Thailand reports record breaking 500 new covid 19 vases

[spoon]

Source

BANGKOK — Health officials said 548 new coronavirus infections were found in connection with the outbreak at Thailand’s largest wholesale seafood market.

All of the new infections – an unprecedented number – were linked to a 67-year-old seafood vendor who tested positive for the coronavirus earlier, Opas Karnkawinpong, Director-General of the Department of Medical Sciences said in a news conference broadcast to all TV channels on Saturday night.

About 90 percent of the patients did not display any symptoms, Opas said. He said up to 1,192 people working at the fish market were tested for the coronavirus after the vendor’s infection was discovered. A majority of the new cases are migrant workers, according to Opas.

“We are confident that this situation will be brought under control, since the outbreak is limited in its areas,” he said. “Even though we tend to find more cases among the residence quarters of foreign workers, an escalation in the outbreak remains low.”

People who have traveled to Samut Sakhon since Dec. 1 are also advised to isolate themselves and monitor for any symptoms.

Today’s case number is the largest figure ever recorded since Thailand first witnessed a coronavirus infection back in January. The previous highest daily count of cases was back in March, at 188. The discovery also shattered Thailand’s unique feat of having near-zero local transmissions since the epidemic subsided in May.

Samut Sakhon Governor Veerasak Vichitsaengsri said a number of venues will be closed down across the province in a bid to curb the spread of the virus, including shopping centers, schools, nurseries, gyms, and sport stadiums.

“The situation is certainly more severe than many of us had thought,” Veerasak said at the news conference.

Convenience stores will be shut down from 10pm to 5am, and restaurants will not be allowed to offer dine-in services, except in hospitals and hotels. Samut Sakhon residents are also “requested” to refrain from traveling from 10pm to 5am, though Veerasak did not outright declare a curfew.

He added that voting in local elections for Samu Sakhon will still go ahead as planned on Sunday , but facemasks must be worn at all times at the polling stations.

“We understand that the measures will cause great inconvenience to the people of Samut Sakhon,” Veerasak said. “But they are necessary to ensure we can all overcome this together.”

“Alien nationals,” a term that typically refers to migrant workers, will also be banned from entering or leaving Samut Sakhon, he said.

The sprawling wholesale market at the epicenter of the latest outbreak is home to a large community of migrant workers, most of them from Myanmar. Health minister Anutin Charnvirakul said earlier this week the migrant workers might have been responsible for transmitting the virus to the 67-year-old vendor, though without providing specific evidence.

Thailand currently has about 4,300 total number of coronavirus infections, most of them having already recovered. Officials said 60 people have died because of the virus.

[reader]

The virus spread among migrant workers in Thailand mirrors what occurred early in the outbreak in Singapore. As is the case in Singapore, migrant workers are doing the work that locals find unappealing. It took a Singapore a while to figure out that testing alone and isolation wasn't alone adequate to stemming the dilemma. They eventually acknowledged that it had to change the living conditions in the crowded dormitories that enabled the virus to rapidly spread. Thai authorities will hopefully follow that course.

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From The Thai Enquirer

More cases discovered in migrant worker dormitories; officials say numbers will continue to rise

Thailand’s government said on Sunday that it had discovered 689 confirmed coronavirus cases related to an outbreak in Samut Sakhon.

32 cases stemmed from contact with a 67-year-old Thai woman who worked at the Central Shrimp Market (Talad Klang Kung) in the province. 

Kiattiphum Wongrajit, the permanent secretary at the health ministry, said the source of her infection was believed to be a migrant worker from Myanmar. 

This led to the Ministry of Public Health’s preemptive testing process that was conducted on migrant workers employed in the fisheries industry in Samut Sakhon. 

The tests confirmed another 657 cases out of 1,445 people sampled. 

“This is only the results from the initial investigation, there will be a lot more cases to be reported in the next stage,” Kiattiphum said. 

“From the outlook, there is now another round of widespread coronavirus infections in Thailand,” he added. 

Apart from the cases in Samut Sakhon, three confirmed cases were also found in Samut Prakan, two in Bangkok, two in Nakhon Pathom, one in Suphan Buri, and one in Ratchaburi so far. 

