Thailand

Two more popular Songkarn parties have been called off as the coronavirus epidemic continues to spoil the Thai New Year celebration for locals and tourists alike. Chiang Mai Municipality on Wednesday announced the cancellation of all major activities for the Thai New Year in the northern city. The southern tourist city of Hat Yai has already called off festivities. Songkran …

Olympic organisers have relentlessly pushed a consistent message: The Summer Games in Tokyo will not be cancelled or postponed. As recently as Thursday, Olympic Minister Seiko Hashimoto said “cancellation or delay of the Games would be unacceptable for the athletes.” But behind the scenes, sponsors who have pumped billions of dollars into the Games have grown increasingly nervous about how …

The Department of Disease Control (DDC) plans to impose compulsory measures for all inbound arrivals, including notifying personal information and contact information such as mobile phone numbers and email addresses as part of steps to control the Covid-19 outbreak. The measure will commence on Thursday and all personal information for inbound tourists will be kept in the system for 14 …

The cabinet has given the green light to a stimulus package expected to inject 400 billion baht into the economy to reduce the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic. The package was proposed at a meeting of economic ministers. The controversial 2,000-baht cash handouts to selected groups of people, which sparked intense public criticism after being proposed by the economic ministers …

Grab Thailand Co has closed its Bangkok office until Friday for disinfection after a Singapore-based employee who worked in the office last week tested positive for coronavirus disease. An employee of Grab Holdings Inc in Singapore visited the Bangkok office on the 19th floor of the UBC 2 building, working there on Thursday and Friday last week, according to the …

Singapore has started charging visitors for coronavirus treatment, the city-state said as it reported three new imported infections, two of which involved Indonesians. Indonesia, the world’s fourth-most populous country, reported its first virus case earlier this month and officially has just 19 infections compared to 160 in Singapore. Disease experts have questioned how many cases go undiagnosed in Indonesia. Both …

Infections climbed across Europe and Italy attempted a nationwide lockdown, but the situation in Asia showed improvements. China announced only 19 new cases, the lowest since Jan 18 according to official figures, while South Korea added 131 new infections, extending a declining trend. Chinese President Xi Jinping visited the coronavirus epicentre of Wuhan for the first time since the disease …

The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) is requiring travellers from Covid-19 infected countries and territories to produce medical certificates prior to boarding their flights to Thailand to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. Transport Minister Saksayam Chidchob said on Monday the CAAT has issued an official announcement, saying travellers from South Korea, China, Italy, Iran, Macau and Hong …

The government has come under fire after Deputy Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Thamanat Prompow admitted on Monday that his assistant had met a man who was said to be hoarding face masks, but he denied they discussed the mask trade. Capt Thamanat was responding to a report on Facebook alleging that his close aide had a hoard of 200 million …

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has shelved a plan to hand out more money to low income earners in a bid to prop up a sagging economy now reeling under the added impact of the coronavirus epidemic. Gen Prayut said on Monday the proposed 2,000 baht handout will not go into the cabinet on Tuesday, but other measures were on course …