Thailand Travel News

Thai health ministry has notified that five more people had come under contact with the H1N1 virus strain. The patients numbering 12 have been placed under ‘home quarantine’.

Of the 12 patients, two of them had come in contact with a confirmed case in Taiwan, three of them had come in contact with the confirmed case in Thailand while seven of them has come in contact with a confirmed case in Singapore. This was confirmed by the Director-General of health Tan Sri Dr Mohd Ismail Merican.

As on 31^st May, National Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre (CPRC) of the health ministry has received 17 notification cases who have been admitted to isolation wards in different hospitals. Out of these cases, 14 have been confirmed as negative while the results of the remaining three patients are yet to be confirmed.

In the related news, a Thai national returned from USA infected with the H1N1 virus. The patient whose name has not been disclosed was admitted to a Bangkok hospital with slight fever and sore throat. He has been under constant medical care and doses of Oseltamivir have been given to his family members for five consecutive days.

The patient saliva samples were examined by Department of Medical Sciences’ National Influenza Center and Siriraj Hospital. Both hospitals confirmed that samples contained traces of H1N1 strain. The patient has fully recovered and was discharged by the hospital.

Meanwhile WHO informed that as on 31^st May, 1,562 new cases have been confirmed raising the total cases to 17,072 cases in 55 countries.

The next ASEAN summit will be next held during 23-25 of October in Phuket. The members include 16 leaders of ASEAN and dialogue partner’s countries as well as the UN secretary general and executives of international economic and financial organizations.

The summit was scheduled for April 09 but was postponed because of demonstrations by United Front for democracy against Dictatorship. Another previous meeting which was to be held in December 08 was also cancelled due to the demonstrations by the People’s Alliance for Democracy.

An official of the Thai government decided Phuket instead of Pattaya because residents of the Island province tend to be supporters of the ruling Democrat party. While Phuket has plenty of attributes, there are some reservations about the logistical issues involved in holding the meeting in Phuket. The meeting rooms are small and streets are narrow.

Meanwhile effort are underway to beautify the island with trees being carefully pruned and fresh flower buds being planted on the road between airport and Phuket city.

Thailand’s Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said that the foreign ministry officials will visit Phuket from June 5 to 7 to check the island’s preparedness.

Sources maintain that the government was more confident about the chances of holding the meetings without any issue if they were held in Phuket rather in Bangkok.

Royal Phuket Mania has become the hotbed for various celebrities and socialites looking to escape their jet life and enjoy a peaceful as well as serene life. The Mania was developed by Gulu Lalvani founder of Binatone, the world’s second largest manufacturer of digital cordless phones whose vision was to promote Phuket as a world class yachting club.

Royal Phuket Mania has become a popular center for entertainment and lifestyle hub with open air restaurants and bars overlooking the mega yachts floating in the marina.

The first phase of Royal Phuket Mania involved development and sale of luxury condominiums and penthouses. In the second phase, it involved the development ‘Aquaminium’ penthouse apartments which come with their own integral boat berth and as well as series of ultra luxury private villas along with private berths.

Most of the Royal Phuket Mania is dedicated to leisure, shopping, recreation dining set amidst landscaped gardens overlooking the 350-berth marina.

Recently Britain’s Princess Eugenie daughter of duke and duchess of York and grand daughter of the queen was one of the high profile guests visiting Phuket in April for the Easter holiday. She and four of her friends were invited by Gulu Lalvani to Phang Nga Bay.

Thailand’s future looks bleak says the latest figures released by the economic planning agency. This prompted the agency to downgrade its forecast for gross domestic product in 2009. The adjusted first quarter has been down by 1.9% from the last quarter of last year and down by 7.1% on the first quarter of last year.

Thailand is heavily dependent on exports which constitute 65% of its economy and it has been hit by economic slump in USA, Europe and China. Exports sank by 16.4% during the last quarter. Leading companies like GM, Seagate technology have chalked out plans to cut production and reduce labor.

Thailand has been plagued by instability since May 2008 when anti-government began in Bangkok leading to closure of Bangkok’s two international airports for eight days in November and December. In April of this year, the prime minister was forced to cancel the ASEAN summit to be held in Pattaya.

Korbsak Sabhavasu – Thai deputy prime minister said that the expected growth to the economy would be seen in the second quarter as the 116-billion-baht economic stimulus package would start yielding fruit. He further added that the government would be able to borrow 400 billion Baht in additional funds once the ruling by the constitution court comes into affect.

Members of Thailand’s yellow-shirt protest movement have decided to form a political party creating a potentially influential party but did not rule out the possibility of returning to street protests.

More than 30,000 supporters of the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) dressed in their trademark colorful shirts converged on a sports stadium in a town near Bangkok and voted to transform the grass-roots campaign against corruption into a formal political party. The party vowed to fight for a cleaner, more accountable ‘new politics’.

The agreement came on the second day of the meeting to mark the anniversary of 193 day street protest which began on 25-May of last year to oust the People Power Party which was in power during that time.

The new party which is yet to be named could further elevate Sondhi Limthongku – the primary force behind the movement.

The latest unrest in Thailand has hit tourism badly and dented investor confidence at a time when the country is feeling the affects of global meltdown. The state economic planning agency has confirmed that the GDP contracted by 7.1 % – the worst performance since the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis.

Analysts expected the economy to pick up in the coming months but that would depend on the absence of political turmoil.

