Covid-19 News & Updates

[Big Boy]

Oh dear, 2 more today who somehow escaped quarantine from Myanmar

[Big Boy]

Statements like this in the Bangkok Post make me cringe:

However, Chiang Rai governor Prachon Pratsakul said officials had decided to keep open the permanent checkpoint at the Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge because to shut it would have an enormous impact on cross-border trade.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/ge ... RqVzGzclcc

I thought borders were closed, and nobody was exempt from quarantine. How is this guy allowed to make his own rules? Why is Chiang Rai exempt from the hardship that the rest of Thailand is suffering? Does this mean the Governor of Prachuap Kiri Khan can open up Hua Hin Airport to whoever he wants?

[HHTel]

Absolutely crazy, irresponsible and downright stupid. Heads need to roll. The governor who appears to back the decision to keep the border open needs to be taken to task and made an example of.

[STEVE G]

But Thailand has almost 5000 km of land border and although you can close the official crossing points, it's completely porous to locals in the border areas.
It's the same here in Europe, earlier in the year the border between Luxembourg and Germany was closed but that just meant checkpoints on major highways and traffic cones on minor ones. There was nothing to stop you walking across.

[HHTel]

But that's the point. The governor and his officials decided to keep the permanent crossing (Friendship Bridge) open because closing it would have affected trade.
I wouldn't have thought he had the authority to do that thereby overriding governments restrictions.

Of course, the border is extremely porous and almost impossible to secure. Anyone found to have 'snuk' in should have the book thrown at them.

[Big Boy]

But Thailand has almost 5000 km of land border and although you can close the official crossing points, it's completely porous to locals in the border areas.

Yes, you'll never stop the illegal elements, but the Governor of Chiang Rai is reported to be legitimizing it through official crossings.

[Big Boy]

WTF? https://coconuts.co/bangkok/news/touris ... 100k-baht/

[handdrummer]

The Gov should have his head removed, since there's nothing in it, it wouldn't be much of a loss.

[PET]

There are now 5 persons who have Covid as a result of this northern border crossing.
The police have also confirmed today that 4 of those persons ( the fifth was announced after the police statement0)will go to court and their sentence could be 2 yrs jail plus 100,000Bht fine

[PeteC]

More idiots who care about nothing but themselves. Lock them up!

Covid-19 patients sneak into Thailand, take separate flights to Don Mueang, Phitsanulok

https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30398959

A 21-year-old woman, who sneaked into Thailand from Myanmar before taking a plane to Bangkok, was found to be infected with Covid-19.

The Thai woman, who visited Myanmar with a friend from November 17 to 27, crossed the natural border in Chiang Rai’s Mae Sai district in the wee hours of November 28.

She and her friend, both suffering from a fever, cough and runny nose, then checked into a hotel before calling a Grab Car to Chiang Rai airport later in the day, where she took a flight to Bangkok’s Don Mueang Airport and her friend to Phitsanulok.

Reports say that she was not wearing her mask properly when travelling by taxi from the airport to her condo in Udomsuk.

She reportedly visited a clinic nearby with her boyfriend on November 29 for treatment of her symptoms, but was told to go to hospital. Her infection was detected at a private hospital in Bangna that day. Her boyfriend is deemed to be at high risk due to close contact.

Meanwhile, her friend apparently flew to Phitsanulok with plans to travel to Phichit. No data of her whereabouts was available as of press time.

[PeteC]

Other news indicates there were 6 women having Covid, not only 2. Will post when full article published. All six snuck across the border then travelled by various means to other provinces.

[HHTel]

At this rate, it's another Vietnam waiting to happen. It took just one in Da Nang and just a few weeks later, infections and deaths went up after no activity for around 100 days.

It only takes one!

[HHTel]

The UK is the first country to approve the Pfizer vaccine. The first doses are to arrive in the next few days. 40 million doses have been ordered, 10 million expected to arrive this year.

Of course the priority is for the most vulnerable first.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/p ... li=BBoPWjQ

[PeteC]

Other news indicates there were 6 women having Covid, not only 2. Will post when full article published. All six snuck across the border then travelled by various means to other provinces.

_____________
They're downplaying it at present, their normal style. With this revelation I would think there are many more who have come across from Burma who are infected. Things here are unraveling IMO.
_____________

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/ge ... in-bangkok

Six more Thai women who sneaked back home through natural passages from Myanmar's Tachilek town to Chiang Rai province late last month had Covid-19 and some of them travelled Bangkok and some provinces, according to health authorities.

Dr Sophon Iamsirithaworn, general communicable diseases director at the Department of Disease Control, said on Wednesday that one of the cases was a 28-year-old native of Phayao province.

She worked at an entertainment place at 1G1 Hotel in Tachilek from Nov 1-26.

She returned with a Myanmar citizen to Chiang Rai's Mae Sai district last Friday. Then she met a friend and a boyfriend, went to Singha Park and left for Chiang Mai province on Monday when she tested positive for Covid-19. In Chiang Rai, she stayed at her friend's room and at Hop Inn.

Two other cases are a woman, 21, from Bangkok and her friend, 25, from Phichit province. They were at 1G1 Hotel from Nov 17-27.

They returned to Mae Sai on the following day, stayed at a hotel there and had a fever, sore throat and runny nose that morning. Then they rode on a Grab car to Chiang Rai airport and flew to Bangkok's Don Mueang airport. The Bangkok returnee tested positive on Sunday.

The Phichit native then took another flight from Don Mueang to Phitsanulok and travelled on to Phichit. She went to entertainment places in Phichit with friends. The woman tested positive on Tuesday.

Another case is a 36-year-old native of Ratchaburi province who stayed in Myanmar from Nov 3-28.

On Nov 23-24, she was at an entertainment place at 1G1 Hotel and met another Covid-19 case. Last Thursday, she started coughing and had a runny nose, sore throat and muscle plain.

She returned to Thailand last Sunday and went to Chiang Mai airport in a vehicle of her friend who came with a boyfriend.

The woman took a flight to Don Mueang airport on the same day and went to the Mor Chit bus terminal to catch a bus to Ratchaburi. As a party-goer at 1G1 was confirmed with Covid-19, she was tested and the result showed on Wednesday she was infected.

Two other cases are two women, 23 and 25, who lived in Chiang Mai and were friends of a confirmed case who worked in Tachilek.

They crossed the border to Mae Sai last Thursday and stayed at a friend's house in the district. They sought Covid-19 tests on Monday after learning about their friend's infection. The positive result was known on the following day.

Dr Sophon said the six new cases added to four previously confirmed cases who had also sneaked into Thailand from Tachilek.

Dr Thongchai Keeratihatayakorn, deputy permanent secretary for health, said tests on people close to the 10 new cases turned negative, so the illegal returnees from Myanmar did not cause local infection.

He said the 10 women worked at entertainment places in Tachilek and they had no social responsibility. They dodged quarantine and caused the state to conduct costly efforts to test many people in contact with them to control the disease.

[PeteC]

Below is an example of what I see in the Bangkok Post each and everyday:

...."The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) said the new cases were 13 quarantined arrivals from Ukraine, Nepal, the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Norway, Germany, the United States and Myanmar, and one local case in Chiang Rai."....

How can this be happening so frequently? These people just got off an airplane and were supposed to have been tested within 72 hours of departure, and obtained a "fit to fly" certificate. It seems highly probable that they were carrying Covid at time of departure the way the reports sound.

Or, are these cases like HHTel's daughter where the Thai testing may be picking up dead virus in the person's system from a previous infection?

I think there needs to be a close study of the Thai upon arrival testing procedures, and what the results are actually showing.