Prior to the health ministry announcement, the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) said the country had discovered 576 cases of coronavirus, the most ever recorded in a single day.

Of that, 516 cases are migrant workers employed in the fisheries industry in Samut Sakhon.

The government also said it had discovered 41 cases of coronavirus in state and alternate state quarantine in the last 24 hours.

[spoon]

Looking at positive rate vs total tests, its at a staggering 40-50%, hence the actual cases should be much higher. For thailand to continue to contain the virus now, and continue to open their border, they definitely need to increase their testing ability.

[TotallyOz]

Samut Sakhon is now closed and I have heard rumors of other places being closed. I was in Pattaya the last few days but headed back to Bangkok before I get shut out and down.

[Guest]

The cases of covid in quarantine should not be a problem.   They have had a constant flow of these for the past few weeks and the quarantine seems to be containing the problem.    Most failures are at the test 5 days into the quarantine period, with a small number at the 12 day test.   Either way, there is quarantine to prevent the spread.

Sometime in the last few days they have changed the quarantine test regime, so there is a third test.   I'm not sure when that was implemented, but there might be a temporary blip if they have both day 5 tests under the old regime and day 0/1 tests under the new regime.   

None of this care taken with tourists matters very much, if there are migrant workers coming in from Myanmar with covid. 

Now Myanmar is a nice country to visit, but I think the country has the most f*cked up government in the Asean region, at least out of the countries I've visited.   They make the regime in Phnom Penh look good.   So there is probably a significant economic incentive to go and work in Thailand.

 

[PeterRS]

After we have spent months congratulating the government on the way it has contained covid19, its failure over the big new cluster is extreme gross negligence. The fishing industry uses a lot of non Thais offshore who are provided by agents. That one or more of these would pass the infection to Thai fishermen and from there to a fish market was something that was absolutely bound to happen. Why did Thailand not look far more closely at the fishing industry and its practices?

The country just had to look what happened on a much larger scale with migrant workers in Singapore. But now we have to question - was it in fact a larger scale? Since the virus has spread again to Bangkok and other parts of the country, how many in fact are now infected? With this debacle coming just as it looked as though tourism might slowly reopen, the government has shot itself in the foot big time.

[vinapu]

10 hours ago, z909 said:

...  So there is probably a significant economic incentive to go and work in Thailand.

 

both sides are happy, Myanmarese have employment and Thai business employees in jobs locals don't want to take . As a " bonus " Thais have somebody to look down on too

Nothing unique as pattern is repeated world over

[vinapu]

2 hours ago, PeterRS said:

 Why did Thailand not look far more closely at the fishing industry and its practices?

 

because if they did  and act upon what they saw, industry would collapse. Thousands are toiling on vessels in virtual slavery and Thailand was criticized for overlooking  that many times already

[PeterRS]

2 hours ago, vinapu said:

because if they did  and act upon what they saw, industry would collapse. Thousands are toiling on vessels in virtual slavery and Thailand was criticized for overlooking  that many times already

Far point. But given the fact that the government has put Thai citizens through many hardships due to the pandemic and knowing full well the danger of migration workers who do not live in the country, why was regular testing not made mandatory for the fishing industry. That would have been simple, relatively inexpensive and would have avoided such a large outbreak. 

[Guest]

Exactly.

Incoming tourists need a covid test before getting on the plane, followed by quarantine of 15 nights, which now includes a further 3 covid tests.     Then once they have got over this hurdle, I imagine the daily spend is equivalent to at least 15 times the Thai minimum wage. 

 

Meanwhile, what controls are in place for the immigrant workers from Myanmar ?   Who presumably make a much smaller contribution to GDP ?     The Thai government appears to have screwed up here.  

This website shows people queuing for tests with no attempt at spacing the people out properly:    https://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/crimecourtscalamity/2020/12/21/thousands-in-samut-sakhon-line-up-for-tests-amid-virus-surge/

 

This looks like a serious error in making little effort to control migrants, currently being followed up by some half baked attempts so control matters in the province and then I guess they will come down like a sledgehammer on this province & probably surrounding ones to control the problem.

