Chiwit Thai

[Yamato]

After the prison infections another potentially explosive cluster is about to explode - City Workers

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2116631/city-worker-camp-to-lock-down

City worker camp to lock down
Almost 500 infected in Laksi 'cluster'
published : 17 May 2021 at 04:44

 

The government is set to lock down a large construction worker camp in Laksi district of Bangkok, identified as a new cluster of coronavirus infections in which up to 86% of residents have tested positive for Covid-19.

 

 

The move came as total Covid-19 infections in Thailand reached 101,447 yesterday, which took the country to 92nd place in the world for the number of Covid-19 cases, outpacing China which is 98th with 90,847 cases.

 

The Laksi cluster is regarded as a serious Covid-19 outbreak which prompted the Laksi district office and police to step in and order the camp's closure, said Apisamai Srirangson, deputy spokeswoman for the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA).

 

The camp is owned by Italian-Thai Development Plc. It was unclear last night how the lockdowns will affect the railways projects the workers are involved in, though they will still be able to travel to construction sites.

 

Authorities launched active case finding among 559 people at the camp yesterday and found that 482 or 86.2% were infected. Since April 1, a total of 27 such infection clusters have been identified in 17 districts of Bangkok, seven of which had been fully investigated while the other clusters are still being investigated, she said.

 

An investigation by the Disease Control Department (DCD) found the camp is crowded and the residents share several facilities such as bathing areas and eating spaces, which is where the transmissions are thought to have occurred.

 

The workers commuted from one camp to another both in Bangkok and the provinces. For example, some workers in a Laksi camp had previously travelled to Ayutthaya province. This is another factor contributing to the serious Covid-19 transmission situation, she said.

 

The CCSA is considering adopting a so-called "bubble and seal" approach to suspend any movements of these workers from their current location unless they obtain permission, she said.

 

The DCD will now begin sorting into groups infected workers with various Covid-19 symptoms and take them to treatment facilities, she said. During the lockdown, food and other necessities will be provided to camp residents by the DCD, she said.

 

The CCSA also has imposed a new set of Covid-19 control measures on these construction workers, in the hope of slowing down the outbreak.

 

All common areas of the camp must be cleaned up and sanitised regularly while camp residents are required to wear a face mask at all times except for when they sleep or eat, she said. The number of people using shared facilities as a group bathing area would also be limited.

 

Vehicles used to transfer the workers between the camp and construction sites will also have to carry a smaller number of passengers per ride, and avoid unnecessary stops, she said. Vehicles for moving workers are often packed and their living accommodation at the camps makeshift.

 

Silapasuay Rawisaengsun, Bangkok city clerk, said the Laksi camp cluster is causing serious concern. Four other infection clusters that are also worrying, though they may have a lower rate of daily infections, are the Din Daeng flat cluster in Din Daeng district, a construction worker camp cluster in Watthana district, the Khlong Thom Centre and Wongwian 22 cluster in Pomprap Sattruphai district, and the Huai Khwang market cluster in Din Daeng district.

 

Twenty-four Covid-19 deaths and 2,302 new cases were reported yesterday, bringing the accumulated total to 589 fatalities and 101,447 cases.

 

A total of 2,136 people were recorded as having recovered over the 24-hour period, leaving 35,055 under treatment at hospitals. The capital led the number of new infections with 1,218 cases.

 

CCSA said Bangkok led the fatalities with eight deaths, while Chon Buri, Pathum Thani and Kanchanaburi logged two deaths each. One fatality was recorded in each of 10 provinces -- Chiang Mai, Si Sa Ket, Ratchaburi, Samut Prakan, Khon Kaen, Nakhon Sawan, Phichit, Rayong, Nakhon Nayok and Ayutthaya.

[Yamato]

Today’s Covidnew cases

 

New Cases
Thailand 1,793 ( - 989 )
Prison 680 ( - 6,173 )
———————————————-
Total 2,718 ( - 6,917 )

 

Deaths 35 ( + 10 )

 

 

[Yamato]

So since yesterday we were allowed to dine-in eatery once again. Had my breakfast at a countryside shop. So happy.

