Covid-19 News & Updates

[joelle]

Each province's daily domestic COVID-19 cases update in Thailand on Sunday 30th May
FB link for reference: https://www.facebook.com/nbtworld

[PeteC]

รายละเอียดเพิ่มเติมเมื่อเผยแพร่ (Something new, different language everyday. )

COVID-19 in Thailand Update (May 30, 2021)
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As of Sunday, 1,209 (-12) patients are in critical condition, with 389 (-17) of them relying on ventilator. About 1.65 percent of the population is fully vaccinated, with 2,453,807 (+37,904) people received the first dose, while 1,094,523 (+6,301) received the second dose.

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[PeteC]

Be prepared for the price of chicken to go up.

Major Covid outbreak closes Saraburi chicken plant

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/ge ... cken-plant

SARABURI: A chicken processing plant belonging to CP Foods in Kaeng Khoi district of this central province has been closed after 245 of its workers were found to have Covid-19.

The factory has about 5,800 workers and 3,400 had been tested, Saraburi governor Manrat Ratanasukhon said in a letter to the Interior Ministry on Saturday.

Results were available for 765 of the 3,400 workers tested, and 245 -- almost a third -- were positive.

The infected were immediately sent to Kaeng Khoi Hospital for treatment. A 160-bed field hospital was also set up at the Chetkhot-Pong Kon Sao scout camp in Kaeng Khoi district, with 49 Covid patients admitted there so far.

The factory's owner, Charoen Pokpand Foods Plc, was building a separate field hospital on its premises, Mr Manrat said. It was designed to accommodate up to 400 patients.

The factory was closed for disinfection from May 30-June 3.

Activing case-finding had continued to cover all workers at the factory, with the remaining test results expected on Sunday.

The provincial health office had told workers' family members and others who had been in close contact with them to take Covid-19 tests at Saraburi Hospital on Sunday from 9am-noon.

Workers awaiting test results who were considered high-risk had been quarantined for 14 days at a facility provided by the district health office. Those deemed low-risk were asked to self-isolate for 14 days.

[Big Boy]

Today's Brief:

[PeteC]

Covid deaths top 1,000, cases pass 150,000

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/ge ... ss-150-000

Health authorities reported 24 new Covid-19 fatalities on Sunday and another 4,528 cases, passing two grim milestones with the accumulated death toll now at 1,012 and the number of cases since the start of the pandemic at 154,307.

The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) said 2,626 of the new infections were among the general population and 1,902 in prisons.

Fourteen fatalities were reported in Bangkok, three in Nonthaburi and two in Chon Buri. A single death was recorded in each of Chiang Mai, Samut Prakan, Samut Sakhon, Suphan Buri and Nakhon Si Thammarat.

CCSA assistant spokeswoman Apisamai Srirangson said coronavirus transmissions among family members led to most of the 11 deaths.

Bangkok and Phetchaburi detected 754 new infections each. Samut Prakan came third with 264 cases, followed by 139 in Nonthaburi and 90 in Chon Buri.

The CCSA also logged 27 imported cases, including 24 Thais returning from Cambodia. The remaining three were Thais flying in from Switzerland, the Philippines and the Netherlands.

[Big Boy]

I've just been reading a summary of the situation in Thailand. Part of the summary reads "The long holiday from 24 to 28 July 2021 is expected to see a great number of people in interprovincial travel, which is likely to increase the risk of transmission."

That is 2 months away. These guys are military, and should be able to plan ahead. FFS we aren't being invaded in that period; it is a holiday. We're in a state of emergency, why not cancel it now? I guess a few Bangkokian hi-sos have booked their jolly already.

[HHTel]

Another day of bad numbers.
From FB 31st May

New cases: 5,485 including 1,953 from the prison system.
Deaths: 19

Recoveries: 3,101
130,929 cases since Apr 1st.

[buksida]

Holy moly - I take the weekend off the internet ... and the numbers double ...

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[joelle]

Yet the CCSA keep saying the situation is under control!!

[PeteC]

We'll see shortly but I'm thinking it's one or two big hits from factory clusters. If it's all mostly Bangkok they better start to consider more drastic control/isolation steps.

[PeteC]

Opinion: Corporations have chosen to remain open, it will cost lives and suffering.

https://www.thaienquirer.com/28050/opin ... suffering/

Over the last two weeks, Thai companies have been questioned over Covid-19 outbreaks in their workplace.