 

[reader]

From Thai Enquirer

OPINION: By Cod Satrusayang

Do not blame undocumented workers for the outbreak, blame years of bad policy

The government said this weekend that the public should not blame the migrant worker community for the latest coronavirus outbreak.

The latest government report says that the new outbreak cluster is centered around migrant worker dormitories in Samut Sakhon with 90 per cent of the new cases found in workers from Myanmar that are employed in the province’s fishing community.

NGOs and labour groups estimate that there are some 200,000-400,000 migrant workers working in Samut Sakhon. Many of them are unregistered.

The government, for its part, has insisted that migrant workers form an important part of Thailand’s economy and that it would do its best to take care of those infected and not abuse their human rights – as if any other option would be acceptable.

But if the outbreak cluster does become significant and cases do spiral out of control, the government will have no one to blame but itself and the result would be karmic retribution for its lax action on registering migrant workers and providing a legal path to employment.

Fingers, in that case, should be pointed not just at the Prayut Chan-ocha government but every previous government that came before.

Warnings over the abuses and irregularities within Thailand’s fishing industry have reared its head before. Media reports in Reuters, the Guardian and the Associated Press just half a decade ago showed that slavery and trafficking was a regular part of Samut Sakhon’s fishing industry.

The government vowed then, and continues to promise now, that it would do its utmost to crackdown on human trafficking and to properly register migrants working in the province.

Fast forward to 2020 and it seems that the efforts to do so have been haphazard at best. As Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has said, the new cluster likely comes from migrant workers illegally crossing over to work in the fishing industry.

But didn’t the government promise that such a scenario would be a thing of the past? Didn’t the government say that it would register all migrant workers? Didn’t the government say that it would prosecute factory and ship owners who employed unregistered workers? Didn’t the government promise to secure the borders?

It has failed in all its promises and in doing so has failed the great public.

[Guest]

2 hours ago, reader said:

The government said this weekend that the public should not blame the migrant worker community for the latest coronavirus outbreak.

The latest government report says that the new outbreak cluster is centered around migrant worker dormitories in Samut Sakhon with 90 per cent of the new cases found in workers from Myanmar that are employed in the province’s fishing community.

NGOs and labour groups estimate that there are some 200,000-400,000 migrant workers working in Samut Sakhon. Many of them are unregistered.

Quite correct too.   With low wages back home, it's to be expected that some people from Myanmar will cross into Thailand to work.

Responsibility lies with the Thai government, as they failed to ensure entrants from Myanmar are not following the same kind of quarantine as other visitors. 

Whilst borders might be porous, would it not make sense to send the police and army* around to check documentation & ensure all people in these migrant worker dormitories are compliant ?

 

[vinapu]

54 minutes ago, z909 said:

would it not make sense to send the police and army* around to check documentation & ensure all people in these migrant worker dormitories are compliant ?

 

few years ago on one of my day there Ii noticed that all soi Twilight bars are all of the sudden  much emptier of personnel than night before. One of our members sitting in Maxi's enlightened me that apparently they received tip of incoming police raid.

Unprocessed fish spoils much faster than half -empty bar

[spoon]

There is a reason why stuff are cheap in thailand, and in many of the developing countries, the labor cost are cheap. To implement all of the above suggestions, would mean the industry will have to absorb more costs, that will surely made it to the consumer. 

[Guest]

Whilst some stuff is cheap in Thailand, other products cost considerably more than in the west.  As far as I can tell, there seems to be a lack of competition in certain areas.

As for industry, a couple of centuries of experience show us that it's possible to constantly increase standards for environmental and safety factors, whilst still having earnings increasing faster than the cost of goods.  Therefore leading to increased living standards.  As long as sufficient competition is in place.  I don't know much about shrimp production, but am fairly sure it would simply have more automation if labour became a problem.

Thailand should not see cost as a barrier to properly controlling the flow & health of migrant workers.   It should also not be a barrier to fixing other issues, like air pollution or road safety.

Also, Thailand hasn't worried about the cost when shutting out tourists.   I'm not sure what the average tourist daily spend is in Thailand, but it's likely to be in excess of the daily wage of 10 migrant workers.   Yet they restrict only the higher value contribution to the economy.

