Covid-19 News & Updates

[PeteC]

Hong Kong closing schools again

https://www.bangkokpost.com/world/19493 ... ools-again

[Big Boy]

Government and administrative foul-ups has public health officials on high alert for Covid-19 cases

Don't panic, this is exactly what Thai Chana is designed to help with.

https://www.thaienquirer.com/15497/gove ... hiFxykrHTA

[PeteC]

^ The $#!% has really hit the fan on the Thai news and social media about this Egyptian military person incident. Apparently not only was he in a plane and hotel exposing people, he was in a large shopping mall in Rayong where hundreds of people may have come in contact with him. All kinds of tracking and testing now going on in the area.

The headline above is a reaction from Bangkok because Rayong people and local government are calling for heads to roll.

[Big Boy]

CCSA are also admitting the child of a diplomat was in the same situation. FFS did they think these people were immune? Just look at the UK where the Crown Prince and PM caught it. By Thailand's rules, they'd be beyond reproach.

[PeteC]

It's always the same old crap here. They think the elite and privileged are immune and exempt from the ills of the common man.

[Big Boy]

Yes, when I originally read that guests of the Government would not be subject to state quarantine, alarm bells started sounding.

[Dannie Boy]

A record not to be proud of - reported Sunday so presumably relates to Saturday!!

Record rise in global cases - WHO
Some 230,370 new cases were recorded in 24 hours - a record daily increase, said the World Health Organization on Sunday.

Most of the new cases were in the Americas, but here's a specific breakdown of where some of the other cases were from:

Americas - 142,992
South East Asia - 33,173
Europe - 18,804
Africa - 17,884
Eastern Mediterranean - 15,361
Western Pacific - 2,156
Around 5,285 new deaths were also reported - again, with the majority of them coming from the Americas.

[PeteC]

Here is the story from yesterday about Rayong, and the child in Bangkok.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/ge ... er-inquiry

[Big Boy]

the Drama-addict Facebook page, which has more than 2 million followers, urged authorities to reveal exactly which locations had been visited by the infected man.

The page said people had the right to know in order to protect themselves. The centre had at that stage only published the vaguest information, by identifying Rayong as the province visited.

Surely, this is what Thai Chana should be doing automatically.

Probably the apathetic population in the Rayong area are kicking themselves now for not jumping through the Thai Chana hoops. We'll probably hear next that hundreds of Thai Chana warnings have turned up in Disneyland trying to warn M. Mouse that he has possibly been in contact with Covid-19.

[buksida]

The massive mistrust over the way the state handles personal data is probably why Thai Chana was doomed to fail before it even began.

A bigger question should be; why were a bunch of Egyptian soldiers allowed in on the way to China, when hundreds of Thais and expats with families here still can't come back.

[Big Boy]

A bigger question should be; why were a bunch of Egyptian soldiers allowed in on the way to China, when hundreds of Thais and expats with families here still can't come back.

They were classed as aircrew, who are exempt. At least, that is what Pete's article tells us.

[PeteC]

There was something on BKK Post breaking news on my phone that the number of people being traced is over 1,000. I'll post it once it's fully published.

400 people in Rayong being traced, schools closed down, Government apologises

https://thethaiger.com/coronavirus/400- ... apologises

At a packed media conference this morning the CCSA has announced that an Egyptian pilot, testing positive for Covid-19, along with “9 colleagues” visited at least 2 shopping malls in the Rayong province.

Dr. Taweesin Visanuyothin says the infected airmen, along with 9 others members of the crew, left the confines of the D Varee Diva Central Rayong Hotel, where they were in quarantine for 14 days, and visited the Laem Thong Department Store on Friday, July 10 from 11am to 2.59pm. Dr. Taweesin, on behalf of the CSSA, also apologised for the “mistake”.

“We thought that the aircrew would only land at Suvarnabhumi Airport. But they turned out to land at U-Tapao Airport where measures were still lacking.”

He also announced that 4 other pilots from the same plane also visited the city centre of Rayong for a period of about 4 hours. Rayong is a province about 3 hours east of Bangkok.