 

 

 

Kwapow pork with egg

 

Yam sardine

 

This freshly prepared meal cost only$4.30

[Yamato]

Our first time having barbecue here after moving here for 3 years

 

 

 

Chillies & clams

 

Octopus and giant tiger prawns

 

Ribeye and tomahawk

 

Sausages, burger, fillet mignon

 

 

 

[Yamato]

Today’s Covidnew cases

 

New Cases
Thailand 1,896 ( +103 )
Prison 1,498 ( +818 )
———————————————-
Total 3,394 ( +676 )

 

Deaths 29 ( -6 )

 

 

[Yamato]

Today’s Covidnew cases

 

New Cases
Thailand 1,965 ( +69 )
Prison 671 ( -827 )
———————————————-
Total 2,636 ( -758 )

 

Deaths 25 ( -4 )

 

 

[Yamato]

https://asia.nikkei.com/Editor-s-Picks/Tea-Leaves/Could-COVID-19-save-Thailand-s-tourist-ravaged-coast?utm_campaign=RN Subscriber newsletter&utm_medium=coronavirus_newsletter&utm_source=NAR Newsletter&utm_content=article link&del_type=10&pub_date=20210519150000&seq_num=8&si=44594

Could COVID-19 save Thailand's tourist-ravaged coast?
Lessons from Railay pit post-pandemic environmental resurgence against tourism imperative

Once overflowing with the tourists, a beach on Thailand's renowned Railay Peninsula takes a rest as COVID-19 keeps most visitors away. (Photo by Sarah McLean) 
Denis D. GrayMay 19, 2021 11:08 JST

 

On a recent morning, with hardly another soul to crease the sands, and only the lapping of gentle waves to ruffle the stillness, I experienced a serious case of deja vu on Thailand's Railay Peninsula, the site of some of the world's most beautiful beaches.

 

This, I remembered, was what I had encountered during my trips to the Railay area decades earlier, before mass tourism overwhelmed its sweeping arcs of sand walled by towering limestone cliffs. It is sad to say, but the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic has restored some of what that tide of humanity degraded.

 

Residents in the tourist-dependent southern provinces of Phuket and Krabi, which includes Railay, speak of dolphins frolicking with fisherman, manatees munching peacefully on sea grass and frequent sightings of dugongs and reef sharks -- all rare events before the pandemic. At the hotel where I was staying (and paying rock bottom rates) a hefty monitor lizard waddled nonchalantly toward the villa.

 

All but gone were the earsplitting, fume-spewing and unregulated longtail boats that in pre-pandemic times ferried tour groups to the three stunning Railay beaches accessible only by sea.

 

As wonderful as this new serenity seemed, my delight was tempered by what I saw and heard around me: shop fronts shuttered, bars and restaurants nearly empty, the jobless forced to seek employment elsewhere or survive on slashed incomes. Revenue from foreign tourists, mostly banned from entering Thailand, cannot be replaced by the small number of domestic visitors like me.

 

Payorm Numchan best expressed my mixed feelings. First visiting Railay more than 20 years ago, she became addicted to rock climbing -- one of the peninsula's other great attractions -- competed internationally, and eventually returned to open a tourist climbing operation.

 

Payorm remembers a small fishing community, then an initial flow of backpackers followed by a tourist explosion, with hotels rising cheek-by-jowl along Railay's West Beach. She describes the frenetic development as "crazy." Other visitors agreed, lamenting in online comments that "greed and money have taken over" and that "the halcyon days are sadly well and truly over."

 

"When COVID came, I experienced my most beautiful time here," Payorm said. "Nature was resting peacefully. We saw turtles emerge from the sea for the first time. Coral beds were not being broken. Boats were few. There was quiet."

 

Yet, at the same time, her income plummeted to as little as 1,000 baht (about $31) a month. Friends around her cried in desperation. "There is always some good mixed with some bad in this world," she told me.

 

The Phuket-Krabi area, with a combined population of about 1 million, catered to more than 15 million tourists a year in the boom years. with its annual toll of 2,000 visitors per sq. km the biggest on Earth, according to Columbus Direct, a travel insurance company. The area had clearly exceeded its tourist carrying capacity.

 

Before the pandemic, environmentalists and enlightened travel industry leaders were already sounding the alarm, and there was debate among government officials about attracting fewer but higher-spending visitors instead of the ubiquitous Chinese and Russian group tours.

