Thailand

After a year and a half, a new US ambassador to Thailand has finally landed. Ambassador Michael G DeSombre, who took up his post earlier this month said taking sides in Thai politics is not the way to go and he will rather focus on promoting businesses, with energy and digital ventures, infrastructure and manufacturing projects also on his radar. …

The World Health Organization called the new coronavirus outbreak a pandemic on Wednesday, issuing a grim warning that the global spread and severity of the illness was due to “alarming levels of inaction”. The number of cases across the globe has risen to more than 124,000 with 4,500 deaths, including a jump in fatalities particularly in Iran and Italy, according …

People arriving from China, Iran, Italy, South Korea must disclose their self-quarantine locations, or face a 20,000-baht fine and later one-year jail for repeated failure to comply, according to the Public Health Ministry. Dr Suthep Petchmark, health inspector-general, announced the new measure at Suvarnabhumi airport on Wednesday. He said arrivals from the four countries must be screened at airports and …

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 …