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The CCSA’s daily briefing today started with an update about an NBT news presenter… that’s the National Broadcasting Services of Thailand…. who has attended the daily briefings at Bangkok’s CCSA studio and testing positive for Covid-19.
The CCSA spokesman then announced that all people working in the CCSA studio, including himself, have been defined as a “low risk” group for infections, but that they will take a swab test this afternoon and will report the test results to the public. The infected NBT newscaster has been sent to the hospital already.
Today, 309 new Covid-19 cases were announced from the last 24 hours. The majority of the infections were detected from active case testing, accounting for 217 cases. Most of them were migrant workers. 80 were local transmission, while 12 cases were detected in state quarantine.
Poor air quality across Bangkok in the past week are not just caused by the PM2.5 dust. We’re now being told we can blame a ‘dust dome’ that is formed with low atmospheric pressure, dust and pollutants from the farmland waste burning, and greenhouse gases.
The Natural Resources and Environment Minister says that the pollutants come from “the improper disposal” of farming waste around Bangkok’s northern outskirts.
The mentioning of the agricultural sector being major contributors to Bangkok’s smog problems is a rare official recognition of the air pollution ‘elephant in the room’.
Measures that have already been rolled out by the BMA include an extension of the work-from-home policy, lowering the price of low sulphur fuel in the capital, extensive monitoring of waste burning on farms, as well as offering higher prices for sugarcane products which were made in a sustainable manner.
Vaccination seems to be the great new hope of most of Thailand’s businesses battered by Covid-19, especially the tourism industry. Thai tour operators are now floating the idea of “vaccination tour packages” to attract inbound travellers after the first inoculations are distributed in February.
Sort of an STV with vaccination included.
They say the tourism plan could potentially benefit those inbound tour operators, hotels and destinations that have been massively affected by Covid-19 restrictions.
The Tourism Council of Thailand president said that… “The one month tour packages are expected to cost 150,000 baht, including a 14 day quarantine in an alternative state quarantine or alternative local quarantine facility, and include a vaccination cost.”
“The idea is, of course, still in the early stages and needs more discussions because there are still uncertainties of travel rules with vaccine certificates.”
The ‘idea’ , again, targets the high end of the travel market that even the current STV has been unable to attract so far.
Chinese businessmen are helping to feed people in Pattaya after handing out over 1,000 meals to the needy last night. The handouts occurred near Third Road with Pattaya City Police nearby to help ensure social distancing and other safety measures.
Hundreds of locals were seen queing for the event well before it was scheduled to start, indicating the increasing need for aid in the financially-crippled city. Pattaya is part of Chon Buri province, an area that has been zoned as a “highly controlled” area due to the cluster of Covid-19 infections that started on December 20 last year.
Recently, Pattaya has recorded only 1 new case of the virus in the past 4 days, and only single digit cases in the past week. Local businesses are hoping this decrease in virus numbers will help speed up the reopening of businesses.
Thailand’s broadband internet speed is ranking number 1 after a speed test was conducted in December last year. It’s ranking climbed 2 spots from the previous speed test out of 176 countries by the Speedtest Global Index, beating out stiff competition from countries more noted for their tech and communications.
Singapore and Hong Kong are now at 2nd and 3rd place according to the test, which is measured monthly. The test uses millions of data points from real people who use the Speedtest tools. Despite the tests being originated by a US company, the US ranks 10th on the list.
Thailand clocked an average fixed broadband speed of 308.35 megabits per second for downloads last month, beating out Singapore for the top spot. The global average fixed broadband speed was 96 megabits per second for downloads and 52 megabits per second for uploads in December. .
Youtube source