China, S. Korea restrictions lifted

[reader]

From Bangkok Post

Govt mulls easing more curbs

Shopping malls and large retail outlets selling construction materials will be allowed to reopen as lockdown mea­sures are eased further on May 17 if there is no surge in new infections.

China and South Korea will also be the first countries to be removed from a list of the government's dangerous communicable disease zones.

The issues were discussed at a meeting of the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) chaired by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha on Thursday.

Taweesilp Visanuyothin, the CCSA spokesman, said the centre will gather opinions about the next round of disease control relaxation from today until next Tuesday and draft the relaxation measures next Thursday. "The next stage of relaxation will begin on May 17 unless the number of new Covid-19 cases soars," he said.

"If the situation is brought under control, shopping malls will be allowed to reopen. If each business can maintain [strict social distancing] measures, malls and other businesses can also resume operations. However, this also depends on cooperation from the people," Dr Taweesilp said.

Sukhum Karnchanapimai, permanent secretary for public health, said large retail outlets selling construction materials and furniture may also be allowed to reopen in the next stage because buildings and houses in several provinces have been destroyed and damaged by natural disasters and their owners badly need to buy new materials.

Moreover, the CCSA agreed with a proposal by Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul that countries where the Covid-19 crisis has eased can be removed from the government's list of dangerous communicable disease zones. Mr Anutin told the meeting the proposed de-listing will help normalise Thailand's relations with them.

However, it was also agreed that the de-listing process must be gradual and that people from those de-listed countries will not be allowed to enter Thailand straight away.

Meanwhile, the CCSA on Thursday reported three new coronavirus cases, all Thais, bringing the total in Thailand to 2,992. No additional deaths were reported, leaving the accumulated toll at 55.

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From Coconuts Bangkok

Chatuchak Market reopens this weekend

After being closed over a month, the popular weekend destination Chatuchak Market will resume operations Saturday

Wanlaya Wattanarat of City Hall said yesterday that the outdoor flea market would be allowed to reopen this weekend, with some mandatory restrictions including limited opening hours and social-distancing measures due to the coronavirus outbreak. 

All shoppers and vendors must wear face masks while distance must be maintained between each person. Hand sanitizer will be installed at several spots in the sprawling complex.

People are encouraged to order food for takeaway. Restaurants or stalls wishing to seat diners must provide seats at least 1.5 meters apart from each other. 

Despite the measures announced, it is difficult to imagine any meaningful enforcement at the sprawling marketplace which on a typical day teems with shoppers squeezing past each other in narrow lanes.

Operating hours will limited to 5am to 6pm, as a national overnight curfew remains in place, Wanlaya said. 

[ggobkk]

Thanks, Reader for the updates.  Unfortunately, US Treasury Secretary stated that he expects there will be NO international travel for the US until 2021.

[reader]

Let's hope the good secretary is a better manager of finances than he is of flight schedules.

For travel this Sunday, seats are available on flights out of Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco for Tokyo and Seoul.

[Londoner]

But what about flights into the US?

[DivineMadman]

Personally, I took Secretary Mnuchin's more to mean exactly what he said - "too soon to tell" as far as international travel was concerned for the remainder of the year.   He acknowledged there will be some very limited, necessary business travel.  Implicitly his observation about business travel means there will some flights.  I think there will almost certainly be some limited travel by regular folks as well.   I don't think Mnuchin is particularly keyed into when countries in SE Asia will begin opening their doors or on what conditions.  

The various lockdown restrictions that various countries have in place remain.  In typical Bangkok Post fashion, even the headline of the article that started this thread is inaccurate.  The idea of opening the door to Thailand for travelers from China and S Korea is just something that was floated.  The restrictions haven't been "lifted."  And that particular idea is hardly news.  There have been very very public discussions before about the need to get essential business travelers back into Thailand.  

The Chinese government has told its people no international leisure travel for the time being - I forget whether the restriction was until October or the New Year (and which New Year).