 

[vinapu]

12 minutes ago, z909 said:

  I'm not sure what the average tourist daily spend is in Thailand, but it's likely to be in excess of the daily wage of 10 migrant workers.   

 

..in the evening only  and there's still day

[reader]

From The Nation

Bangkok orders strict implementation of Covid-19 measures in public places

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) on Monday ordered strict implementation of measures at four public spaces – markets, parks, religious places and entertainment venues – in the capital.

The order requires operators of each place to provide health measures to staff and visitors, such as space for social distancing, temperature checking and hand sanitising gel.

Visitors and staff are also ordered to wear face masks, and the places must be cleaned regularly.

Besides, the operators must collect visitors’ information for tracking, and run a queue system, particularly at parks and entertainment venues.

Under the announcement, entertainment venues – pubs, bars and karaokes – face the greatest challenge to strictly implement the measures.

In addition to the "new normal" measures, operators of entertainment venues are required to limit their customer numbers, with at least four cubic metres for one person. Group customers should be limited to a maximum of five persons.

The order requires operators of each place to provide health measures to staff and visitors, such as space for social distancing, temperature checking and hand sanitising gel.

Visitors and staff are also ordered to wear face masks, and the places must be cleaned regularly.

Besides, the operators must collect visitors’ information for tracking, and run a queue system, particularly at parks and entertainment venues.

Singers or other staff are prohibited from being close to customers. Nevertheless, the singers and dancers are allowed to dance on stage. The BMA also has banned entertainment venues from running promotions of products they sell. Serving of drinks in mugs or other sharing containers are prohibited, while customers are not allowed to bring their drinks into the venues.

The BMA has urged the operators to install CCTV cameras at their venues, and ordered them to save the footage for at least one month before deletion.

==============================================================

From The Thaiger

Thai PM says lockdown could become unavoidable

hai PM Prayut Chan-o-cha is warning that another lockdown could prove unavoidable, should Covid-19 figures escalate out of control. Today, 427 new Covid-19 cases were reported by the Centre Covid-19 Situation Administration, 397 of which are migrant workers. Yesterday, the CCSA reported 382 new cases, 360 of which are in migrant workers.

Spokesperson Dr. Taweesilp Visanuyothin says 14 local cases have been confirmed, with the virus having spread beyond the central province of Samut Sakhon. 1 case was confirmed in Ayutthaya, 2 in Nakhon Pathom, 3 in Samut Prakan, 5 in Samut Sakhon, 2 in Bangkok and 1 in the northern province of Tak. All 14 cases can be traced back to the Samut Sakhon fish market where the latest outbreak began.

Health authorities are ramping up the screening of migrant workers in that province and beyond, with the PM calling for everyone to cooperate to contain the spread and avoid another lockdown. He says the situation should become clearer within 7 days, at which point decisions can be made about New Year’s Eve countdown events and the celebration of Children’s Day on January 9. According to the PM, the Public Health Ministry says the situation is still under control.

[anddy]

Even without explicit orders, some establishments are already taking measures:

• Siam Square shut
• the big (well, not as big as before for obvious reasons, reduced from Central World to W-Hotel) gay NYE party WHITE PARTY was cancelled
• my Condo closes gym and pool from tomorrow (gym understandable, pool (again) makes no sense to me at all, as it's outdoors and social distancing is automatic coz very few people ever use it at all)

Pretty sure this will only get more. Public countdown events already cancelled a few days ago.

[spoon]

Its like a dejavu. Malaysia's third wave, which is still going on strong now with 1-2k cases daily, started from illegal immigrants in the borneo state of Sabah. The first few weeks of infections were contained mostly in detention center for the illegal immigrants caught entering the country illegally, mainly from indonesia and philippines. Contact tracing was done but it was difficult to do contact tracing of immigrants as anyone could imagine, since telling the authority means getting caught.

The peak of the spread was the local state election there, where plenty of people going to the state from all over malaysia, both politicians and locals who worked in the capital. Not long after, new cases were found almost in every other states and not surprisingly, gov started to impose lockdown. However, this time around, our gov decided that we cant afford a full lockdown, so most businesses are still allowed to be open.