 

Packed with tourists: The beach at Ao Maya Bay in Krabi Province, back in 2008.   © Getty Images

 

Now some of these proposals are reemerging as the country looks toward its post-COVID-19 future. "A huge challenge awaits Thailand as plans are afoot to open up the country to rescue the tourism industry: How to prevent a new round of environmental onslaught from mass tourism," says the Thailand Development Research Institute, a Bangkok-based think tank.

 

Krabi's Koh Phangan Online Magazine, based on the eponymous offshore island, is urging the adoption of a sustainable "blue economy" that would limit access by tourists into sensitive areas and mandate annual closures of marine parks to allow for regeneration of flora and fauna.

 

The precedents are not good, however. I remember clearly the hopeful voices raised after the 2004 tsunami, which devastated swaths of the area, including the Phi Phi Islands -- once a coral-reef-strewn jewel of the Andaman Sea. The disaster presented a great opportunity for an environment-friendly fresh start. But with barely a pause, places like Phi Phi returned to their past ways with a vengeance, leaving some parts looking like an urban slum.

 

Now, even without a firm date for Thailand's reopening to foreign tourists, reservations for future holidays are brisk (bookings from Sweden are at a record high, according to tour agencies). And Krabi Airport, which feeds the Railay tourist market, is set to double its capacity to 8 million passengers a year.

 

Perhaps the most ominous problem is the already intense pressure to rebuild, at any cost, the moribund tourism industry, which employs millions of people and is the biggest contributor to Thailand's national income.

 

I am hoping for the best, but I fear that neither we lucky people who saw Thailand before the tourist boom, nor our children, will ever again experience the vibrant coral beds of Phi Phi or the magical solitude of Railay.

Denis D. Gray is a writer based in northern Thailand.

[Yamato]

Cooked char-mee (fried noodle) for breakfast today - 

 

Prep

 

Breakfast

 

 

[Yamato]

Today’s Covid new cases

 

New Cases
Thailand 2,530 ( +565 )
Prison 951 ( +280 )
———————————————-
Total 3,481 ( +845 )

 

Deaths 32 ( +7 )

 

 

[Yamato]

Singapore seafood dinner at Siam Paragon's Jumbo Seafood Restaurant. Really missed Singapore food.

 

 

 

Sambal kangkok

 

Fried tofu with crab meat

 

Dou Miao

 

Ikan bilis fried rise

 

Singapore Chili Crab

 

Delicious pincer

 

Ordered abnother 1kg Pepper Crab

 

Taste original

 

Don't know what to say

 

Edited May 21, 2021 by Yamato

[Yamato]

Today’s Covid new cases

 

New Cases
Thailand 2,447 ( -83 )
Prison 951 605 ( -346 )
———————————————-
Total 3,052 ( -429 )

 

Deaths 24 ( -8 )

 

 

[Yamato]

Made my own Friday breakfast yesterday

 

 

 

Breakfast

 

Red snapper fillet pan fry with ginger

 

Steamed egg

 

Fried tofu with garlic and soya sauce

 

 

[Yamato]

Today’s Covid new cases

 

New Cases
Thailand 2,922 ( +475 )
Prison 460 ( -145 )
———————————————-
Total 3,382 ( +330 )

 

Deaths 17 ( -7 )

 

 

[Yamato]

This morning the missus made breakfast

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Yamato]

Today’s Covid new cases

 

New Cases
Thailand 2,507 ( -415 )
Prison 206 ( -254 )
———————————————-
Total 2,713 ( -669 )

 

Deaths 30 ( +13 )

 

 

[Yamato]

After doing the gas BBQ last weekend I decided to try out a charcoal BBQ over the weekend so I went to get one with its accessories

 

Last evening

 

Setting up

 

Starting the fire with the Weber chimney 

 

Great even fire

 

Hokkaido crab (last minute I decided to steam it), Sausages, filet mignon 

 

Giant Thai river prawns, squid, white clams

 

Steamed Hokkaido crab full of roe

 

Grilling

 

Mantis prawns

 

The Charcoal Grill

 

 

[Yamato]

Seems Zuru is my current favourite Japanese restaurant in Bangkok now

 

 

 

 

Tofu

 

Super fresh otoro

 

Sashimi

 

Sweet sweet otoro

 

Akami

 

Flounder Sashimi (Hirame)

