Thailand News - Corona - By Ola J.

tisdag 15 mars 2022

Thai chicken exporters see bright light after permission to Saudi market - Thai Enquirer Market Watch

Thai chicken exporters see bright light after permission to Saudi market

March 15, 2022

Shares in Thailand's poultry manufacturers rose on Tuesday after Saudi Arabia granted permission for chicken exports to the country, ending an 18-year ban caused by diplomatic dispute.

Charoen Pokphand Foods Plc (CPF) rose by 2.5 per cent in the morning session. GFPT Plc (GFPT) and Bangkok Ranch Plc (BR) also saw the rise.

The Thai government announced this week that Saudi has lifted the ban on imports of chilled and frozen fresh chicken from 11 factories in Thailand, including six from CPF, and one from GFPT and BR.

Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanawisit said that "Thailand will have the opportunity to earn more market share in Saudi Arabia." He also instructed related agencies to prepare chicken shipments to Saudi while having the least impact on domestic prices.

At present, Saudi Arabia imports 590,000 tonnes of chicken annually, 70 per cent of which comes from Brazil and the remaining 30 per cent from Ukraine and France.

An analyst at KGI Securities, Tidarat Palodom, said in a research note that the impact in the short term shall be limited owing to market competition.

"The main competitor (Brazil) has a competitive advantage in terms of lower feed cost as the country is a major soybean and corn producer."

However, in the long run, KGI said the permission given to Thailand is a good opportunity for the country's poultry industry, as Saudi Arabia is the fifth largest chicken meat importer in the world.

Tidarat added that concern over higher feed cost emerging from the supply chain disruption from the Russia-Ukraine conflict could pose an impact on the meat industry as well. "We are assessing the impact on meat prices and meat producers' margins."

🔴 #COVID19 update on Tuesday ⬇️ 19,742 new cases ⬆️ 70 deaths ⬇️ 221,436 in care. Richard Barrow

måndag 14 mars 2022

Four cases of mutant Omicron strain BA. 2.2 found in Thailand – LIC Health Ministry said today (Mar. 14) that four cases of the Omicron mutation BA. 2.2 that is hitting Hong Kong hard have been found in Thailand, Amarin TV said. Thai Newsroom

Four cases of mutant Omicron strain BA. 2.2 found in Thailand

March 14, 2022 TNR Staff

ELIC Health Ministry said today (Mar. 14) that four cases of the Omicron mutation BA. 2.2 that is hitting Hong Kong hard have been found in Thailand, Amarin TV said.

Dr. Supakit Sirilak, the head of the Medical Sciences Department, revealed that at present only 0.3 percent of the cases in the country are of the Delta variant with the remaining 99.7 percent being Omicron.

Of the total Omicron cases, 68 percent were BA.2 sublineage and 32.4 percent BA.1.

Regarding the new mutant BA2.2 strain that has just emerged, one of the four cases was a foreigner and three Thais with all being found through the domestic strain surveillance system and confirmation from GISAID (Global Initiative on Sharing Avian Influenza Data) still awaited.

Initially all four patients had mild symptoms and have now been cured.

"I want to be confident in the system that we have put in place. We test by coding the whole body and send 500-600 samples to the GISAID every week, so if something is wrong we will find out for sure.

"Last week, March 7-13, we submitted 673 whole-body transcripts, most of them, a total of 333 samples, were of BA.1.1 variant, followed by 135 of BA.2.

"GISAID's worldwide data shows that BA.1 is still the dominant strain, while BA.2 was found in about 250,000 cases with BA.3 still at the level of around 500 samples," Dr. Supakit said.

He added that the BA.2.2 mutation that emerged in Hong Kong has not been assessed as a species of concern or to be watched so far because of inadequate data about its severity and ability to avoid vaccines.

While the BA. 3 strain has not appeared in Thailand, further information is still being gathered about BA.2.2 and BA.2.3 subvariants.

