than 200 over the past week, the increase was expected and easily handled by the province's hospitals.

And, as pointed out early in last year's outbreak, restaurants are an extremely minor contributor to the coronavirus wave. Tourism officials noted last year that only 3% of cases then were tied to restaurants. But now, as then, the food and beverage industry will take 100% of the hit.

The saying goes, "hope for the best, plan for the worst." After crowded and energetic New Year's Eve celebrations and extensive travel for the New Year's holiday, the CCSA is making plans to handle the inevitable surge in Covid-19 infections. In order to curb any outbreaks resulting from the holiday, the CCSA has readied response teams to deploy to affected areas.

While they brace for new Covid-19 infections, the government insists they do not intend to reinstate any of the harsh lockdowns Thailand has suffered from over the last year. Instead, the response teams are designed to be able to implement disease control measures and treat infected patients quickly to quash viral spread.

Supot Malaniyom, the head of operations for the CCSA and secretary-general of the National Security Council, offered words of encouragement, saying if everyone follows the Ministry of Public Health's regulations the Covid-19 pandemic will pass in time.

He said the government recognises that the New Year's holiday will tempt many people to take part in risky activities and they are concerned for everyone in Thailand. The CCSA has asked public companies to use work from home plans for those who have travelled over the holiday similar to the government's 7-day work from home policy.

The CCSA will meet during this first week of January to assess the Covid-19 situation and follow up on the plans and rules to handle it. Though lockdowns seem to be off the table, tighter regulations and other measures may be enacted if infections rise after the New Year's holiday.

SOURCE: National News Bureau of Thailand

Highlights:

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

• 171 people recovered and were released from medical care

• No new deaths

The Chonburi Department of Public Health announced 289 new and confirmed cases of Covid-19 today with no new deaths, January 1st, 2022.

This makes a total of 113,314 cases of Covid-19 in the current round of infections, with 2,441 people still under medical care/supervision, and with a total of 793 recorded deaths in Chonburi since the start of this recent round of infections in early April.

Additionally, 171 people were also released and recovered yesterday in Chonburi. 110,808 people in total have now been released from medical care and recovered in Chonburi since this current wave of Covid-19 began.

Four people were listed as being in serious condition in Chonburi currently, either on a ventilator or pneumonia, three of them were not vaccinated.

In total, 1,912,927 people in Pattaya and Chonburi have received their first dose of a Covid -19 vaccine which is 82.13 percent of the total Chonburi population. Of those, 298,330 have received their first dose and are what the Thai government calls 608 groups (elders, have chronic health problems, and pregnant) which is 80.64 percent of those in these risk groups in Chonburi.

The details on the cases are as follows:

1. New soldiers in Sattahip, 10 cases
2. Work and stayed in Rayong, transferred from other provinces for medical care, 8 cases
3. Cluster community near Bang Phra beach in Si Racha, 5 cases
4. Cluster, Mino company in Mueang Chonburi, 5 cases
5. Cluster, Koryo company in Mueang Chonburi, 3 cases
6. Risky occupations meeting many people, 19 cases
7. 8 medical personnel
8. Back from other province in Udon Thani, 1 case
9. Close contacts from previously confirmed cases in families – 47 cases, in workplaces – 45 cases, close personal contacts – 29 cases, and joined a party – 5 cases
10. Close contacts of a confirmed patient (under investigation), 12 cases
11. 92 cases close contacts of a confirmed patient (under investigation)