 

Uni and white shrimps

 

The uni

 

Grilled fish collar

 

Fried chicken

 

Grilled snow fish

 

Long dinner for two

[Yamato]

Today’s Covid new cases

 

New Cases
Thailand 2,344( -163 )
Prison 882 ( +676 )
———————————————-
Total 3,226 ( +513 )

 

Deaths 26 ( -4 )

 

 

[Yamato]

My home cooked Singapore prawn noodle soup, the stock is so yummy

 

 

 

 

[Yamato]

Today’s Covid new cases

 

New Cases
Thailand 1,976 ( -368 )
Prison 479 ( -403 )
———————————————-
Total 2,455 ( -771 )

 

Deaths 41 ( +15 )

 

 

[Yamato]

Today’s Covid new cases

 

New Cases
Thailand 2,104 ( +128 )
Prison 1,219 ( +740)
———————————————-
Total 3,323 ( +868 )

 

Deaths 47 ( +6 )

 

 

[Yamato]

I have been thinking of having the Singapore traditional spring roll, popiah, for a very long time. Since yesterday was a public holiday I decided to make this myself for the very first time.

 

Preparing ingredients for cooking

 

Making the sweet sauce

 

Preparing to assemble the popiah

 

 

 

Wrap it up

 

All fresh ingredient

 

Did some fried spring rolls too

 

Video

 

 

[Yamato]

Today’s Covid new cases

 

New Cases
Thailand 2,465 ( +361 )
Prison 1,294 ( +75 )
———————————————-
Total 3,759 ( +868 )

 

Deaths 34 ( -13 )

 

 

[Yamato]

Thailand Never Lose Face - Finally a Covid strain we can call our own C.36.3. Yes I stand proud for Thailand's latest achievement joining the few in this Exclusive Club

 

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/more-100-cases-new-thai-24202023

 

More than 100 cases of new Thai Covid strain detected in UK as Indian variant surges
Known as VUI-21MAY-02 (C.36.3), the variant was first detected in Thailand in people who had travelled from Egypt and has now arrived in the UK, Public Health England confirmed
By Milo BoydReporter 23:37, 27 MAY 2021

 

The variant was first detected in Thailand in people who had travelled from Egypt (Image: AFP via Getty Images)

 

A new mutant strain of the coronavirus has been identified in the UK as cases of the Indian variant continue to rise.

 

More than 100 cases of the new strain have been identified across the country.

 

Known as VUI-21MAY-02 (C.36.3), the variant was first detected in Thailand in people who had travelled from Egypt, Public Health England confirmed.

 

It was designated as a variant under investigation on May 24 on the basis of the mutation profile and increased importation from a widening international area.

 

There is currently no evidence that this variant causes more severe disease or renders the vaccines any less effective.

 

PHE is carrying out laboratory testing to better understand the impact of the mutations on the behaviour of the virus.

 

More than 100 cases of the new strain have been detected in the UK (Image: Getty Images) 

 

The organisation did not disclose where the cases had been detected but said test and trace has been used to limit the spread.

 

While scientists keep an eye on the new strain, the Indian variant has quickly become the dominant version of coronavirus in the UK. 

 

It was reported yesterday that the variant - B.1.617.2 - was detected in 151 local authorities in the week ending 15 May.

 

That is an 18 per cent weekly increase, according to figures from the Wellcome Sanger Institute which sequences a random sample of positive tests in the community.

 

Thailand has managed to control the coronavirus quite well so far (Image: AFP via Getty Images) 

 

Today Matt Hancock announced this afternoon that the Indian variant was still spreading, with between half and three quarters of new cases now the mutant strain.

 

Thailand has not been too badly impacted by Covid-19 compared to other similar sized countries, reporting 873 deaths during the whole of the pandemic.

 

On May 17 it reported its highest number of daily cases however, with the majority of cases stemming from overcrowded prisons.

 

Some 6,853 prisoners make up for 9,635 of Monday's new cases, which was more than double the previous daily record.

Edited May 28, 2021 by Yamato

[socrates469bc]

lets not be racist and call it sea variant, ok????

 

the mutation could have started in southern burma or northern bolehsia, ok?????

 

and still have people can tell me this wuhan virus is natural occuring with no gmo.

 

wahahahahhaha