Covid-19 News & Updates

[Dannie Boy]

The world lives in hope, but it’s looking a lot more promising than it was even a few weeks ago, so every reason to be optimistic!!

[HHTel]

Thailand invested in the Oxford vaccine some weeks ago. As well as ordering for the Thai population, they won the 'contract' for production and distribution to all of ASEAN.
Now most countries will be giving this vaccine free which of course will ensure maximum take-up. What's the betting that Thailand will charge for it? In that case, only those that can afford it will get it. I may be wrong.

Oxford picks Thailand as production base for Covid-19 vaccine

Thailand health officials and Oxford will use Siam Bioscience Co Ltd factory for manufacturing the vaccine in cooperation with corporate giant SCG.

[buksida]

What's the betting that Thailand will charge for it? In that case, only those that can afford it will get it. I may be wrong.

Their past appalling record with charging for the tests tells you exactly what the junta is going to do with a vaccine - profit from it.

[handdrummer]

Don't worry, Farangs will be charged double. That is, if they are allowed to have the vaccine.

[Big Boy]

But surely, as it is dirty, smelly Farangs who won't wear a mask that are spreading the bug, they must have us top of the list

[buksida]

Hong Kong to give B20,000 to those testing positive for virus
Hong Kong will give a one-time HK$5,000 (about 20,000 baht) to anyone in the city who tests positive for Covid-19 to encourage people to take tests for the virus, Health Secretary Sophia Chan said.

The Labour and Welfare Bureau will announce details of the handout plan, Radio Television Hong Kong cited Chan as saying in a radio interview. She said the government is setting up another five community testing centres, adding to the four already in operation, according to the report.

Hong Kong will impose new social restrictions as local coronavirus cases spike, prompting an announcement Saturday that a planned travel bubble between Hong Kong and Singapore would be postponed for two weeks.

The city reported 43 on Saturday, the most in three months. The figure included 13 locally transmitted infections whose source was untraceable, suggesting there may be super-spreaders in the city.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/world/20237 ... -for-virus

Bit of a difference:
Hong Kong: Here, have some free money, we want everyone tested and want to open up.
Thailand: Pay for the test yourselves and then we'll incarcerate you for a fortnight at extra charge. We want nobody to mess up our pretty stats because it'll make us look incompetent, and we want to remain closed to the world (apart from China, who started the whole thing).

[buksida]

Thais to get 1st Covid shots by mid-2021
Thai people will get their first jabs of the Covid-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford by mid-2021 at the earliest, said Dr Nakhon Premsri, director of the National Vaccine Institute (NVI).

The vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford will be produced locally at the manufacturing plant of Siam Bioscience Group, located in Pathum Thani.

The Thai government is working with AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford to jointly produce the vaccine at a pharmaceutical manufacturing plant of Siam Bioscience Group near Bangkok. Siam Bioscience Group was selected by the UK-based pharmaceutical firm as its regional partner to produce the vaccine for the Southeast Asian region.

...

Dr Opas Kankawinphong, acting director of the DDC, said that the government would spend 3.7 billion baht to prepare for the vaccine's transportation and storage, and its monitoring system as well as on a far-reaching campaign to raise public awareness about how to get the vaccine.

He said the Covid-19 vaccine will be the most extensive vaccination programme ever in Thailand.

"Giving 26 million doses of vaccine to over 13 million people is unprecedented in Thailand. The largest we ever provided were five million doses of a flu vaccine. So we need to make everything work, especially when it comes to creating awareness among the public," he said.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/ge ... y-mid-2021

Some takes from that:

'Select' Thais will get it - meaning Bangkok only to start with.
No mention of 'free' meaning they will have to pay for it, meaning the poor wont bother.
Starting mid-2021 meaning the country will remain closed for all of next year.
No mention of farangs meaning it will not be available to us.

[Dannie Boy]

The only way to rid the world of this nasty disease is by mass vaccination, but if countries start to ration it (by price or other means) then it will stay for years. Understandably, supplies will be limited initially so some form of priority will be needed - in countries like the UK they have openly stated the priority will be the most vulnerable and key workers - in Thailand, the parameters may be completely different!!

[Big Boy]

I will feel reasonably secure if everybody around me has been vaccinated. I'll get vaccinated if and when it becomes available. They are supposedly afraid of the dirty, smelly, Covid ridden Farangs, so I guess we'll get a go eventually. Either that, or we'll be euthanized.

[HHTel]

Population of Thailand is close to 70 million (UK around 66 million)

The UK has 100 million doses covering most of the population. (It's a 2-shot vaccine)
Thailand has 26 million doses for 13 million people. (the biggest challenge they've ever faced)

Oxford will produce 3 billion doses for 'the rest of the world' during 2021

The math doesn't favour Thailand too well!

[GroveHillWanderer]

The Thai authorities are saying they will set up a manufacturing facility (at considerable cost) to produce 26 million doses by mid-2021 and they will institute a programme to distribute those doses.

I haven't seen anything saying that they will just stop right there and dismantle the production plant after the first 26 million doses are administered. If everything goes successfully with what the Bangkok Post article describes as "the first batch of production" (and the distribution of it) I would expect them to continue to produce and distribute more doses of the vaccine.

Especially if they're charging for it (as several posters seem to suspect they will) why wouldn't they continue, to recoup more of the initial outlay? The article also says that the plant will be able to "produce 15 million doses per month." Do we think they're just going to abandon it after less than two months-worth of production?

[HHTel]

Oxford have appointed Thailand with manufacture and distribution to the whole of ASEAN so it's not going to stop after the first batch.

[Hahuahin]

Population of Thailand is close to 70 million (UK around 66 million)

The UK has 100 million doses covering most of the population. (It's a 2-shot vaccine)
Thailand has 26 million doses for 13 million people. (the biggest challenge they've ever faced)

Oxford will produce 3 billion doses for 'the rest of the world' during 2021

The math doesn't favour Thailand too well!

Seems the haves have bought in some extra doses for the offspring then

[Big Boy]

29 year old found with Covid in Chiang Mai.

https://news.thaipbs.or.th/content/2987 ... YniCyw6Ycg

[PeteC]

29 year old found with Covid in Chiang Mai.

https://news.thaipbs.or.th/content/2987 ... YniCyw6Ycg

Yes, bits and pieces have been popping up on English language news this afternoon:

"A Thai returnee from Myanmar who was not in quarantine was among five new cases of novel coronavirus infection reported on Saturday, raising the total to 3,902.

The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration has yet to explain why the 29-year-old woman, who returned from Myanmar on Tuesday, had not been isolated upon arrival for 14 days as required.

She tested positive on Thursday with a fever and a headache. Since Monday, she has lost the sense of smell and is being treated at Nakornping Hospital in Chiang Mai.".....

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/ge ... 5-reported

EDIT: They now have to trace everyone and every place she's been for the past 4-5 days.