 

[reader]

File under the more things change, the more they stay the same or TIT (your choice)

Extracted from Bangkok Post

In other news, the government has put on hold a proposal to remove China and South Korea from a list of "dangerous communicable disease zones", pending the decision of a panel of health experts.

The proposal was made by Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul at a CCSA meeting on Thursday.

CCSA spokesman Taweesilp Visanuyothin allayed concerns that the proposed removal would lead to an influx of Chinese and South Koreans who might bring the disease with them and spark a new infection wave.

"Our measures remain the same. Inbound commercial flights are still banned," Dr Taweesilp said. "Visitors must have fit-to-fly health certificates. If they visit now, they must be quarantined at a state facility for 14 days."

"Tourists would not enjoy visiting while these measures are in place," he added.

Mr Anutin yesterday said he proposed to remove China and South Korea from the list because the two countries have managed to control the virus situation at home.

He said the proposal was also made to boost diplomatic ties with China and South Korea, adding there would also be mutual support in terms of medical supplies distribution.

Mr Anutin said the CCSA had agreed to remove them from the list in principle, but the panel of health experts will still review the proposal.

"There are many layers of protection," he said. "Please do not worry about the matter."

[ggobkk]

Since the USA, where I would be arriving from, has a less than stellar reputation for combatting the Covid-19 outbreak, the Thai requirement for a 14 day stay in a state facility is a deterrent that is unlikely to be waived.    And, as Reader noted in an earlier post, there are ways, most at a steep discount, to travel to Thailand...but the delights of a state facility lack a certain appeal, which is Thailand’s objective. 

[vinapu]

7 hours ago, ggobkk said:

...but the delights of a state facility lack a certain appeal,

I'm sure you wnated to say ' lack ANY appeal"

[anddy]

15 hours ago, ggobkk said:

but the delights of a state facility lack a certain appeal,

don't take "state facility" at face value, those don't need to be bad at all. In Bangkok they tend to be Hotels repurposed as government quarantine facilities. I have seen Rattanakosin Hotel  and Elegance Hotel mentioned as such, Ambassador supposedly too. 

[Archchan]

Just read today South Korea has had a significant outbreak traced back to their bar and nightclub areas. They are trying to contain it now. China remains a high priority for Thailand because so much of the tourism income is now generated from the Chinese. The hotel operators are strongly lobbying for China to be allowed in as soon as possible. They are saying they will rely on China to screen those travelling. I will guess the Chinese will be arriving in June or July at the latest. 

[vinapu]

1 hour ago, Archchan said:

I will guess the Chinese will be arriving in June or July at the latest. 

of what year?

[Boy69]

I don't think Chinese will be arriving in June or July to Thailand or any other Nationalities even if Thailand will open the borders and the airports it will take long time to the international tourism industry to recover and I guess it won't be before the end of the year .My concern is how can a city like Pattaya which rely on tourism can survive such a long crisis.

[stijntje]

It certainly will take some time before tourism will start again. However, Bangkok and Pattaya will recover.Keep in mind that all infrastructure, like hotels and roads, is still there. That's the big difference with a war.

[Londoner]

I am always amazed by the resilience of the Thai people. I remember seeing vendors standing in eighteen inches of dirty flood water selling fruit from their stalls near Tuc Com.  And the absence of other opportunities to make money to feed their families is likely to ensure   the same outcome  when the restrictions are lifted. I've been saying  all along that I hope to back in October but, frankly, I'm beginning to lose hope. The South Korea incident is particularly disturbing.

[vinapu]

3 hours ago, stijntje said:

It certainly will take some time before tourism will start again. However, Bangkok and Pattaya will recover.Keep in mind that all infrastructure, like hotels and roads, is still there. That's the big difference with a war.

rebound  may be faster than we think , of course on condition that scare will be cleared. Speaking with people I see that those who are used to vacationing and travelling are itching to go somewhere , just the same like I do

[spoon]

9 hours ago, Londoner said:

The South Korea incident is particularly disturbing.

