Thread: Thailand Weighs Partial Lockdown After 10-Fold Covid Surge

Thailand’s top Covid panel is set to consider a partial lockdown of the nation’s worst virus-hit regions, including the Bangkok metropolitan area, to quell the deadliest wave of infections.

The national task force will meet on Friday to decide on Health Ministry’s proposals for stay-at-home orders and a ban on travel between provinces for two weeks, Permanent Secretary of Public Health Kiattiphum Wongrajit told reporters on Thursday. While essential businesses and services such as food markets and hospitals may be allowed to operate, people will be barred from traveling for non-essential activities, he said.

The proposed curbs are similar to a national lockdown last year when all the non-essential businesses were closed and a ban on social gatherings and local travel was in force for about a month, according to Kiattiphum. The partial lockdown may cover the greater Bangkok area -- home to more than 10 million people and contributing about 45% to the nation’s gross domestic product -- and some provinces with high Covid cases, he said.

The push for tighter containment measures follows a 10-fold surge in infections since early April that threatened to derail Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha’s pledge to fully reopen the country in about 100 days. Health experts had called for strict containment measures, saying the more contagious delta variant would cause a spike in infections and deaths amid a low rate of vaccinations.

Thailand, the first country outside China to report a Covid infection, has struggled to stem the pandemic after its initial success to combat the virus last year, when it imposed a hard lockdown. But that crippled its all-important tourism industry and plunged the economy into its worst performance in more than two decades. Prayuth, who had previously been reluctant to impose a lockdown to avoid further damage to jobs and industries, said on Thursday there’s a need for disease control measures that may affect daily lives.

“If we do nothing, the situation may get worse,” Prayuth said in a post on Facebook. “We may need to impose more stringent measures to limit mobility, prevent group activities, and close more businesses and activities.”

With the delta variant, first detected in India, now sweeping through the region, there’s growing pressure on leaders like Prayuth and Indonesian President Joko Widodo to impose tighter measures. Any further dithering may lead to the crisis worsening in Thailand, according to Anan Jongkaewwattana, an expert in molecular virology and director of the research unit at the National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology.

“A strict lockdown is the only way out,” Bangkok-based Anan said before the health ministry proposed tighter curbs. “It might hurt the economy now, but things will be better in the long run once we can contain the spread.”

Prayuth set a 120-day deadline last month to fully open Thailand to vaccinated foreign visitors, which he said was a calculated risk to reduce “the enormous suffering of people who have lost their ability to earn an income.” He wants the tourism industry, which contributed about 20% to GDP pre-pandemic, to hum again.

That has meant allowing many businesses to operate normally in Bangkok and nearby provinces even though they are the hotspots of the current Covid wave. Although Prayuth has ordered restrictions for restaurants and construction work, the outbreak has raged on with daily cases averaging more than 5,000 in the past week. On Thursday, the nation added 7,058 new cases and 75 deaths, a new daily record.

“If this situation continues, the Thai outbreak will be worse than Indonesia’s on a per-capita basis, with as many as 20,000 cases per day in the next few months,” Anan said. “Infections aren’t just limited to construction camps and crowded communities -- it’s more widespread than that so current restrictions aren’t enough.”

A slow vaccination drive, that relies mostly on shots from AstraZeneca Plc and China’s Sinovac Biotech Ltd., has hampered efforts to contain the virus spread. Thailand has administered about 11.3 million shots, enough to cover about 8% of its population, ranking the country behind more than 120 other nations in vaccination rate.

The worsening outbreak has also hurt investor confidence with the nation’s equities and currency both bearing the brunt. The baht fell to a fresh 14-month low against the dollar on Thursday, while the SET index of stocks tumbled 2.1% to close at its lowest level since April 12. The gauge has dropped 5.5% from a 19-month high reached in mid-June after foreign investors turned net sellers of $1.48 billion of stocks in the second quarter.

Koraphat Vorachet, a strategist at Bangkok-based Capital Nomura Securities Pcl, is advising clients to be selective in their investments given uncertainties stemming from the pandemic. The Phuket model of reopening needs to be watched closely as a major Covid outbreak in that resort island would lead to a suspension of activities and delay any recovery, he said.

Thai companies are also wary of a hurried reopening without fully controlling the outbreak. A majority of the chief executives surveyed by the Federation of Thai Industries want the government to reopen the country only when new infections are down significantly.

Thailand’s economic recovery will be hampered given the slow vaccine rollout, ineffectiveness of some jabs against the delta variant and its quick spread, according to Somprawin Manprasert, chief economist at Bangkok-based Bank of Ayudhya Pcl’s research unit. Fiscal and monetary policies must be direct and targeted at those most affected by the pandemic, he said.

“Evidence suggests that the infections are already widespread, and current restrictions won’t help contain the outbreak,” Anan said. “If we don’t tighten restrictions, the infection rate will rise exponentially.”

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...surge-in-covid

The things I shipped from the US is in Bangkok, I wonder if it will be allowed to be delivered to me in Khon Kaen.
I guess we have bigger things to worry about.

And the Phuket sandbox?

Originally Posted by Buckaroo Banzai

The things I shipped from the US is in Bangkok, I wonder if it will be allowed to be delivered to me in Khon Kaen.

Im positive it will be fine. Theres never been a 'lockdown' ever since the beginning and transport trucks have been running the whole time. Wouldnt be too concerned but it might take an extra day or 2 and/or cost a little more to ship due to needing a possible covid test or whatever.