Needless to say, nowadays, majority of new cases are at workplace. Few weeks ago, mass testing of foreign workers who lives in dormitories are done by stages. The current measures, wont bring the number of cases to zero again but definitely reduce the infection rate as our daily cases has been kept at a constant rate instead of going up uncontrollably.

I hope Thailand will be able to contain this new outbreak. Mass testing is really crucial to avoid a full lockdown. 

[reader]

From Bangkok Post

Covid-zone workers dumped in Samut Prakan

Officials meet the Myanmar workers from Samut Sakhon province after they were dumped in Bang Phli district of Samut Prakan late on Tuesday night. (Photo: Sutthiwit Chayutworakan)

SAMUT PRAKAN: Fourteen Myanmar workers at a factory in Covid-19-plagued Samut Sakhon province were rushed off the premises and abandoned in neighbouring Samut Prakarn's Bang Phli district on Tuesday night.

Police at Bang Kaew station were informed of their presence about 11pm. They were left with their bags on Soi Green Lake, at the entrance to Green Lake housing estate off Bang Na-Trat Road in tambon Racha Thewa.

They told police they had worked at the STI Precision Co plastic-moulding plant in Muang district, Samut Sakhon, for about a month. Personnel staff at the company told them  on Tuesday evening that police were to inspect the plant and they had to leave the premises.

They said 23 workers were to be transported from their workplace to Rayong province.

The dumped employees told police that some workers were dropped off from their vehicle on the way. The remaining 14 were taken to Rayong, where they were to be left in a forest.

They refused to stay there. The driver asked if any of them had a relative or friend who could accommodate them.

They said some relatives and friends worked and lived at a factory on Soi Green Lake in Bang Phli.

However, the factory owner rejected them for fear of breaking the law, and their having come from Samut Sakhon, the epicentre of the latest Covid-19 outbreak. So their driver dumped them at the entrance of the Green Lake housing estate.

The workers told police they had not been tested for Covid-19 and were desperately in need of help.

Local health officials took sample swabs and quarantined them. Police were contacting their employer.

 

[Guest]

3 hours ago, reader said:

However, the factory owner rejected them for fear of breaking the law, and their having come from Samut Sakhon, the epicentre of the latest Covid-19 outbreak. So their driver dumped them at the entrance of the Green Lake housing estate.

The workers told police they had not been tested for Covid-19 and were desperately in need of help.

Local health officials took sample swabs and quarantined them. Police were contacting their employer.

 

I'd like to think that employing illegal immigrants is against the law.   It's not difficult to require employers to check employees passports for evidence that they are legally in the country, with the right to work.  

So if the factory owner has broken the law, put him and his factory manager in jail for a period.   Do the same with anyone else who is caught, then there is a suitable deterrent in place.  

Of course, with double standards, I have no concern at all about illegal immigrants from countries with alleged low infection rates coming to work in gogo bars.

 

[reader]

Their employers treat migrants employees as chattel. They are only useful because their labor comes cheap.

Hopefully what goes around will come around.

[reader]

From Thai Enquirer

Migrant workers are not just a dispensable economic cog but living, breathing humans

Opinion By Juwee Vorawandthanachai

 

In both private and public spheres, the blame has often been placed on the migrant workers trying to survive, without the considering the system that ignores the humanity of these vulnerable communities.

According to the United Nations International Organization of Migration (IOM), there are approximately 4-5 million migrant workers in Thailand. These workers mostly take up lower-income jobs in various industries like fisheries, construction, and domestic work and are integral to the Thai economy as they keep these industries afloat. In turn, their remittances back home substantially contribute to their family’s income.

Although Thailand relies on the labor of these migrant workers to keep our country running, it constantly ignores their existence while also denying them rights to labor protection, safety, and health.

Subsequently, Thailand’s COVID response did not to take into account the migrant workers at all.

As the government eased up border restrictions, it mandated a 14-day quarantine for all foreigners and required that they pay for the quarantine out of pocket. While requiring a quarantine is crucial to deter the community spread of COVID, by requiring that foreigners pay for their own quarantine accommodations, the government indirectly prioritized wealthier foreigners over the migrant workers.

This basically left the migrant workers who were in their home countries without a source of income for themselves and their families. As a result, the migrant workers were compelled, out of desperation, to take drastic measures of risking their lives to cross the border and forego the quarantine that they could not afford.