BACKGROUND

A total of 31 pilots from the Egyptian Air Force, landed at U-Tapao Airport in Rayong on July 9 for an unspecified mission after visiting Pakistan and the AUE. They then headed for Chengdu in China, and then returned to Rayong to spend two more nights. The group were all tested for Covid-19 on July 10 and then headed back to Egypt on July 11. The results from the tests were published on July 11, indicating that one of the pilots had tested positive for Covid-19.

Dr. Taweesin also announced that the members of the air crew had initially refused to be tested, but eventually relented after an official from the Egyptian embassy spoke to the crew. Video was shown to the assembled media at this morning’s special media conference showing the air crew arguing about being tested.

400 people are believed to have come in close contact with the Egyptian airmen. Schools in Rayong province have been shut down today as a precaution. At this stage, it is unclear who, if anyone, will be held responsible for allowing the Egyptian delegates to leave their hotel quarantine.

SOURCE: Khaosod English

[PeteC]

Egyptian embassy blamed for quarantine dodgers

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/ge ... ne-dodgers

The government said on Tuesday the Egyptian embassy dodged quarantine for its 31-strong military party visiting Rayong province, and 1,889 local people who went to the same malls as the Egyptian who tested positive for Covid-19 now face home quarantine.

Taweesilp Visanuyothin, spokesman of the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration, put the blame on the Egyptian embassy in Thailand for arranging hotel accommodation for the Egyptian delegation instead of sending the visitors to a state quarantine facility.

"Regulations require the quarantine during their stay but the embassy contacted the hotel directly. Health and security teams learned later about the incident and did their best to cope," he said.

Dr Taweesilp referred to the 31 Egyptian military visitors who stopped over in the eastern province of Rayong on their way to China. One of them was later found infected with the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

The spokesman said the delegation arrived on the EGY1245 and EGY1216 military flights at U-Tapao airport in Rayong at 7pm on July 8. They reached DVaree Hotel in Muang district, Rayong, at 11pm the same day.

On July 9 they left U-Tapao airport at 5.30am for Chengdu City, China. They returned to the airport at 11.30pm on the same day. They arrived at DVaree Hotel at 2am on July 10.

At 11am on July 10, 27 of the 31 visitors walked to Laemtong mall and stayed there until 2.56pm. Four others caught taxis to Centralplaza Rayong department store and stayed there from 2pm to 6pm.

After learning about their non-cooperation, local disease investigators tried hard to convince the visitors to take Covid-19 tests. They finally cooperated when the embassy was contacted. The delegation left for Egypt at 11.30am on July 11.

"CCTV showed that three of the visitors wore face masks. The others had face masks but did not wear them. The infected person wore his face mask while in public," Dr Taweesilp said. He assured reporters that the visitors did not go out at night.

He said the Thaichana check-in/checkout application showed that 394 people visited Laemtong mall and 1,488 people were at Centralplaza Rayong when the Egyptians were there. Seven other people were also at Centralplaza Rayong but officials had yet to verify their phone numbers.

Dr Taweesilp asked the local people to do home quarantine for 14 days and seek Covid-19 tests from local health officials.

He said that above all CCSA took responsibility for the incident and it would improve its operation. CCSA had expected the visitors to land at Suvarnabhumi airport, not U-Tapao. He said such visitors were normally quarantined at Novotel Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport hotel.

Because of the visitors' behaviour, CCSA cancelled eight Egyptian air force flights scheduled to bring visitors on July 17-20 and 25-29, he said.

"We are truly sorry for the incident in Rayong, where about 1,000 people are now at risk and about 10 schools must be closed," Dr Taweesilp said.

[PeteC]

....."Because of the visitors' behaviour, CCSA cancelled eight Egyptian air force flights scheduled to bring visitors on July 17-20 and 25-29, he said.".....

What the Bloody hell are they doing letting any kind military training flights and people from infected areas into the country.

As was mentioned yesterday, one rule for government operations and one rule for the common people, which is just sit and accept whatever happens! We'll help you if something goes wrong, and you happen to find out about it?!

[Big Boy]

“We thought that the aircrew would only land at Suvarnabhumi Airport. But they turned out to land at U-Tapao Airport where measures were still lacking.”

Unbelievable. So a foreign air force dictates where they are going to land.