I just googled this incident when it happened and only found out that it happened in nigthclub. But after reading your post, i googled again and it has blown up to a slew of homophobic reportings by korean media as this were tied to gay club and sauna in Itaewon and gangnam. Being a still conservative country on homosexuality, now korean faces difficulty to contain the virus as people are afraid to come forward as this will exposed their sexuality to family and company they work with and consequences of it just too much to bear that some claimed it can or has lead to suicide. Also written on the article i read that the gov failed to contact over 3000+ of the club goer, which were given to them by the clubs.

Its disturbing but the truth is when we isolate or condemning a part of a group, regardless of reason (sexuality, illegal immigrants, cult/religion) to the point that they had to pretend or go to hiding in fear of exposure, at time of crisis, itll come back at bite us. In several countries now, foreign workers turns out to be one of the center point of virus outbreak, mostly in much later stages as a second or third waves because we initially ignored them, favoring tests to our own citizen first. Now when it is found that many of them tested positive, and were living in dorms or small apartments with 15-20 pax in a place, it becomes very hard to trace the close contact in this situation. And of course the illegal ones will try their best to avoid the authority and run or hide, further make it more difficult to contain it. Korean media in the incident above plays huge role as some even releasing names and companies where the positive patient work at in the media, further fueling rage amongst the citizen and increase fear of getting tested by the club goers and this vicious cycle will only spells trouble. My own country is guilty of this too, and if this happened here, i cant say similar thing will not happened here which is sad. Lets hope the gov there will step in and do the right thing.

[spoon]

Just In: 0 New Covid-19 cases in Thailand today (May 16)

Thailand's Royal Gazette has announced that China, South Korea, Hong Kong and Macao will removed from its list of "dangerous disease zones" from Saturday (May 16)

Shopping centres, malls and restaurants inside the buildings will be allowed to resume business nationwide from Sunday (May 17)

The countries remaining on the list are: Spain, France, Germany, Switzerland, the UK, Japan, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Italy, Iran and the United States.

Travellers to Thailand from countries defined as “dangerous disease zones” will have to report daily to the authorities for 14 days after their arrival. They must also agree to install and use a mobile monitoring application.

Source: unfortunately, Bangkok Foodie lol

Glad that non of the southeast asia countries are listed though if it were up to me, id still include indonesia and philliphines at least

Anyway, found the Bangkok post article.

[DivineMadman]

FYI - CAAT has extended the ban on international flights to end of June.

 

[vinapu]

8 minutes ago, DivineMadman said:

FYI - CAAT has extended the ban on international flights to end of June.

 

so you are saying I can run my ticket through the shredder ?

[reader]

From The Nation

Department explains reasons for removing some countries from high-risk list

The Department of Disease Control has explained the reasons for removing China, South Korea as well as Hong Kong and Macau from the list of countries with high risk of Covid-19 infection.

The announcement, signed by Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, has been published in the Royal Gazette on Friday (May 15) and will go into effect as of May 16.

“The criteria that we use to consider lifting the status ‘high risk of infection’ are: The territory must have less than 20 internal cases in the past 14 days, and that it must have medical and public health readiness to effectively handle the outbreak,” said Dr Walairat Chaifoo, the department’s head of epidemiology, on Friday (May 15).

Walairat added that China has reported less than 12 new patients per day since April 23, except on April 29 when there were 21 new cases from overseas and one local case.

South Korea has reported less than 14 new cases per day since April 20. However, the Itaewon cluster cases that recently emerged have raised the country’s new patients to 20-30 persons per day as a result of aggressive testing.

Macau has reported no new cases since April 9, while Hong Kong has reported less than 5 new cases since April 12.

“As for Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia and Indonesia, which had been previously announced as at high risk for infection, they will continue to remain under this status although some fit the criteria of having no to fewer new cases reported,” Walairat added. “This is because these countries have connecting borders with Thailand, some of which are still active, which pose a high risk of Covid-19 spreading.”

[spoon]

Lol inconsistency is the word of the day. Regardless, none of which matters and they extended their border closure another month. So they just decided to decide on things that doesnt matter. What else is new?