Lockdowns and restricted movement is one thing, but if the population has become lackadaisical and indifferent from observing the measured protocols and practice, all the mandates transcend to be moot.

This back-n-forth wave of locking down and "easing up" and then clamping down again and so forth sends folks the wrong message - most certainly applies when the general vaccination programs aren't advancing as they should.

Remembering the current COVID adage: If the bug has no avenue to infect then it's not going to spread.
The obvious reasoning behind any surge/wave [worldwide] will be reflective of how people are practicing- or not - simple health protocol.

Originally Posted by HuangLao

Remembering the current COVID adage: If the bug has no avenue to infect then it's not going to spread.

I think it's more "The virus doesn't move on its own, people move the virus".

And as long as they don't clamp down on intra-country travel they are basically fucked.

No-one wants to go from Pattaya to Khon Kaen or Ubon Scratchitoffmi and stay inside for a fortnight.

They can't help themselves.

Some silly fucker (sounds like farang) who arrived in the Phuket Sandbox disabled phone location and went straight to the wife's house.

And they let the c u n t off with a warning.

Originally Posted by HuangLao

Lockdowns and restricted movement is one thing, but if the population has become lackadaisical and indifferent from observing the measured protocols and practice, all the mandates transcend to be moot.

Yeah, its obvious that the lockdown ship has sailed long ago. They had it by the balls when they first "locked down" back in March or April because most people were genuinely freaked out, but over a year on I think most people are completely over it.

After that first 'lockdown' was over and the local pandemic was almost dead (about 6 months later) it was all open again. Personally started working and traveling all over from then on and just about everywhere you go and everywhere you look now its about half of people wearing masks and fuck all social distancing. Markets still rocking, people crammed in trucks...

Too bad the government fell asleep at the wheel and didn't get any legit vaccinations in the country.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Some silly fucker (sounds like farang) who arrived in the Phuket Sandbox disabled phone location and went straight to the wife's house.

If you can go anywhere in phuket after your first test, why wouldnt you be able to go to your own home?

Originally Posted by Slick

If you can go anywhere in phuket after your first test, why wouldnt you be able to go to your own home?

He went from being checked at the airport home. No the deal is you get tested and get the results the next day. You go direct from airport to chosen hotel. Test clear after a night you are free to roam.

Originally Posted by aging one

He went from being checked at the airport home. No the deal is you get tested and get the results the next day. You go direct from airport to chosen hotel. Test clear after a night you are free to roam.

Didn't realize he skipped the first test and everything.

Checked at the airport meant the Covid test..

Originally Posted by aging one

Checked at the airport meant the Covid test..

Well whatever the hell he did skipping the rules then its all on him, but harrys post said fuck all about what procedure he broke, just that he went to the wifes house after disabling the app tracking, which made me look because thats how I plan to enter thailand - through the sandbox then go to our house. Thats what made me WTF when I read it.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Some silly fucker (sounds like farang) who arrived in the Phuket Sandbox disabled phone location and went straight to the wife's house.

Well I still have a chance of winning a bet the daily numbers will top 8000 before midnight Sunday. Don't know what I will spend my 100 baht on when I win...but I'll think of something Monday!

The rumor mill told me to expect an announcement at 1 tomorrow arvo. Best be getting your alcohol stocked up.

The general feeling here was that the last lockdown closed a lot of businesses, this next one is gonna finish them.

Originally Posted by Slick

Well whatever the hell he did skipping the rules then its all on him, but harrys post said fuck all about what procedure he broke

It did if you weren't an ignorant twat who doesn't know how the sandbox is supposed to work.

FFS it's been written about on here for weeks, including a report of the first victim of a negative test and the rest of his "tour group" who have had their holiday royally fucked as a result.

Originally Posted by Edmond

The general feeling here was that the last lockdown closed a lot of businesses, this next one is gonna finish them.

I was talking to a business owner in CM who said he budgeted to last this year in the worst case just making food and selling it for delivery, but if it goes past that he's done.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

It did if you weren't an ignorant twat who doesn't know how the sandbox is supposed to work.

the top covid officials will meet today,so as to give plenty of time for all them that live in BBK. time to fyk off to the outer provinces before the lockdown.
by that time another 9k.plus will become infected.

^ The top officials have been vaccinated, they are no longer as scared as they were last year. That's why delta entered the country in the first place...

Free vaccination program is the only way out of this for Thailand. Tourists will have plenty of places to go and they aren't going to lose days in quarantine at destination or on return.

The "government" have screwed up and the only good news is that it will knock the stuffing out of the Baht.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

And as long as they don't clamp down on intra-country travel they are basically fucked.

Mission impossible as long as folks need or want to travel from Bandkok or any other province to another. As we all know there are thousands of routes from one place to another. Not near enough police to have check points on all.

Just had a bunch of politicos from Bangkok here in the village to attend the funeral of the mother of a promenent politician. If these folks who are well aware of the travel restrictions blatantly ignore them then you can bet others will do same.

Originally Posted by Troy

Free vaccination program is the only way out of this

Until the next strain comes along and is current vaccine resistant.

looks like the lockdown is coming tomorrow for BKK.

Khaosod English
Gen. Prayut Chan-o-cha proposed a lockdown in Greater Bangkok starting Saturday, to last 14 days first. Leaving home only for necessary travel will be allowed, and people will be asked to not go out from 10pm to 4am. Travelling outside Greater Bangkok will be restricted. Shopping malls will be closed except for supermarkets and pharmacies. People will be asked to carry out 100% work from home. The matter will be decided later today.