After reaching Thailand, the accommodations that the employers provided for these workers are often in small, cramped rooms. As a result, these migrant workers were forced into closed quarters with each other, without the opportunity to quarantine or socially distance from each other. Due to the low wages that their employers provide, the workers did not have the luxury of looking for other accommodations. This forced the workers to put themselves on the line to keep our industries running.

While Thailand’s universal healthcare scheme is hailed as one of our reasons for success in testing and tracing COVID, this scheme does not include foreigners, including migrant workers. With lower-income jobs, these migrant workers could not afford to get tested for COVID. This, combined with the close quarters, allowed for the rapid spread of this disease.

Even though the Thai government has now temporarily made COVID testing free and required for migrant workers, it is also further restricting this community’s human rights by locking them in confined spaces and ‘letting the disease run its course.’

It seems as though Thailand views the migrant workers’ labor as essential but deems their lives as dispensable.

As the pandemic plays out, the government needs to work to protect the health and wellbeing of every single person living in Thailand, regardless of their wealth or citizenship.

So, for now, let’s stop blaming the honest, hardworking people trying to survive in a system that works against them, and instead, let’s hold the people who created this unjust, oppressive system accountable.

 

[Guest]

The double standards are remarkable.     

Tourists have to pay up for quarantine & pay up for insurance which covers being sent to hospital for failing a covid test, even with NO SYMPTOMS.   Except for the few hundred who go through the quarantine process per day, the foreign tourist sector is shut down.  Presumably with serious effects on businesses and workers in that sector.

Yes in the same country, they have uncontrolled migrant workers who are not even entitled to testing ?       Whilst any fool can see the borders are porous.   As an example, I took the photo below from the bridge in Mae Sot. On the right is Myanmar, on the left is Thailand.   I'm stood on the bridge, crossing the border legally, back in the days when that was possible.   In plain sight of this, there are boats crossing the river& bypassing the border formalities.  

I blame the Thai government 100% for this.    With the Kleptocracy at home, it's obvious workers from Myanmar will try to work abroad.  The Thai government should put controls in place.     They have the resources to do so. 

 

[reader]

What the government is reluctant to acknowledge is that the economy can not survive without massive supplies of migrant labor, chiefly from Myanmar. The following article from Dec. 20 illustrates the scale of the need. The elites who are the employers and beneficiaries of this influx remain untouchable and unaccountable

From Bangkok Post

100,000 migrants waiting to re-enter

CHIANG RAI: About 100,000 migrant workers from Myanmar are waiting to return to Thailand as the government is urged to allow them in but regulate their arrival.

The news came on Saturday during a seminar to mark International Migrants Day, which falls on Dec 18 each year. The event was hosted by Mae Fa Luang University's School of Social Innovation in Chiang Rai. Suebsakun Kidnukorn, an academic with the university's area-based social innovation research centre, said there are about 24,000 registered migrant workers in Chiang Rai, excluding children, the elderly and undocumented workers.

Mr Suebsakun said migrant workers have played an important part in developing Chiang Rai's economy, adding many are now having a hard time crossing the border due to Covid-19 restrictions. As a result, many workers are left stranded along the border, he said, adding the civil sector has stepped in to help stranded Myanmar and Thai migrant workers on both sides.

Adisorn Koetmongkol, coordinator of the Migrant Working Group, said the government has not yet allowed migrant workers who had travelled home to return to Thailand. This prompted many migrant workers, particularly from Myanmar, to try entering the kingdom by sneaking across the border, Mr Adisorn said. The pandemic situation in Myanmar has remained severe, and many workers have not been able to find a job, he said.

Even though the military has stepped up border surveillance to prevent illegal entry via natural passages, the situation is still worrying, Mr Adisorn noted.

Instead of seeing them sneak back across the border, the government should allow them to come but regulate their arrival, adding about 100,000 migrant workers from Myanmar are waiting to return to Thailand. Their flow could be controlled with so many allowed in at a time, and subject to Covid testing and treatment facilities, observers say. Most of them worked here before going back home to escape the pandemic in Thailand, Mr Adisorn said.