The ministry said this morning that there were 22,130 Covid cases and 69 deaths over the past 24 hours with this taking the cumulative confirmed total since the start of the pandemic to 3,206,955.

Meanwhile another 15,650 people tested positive by ATK and are still awaiting confirmation of infection with this total not added to the daily count.

Altogether 23,508 patients were cured taking total recoveries since the onset of the pandemic to 2,957,288 while 225,889 are still undergoing treatment.

Today's 69 fatalities raised the death toll to 23,778.

A total of 125,940,785 doses of vaccines have been administered so far.

CCSA English briefing on Monday 14th March 2022 (Unofficial translation). Richard Barrow

CCSA English briefing

on Monday 14th March 2022

(Unofficial translation)

1. Recap of the Thai briefing

1.1 There will be a general CCSA meeting on 18 March 2022. Important issues to be discussed including adjustment of measures for travelers entering Thailand and disease control measures for Songkran festival to prevent the spread of the virus.

1.2 As there are high numbers of infection among groups of friends, colleagues and family members, remaining vigilante by continuing to observe Universal prevention is still be highly recommended.

2. Update on arrival of Travelers

2.1 During 1–13 March 2022, 110,276 travellers entered Thailand. Of this number, the majority, or 95,551 travellers entered via the Test and Go, or Quarantine Exemption Scheme. 12,810 entered via the Sandbox scheme, and 1,915 entered with alternative quarantine.

2.2 The majority of international travellers come from these top ten countries of origin during 1-13. March 2022, namely, Germany, Singapore, the UK, the US, France, UAE, Australia, Russia, Israel, and Kazakhstan.

3. General Situation

3.1 The number of new cases is 22,130 cases with 23,508 cases new recoveries. The number of accumulated cases stands at 3,206,955 cases. There are 69 new fatalities, with the accumulated total at 23,778 cases.

3.2 The current top ten provinces with the most COVID-19 cases per day are Bangkok (3,060),

Nakhon Si Thammarat (1,268), Chonburi (1,117), Samut Prakarn (935), Nonthaburi (757), Samut Sakhon (666), Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya (609), Pathum Thani (588), Nakhon Pathom (573), and Ratchaburi (540).

3.3 New infections and clusters are still being found in hospitals and infirmaries, schools, restaurants, markets, schools, offices, factories, religious ceremonies and families. Majority of the fatalities are from the elderly and medically vulnerable groups.

4. Vaccination Progress

4.1 Yesterday, Thailand administered 71,155 doses of vaccines, increasing the accumulated number of vaccinations to 126.15 million doses.

4.2 This brings Thailand to 78.2 percent (over 54 million people) of the population having received their first dose, 71.9 percent (over 49.9 million people) having received their second dose and 31.3 percent (over 21.7 million people) having received their third dose.

5. Government to register home-grown vaccines

5.1 The government is preparing to register home-grown Covid-19 vaccines with the Food and Drug Administration Thailand (FDA). Currently, Thailand has 20 vaccines in the development pipeline, with Chula-Cov19, HXP-GPOVac, and Baiya SARS-CoV-2 Vax, in clinical trials. Any vaccine that successfully completes all rounds of clinical trials will be eligible for registration.

5.2 Thai researchers are also developing an intranasal "NASTVAC" vaccine, which will administer vaccination sprays through the nose.

6. Thailand handover 500,000 doses of vaccines to Myanmar

- Thailand has donated 500,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines and syringes to Myanmar people through Myanmar Red Cross Society in order to help international community fight against the virus.

7. Getting mild side effects after vaccination

- WHO has rolled out an infographic to rest assure that getting mild side effects, such as sore arm, fever, tiredness, headache or muscle ache, and diarrhoea, after being vaccinated is not a concerning matter but a natural sign that the body is developing protection.

Full CCSA English briefing can be viewed here >>> https://fb.watch/bKR7d8EF-4/

Source: CCSA, WHO, Public Relations Department and Department of Information, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA)

Thailand News - Corona - By Ola J. - Palmtree