Construction firms have seen a spike in the number of cases in construction sites while factories have been closed due to outbreaks.

The biggest names in Thai industry have been implicated including Sino-Thai Constructions, Italian-Thai Development, and now Charoen Pokphand.

On Sunday, CP Foods announced the closure of one of its factories in Saraburi after 245 people tested positive for the virus.

Their other 18 factories will remain open.

It is interesting to note that even at the height of the Covid-19 crisis, firms like Sino-Thai and CP kept their factories and sites open to keep the bottom line as unaffected and their shareholders as happy as possible.

Even when there are real human costs.

The Covid-19 pandemic currently has a mortality rate of around 2 per cent. That number is less in Thailand but that is a testament to the fine doctors and nurses in our public health services.

But the fact remains, people will die.

Thousands have now been infected because these factories have stayed open, because best practices in keeping the workplaces safe have not been introduced, and because of corporate greed.

Choosing to remain open, to keep building, keep processing, and keep working will cost people their lives. People have died, are dying, and will keep dying because these CEOs and business leaders that we venerate in the back pages of Thailand Tatler have chosen to value the bottom line more than human lives.

It should not be surprising for longtime observers of Thailand that his is happening. This is a country where corporations rule supreme. Above politics, above government, above the rule of law, corporations operate on another plain in Thai society.

But unlike other abuses in the past, both human and environmental – the effects of corporate greed have been laid bare for all to see during the coronavirus pandemic. The human costs aren’t hidden away in the margins of court rulings and knock-on environmental effects that manifest themselves decades later.

So far, these corporations have not said whether or not they would support the families of workers who died through their negligence.

Chances are they won’t.

They do not feel a sense of obligation or humanity like most corporations around the world. They are also not motivated by shame, the one thing that could spur them to act. The losses we are seeing are a cost they can write off and keep going because there is no outrage from the Thai public.

And who can blame the public, Thais have seen and experienced worse abuses by those that have power.

But that should not be the status quo.

It is time that we hold these corporations and their leaders to account, is time to be outraged, to be angry, and to question why things are the way they are. Remember that these organizations act with impunity, so unafraid are they of governmental consequences. Remember also that they are the same organizations that prop up the government and leaders that have exacerbated our suffering.

[PeteC]

More details when published.

Edit: This NBT report comes out the earliest after the government daily meetings and I'll be using it going forward instead of the Khaosod report, supplemented with the Bangkok Post or The Nation write up later in the day.

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Official COVID-19 update in Thailand on Monday
* 159,792 people infected (+5,485)
* 108,345 discharged from hospital (+3,101)
* 50,416 in hospital
* 1,031 deaths (+19)
Imported cases - 57
Domestic cases - 1,205
Proactive case finding in communities - 2,270
Cases found in correctional facilities - 1,953
Number of people who received vaccines:
1st dose: + 45,122
2nd dose: + 16,430
Total: 3,609,882

[Big Boy]

Opinion: Corporations have chosen to remain open, it will cost lives and suffering.

It's a difficult one, damned if you do, damned if you don't.

The country is basically broke. Financial assistance for Thais as we go into month 3 of the 3rd wave has been 2,000฿ total, and that can only be spent at certain places. Non-Thais will get zilch. I look daily at the numbers of people being tested at these places, and they are in the thousands. At least these people are still earning wages, and can afford to put a meal on the table. If the factories, building sites, etc closed down, who will feed all of the starving people? If they aren't earning, there would be a knock on effect of more places closing down because people can't buy their goods.

We already have thousands of people forced out of work with no income - bars, gyms, etc and places such as restaurants, no longer as attractive due to alcohol bans. Many places that could be open for limited sales haven't bothered because trade will not pay wages. Hotels - many shut already, and those that are open are barely surviving. I could go on. So how are these people surviving? Very poorly.

Already we have thousands living in poverty, and if factories and building sites closed down, the situation would become significantly worse. So what is the answer? Stay open, risk Covid, where most people will survive, or subject the country to all out poverty, swith tarvation becoming a major issue, and suicides increasing rapidly?

[joelle]

Each province's daily domestic COVID-19 cases update in Thailand on Monday 31st May
FB link for reference: https://www.facebook.com/nbtworld

[HHTel]

Good summary of the situation, BB. Couldn't disagree with anything you said.