In a new development to curb the spread of the H1N1 virus, Thai public health ministry installed a thermal scanner Maesai district of a northern province of Chiang Rai. Everyday foreign business men numbering 3000 enter Thailand through Maesai border.

In addition there are 2 ports in Chiang Khong and Chiang Saen districts where ships arrive having 50-60 foreign crew arrive everyday. About 100-200 European tourists also enter Thailand everyday through these ports.

In a related development, five people consisting of 2 Swedish, 1 Hong Kong tourist and two Thai’s have tested negative for the new strain of H1N1. This brings the suspected listed of H1N1 affected people down to 20.

According to the Thai health ministry, the two Swedes developed a high fever after arriving from Indonesia and Malaysia whereas the two Thai’s fell ill after visiting their children in USA. The Thai couple was found to have seasonal flu and not H1N1 flu.

The health minister confirmed that only two people have tested positive for the H1N1 virus and both have been cured and have recovered. Although the H1N1 virus has a less fatality rate, it is capable of spreading rapidly through the human population.

The government is concentrating on 3 vital areas i.e. 1. Screening inbound passengers 2. Giving medication to affected people 3. Education people to combat the virus.

According to WHO, 42 countries have officially reported 11,168 cases of swine flu infections.

A new 2.2 kilometer track of the Bangkok Mass Transit System (BTS) extends its service from Saphan Taksin station to Wong Wian Yai station.

The opening ceremony was presided by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. He said that the government’s aim was to extend the electric train services to cover all areas in capital city of Bangkok. For the initial three months of the electric travel service will be free. The service will operate from 6 AM till midnight everyday.

As per BTS officials, commuters numbering from 430,000 to 460,000 are expected to use the Sky Train on weekdays and 300,000 a day on the weekends. The new extension over the Taksin Bridge is expected to increase the number of SkyTrain trips by an additional 50-60,000 trips per day.

The new service connects Sathorn Road to Thonburi on the west bank of the Chao Phraya River. It comes as a welcome relief to avoid the bumper to bumper traffic everyday during the rush hour.

There are more benefits expected out of this new track in addition to reducing traveling time. High density developments are expected in Wong Wian Yai area which has been on decline for last couple of years due to high congested traffic. More areas are expected to open up for office projects extending the Sathorn area westward.

Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said yesterday that insurgents numbering between 4000 and 5000 have been active in Southern Thailand. He admitted that not much effort was being taken to quell the unrest which claimed more than 3500 lives since the separatists resumed armed conflict in January, 2004.

In line with what the previous leaders said, he called for poverty alleviation, education and development of local people. He called for the officials to fight the violence but didn’t clarify the steps to be taken. He said that he would be visiting the troubled region and be meeting with Southern Border Provinces Administrative Centre and senior officials regarding the government’s development plans to improve education and judicial system in the region.

The government plans to develop the southern region and raise the income of each family by Bt120, 000 each month on an average.

More than 20,000 soldiers have been dispatched to fight the insurgents but so far success has eluded them. The insurgents have been resorting to guerilla warfare which includes arson, random shootings to fight the army. Militancy raised its ugly head in 1970’s when ethnic Malays in the three regions of Pattani, Narathiwat and Yala demanded independence from Thailand.

A German tourist while being kept under surveillance for suspected H1N1 flu died. Initially H1N1 flu was suspected to have been the reason but tests carried out confirmed that the tourist was not infected with the H1N1 flu.

The tourist who arrived in Thailand on May 12th traveled to Prachuap Khiri Khan. On May 16th, she developed flu like symptoms and was admitted into a hospital in Hua Hin district. The woman had a cough, a mild fever and a sore throat which are not typical H1N1 symptoms as confirmed by the doctors.

Following her death, the entire San Paolo Hua Hin Hospital where she was hospitalized was sanitized and the staff ordered to wear protective masks. Deputy Public Health Minister Manit Nop-amornbodi confirmed that the tourist had only lung infection and the cause would be determined by the health ministry.

Meanwhile the World Health Organisation plans to produce 4.9 billion doses of vaccines against the flu virus so as to prevent the global pandemic. Worldwide, the number of H1N1 cased has reached 10,000. So far in case of Thailand, two confirmed victims have been reported but no fatalities have been recorded.

The Thai health ministry has launched a campaign urging people to wear surgical masks and to take additional care with regard to their personal hygiene.

The executive decree seeking a 400 Billion Baht loan would hit a roadblock if it would be sent to the constitution court for legitimacy ruling – a move which would jeopardize Thai government’s efforts to bring back economy on the track. Ninety six MP’s from the opposition party have petitioned the constitution court to run a constitution check on the bill.

The petition was submitted to the house speaker Chai Chidchob who would determine if it fits the submission requirements. If Mr Chai decides to forward the petition, then the decree would be put on hold pending decision by the constitution court.

The prime minister was confident that the decree would clear the court and become a reality. He added that such a decree allowing the government to procure foreign loans would add a great boost to the recession hit economy. He added that the government plans to procure additional 400 billion Baht for investing in non-urgent projects under the stimulus plan.

In a related development, Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban added that there were no plans for cabinet reshuffle especially those under the Democrat party like Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya and Deputy Prime Minister Kobsak Sabhavasu. He stressed that these ministers were performing the duties up to their capabilities and there was no need for any change.