Thailand

BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand’s already locked down capital shut parks and the few remaining public places available to residents Friday, as the country registered a new high of coronavirus infections.

The near-total restriction on movements in the capital came as the prime minister demanded officials find ways to get the sick into hospitals after people with COVID-19 were found dead on the streets of Bangkok.

BANGKOK, July 18 (Xinhua) -- Thailand on Sunday announced an expansion of restrictive measures that include travel curbs, a night-time curfew and shopping mall closures to cover three more provinces as its daily COVID-19 case tally surged to a record high for the third consecutive day.

The Southeast Asian country reported 11,397 new cases and 101 deaths on Sunday, taking the total number of infections to 403,386 and cumulative fatalities to 3,341, according to the Center for the COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA).

BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand has tightened coronavirus restrictions and warned of further measures as daily cases surpassed 10,000 and the death toll hit a record 141 on Saturday despite an overnight curfew in Bangkok and several other provinces.

The surge since April has overwhelmed hospitals, strained the economy and thrown tourism recovery plans in doubt. The vaccine rollout, hindered by supply problems, is slugging with some 5% of the population fully vaccinated and 15% only partially.

BANGKOK, July 14 (NNN-Bernama) — Thais can test for COVID-19 right at their home starting next week when the COVID-19 antigen test kits will be available for sale at authorized hospitals and clinics.

The kits will also be available at pharmacies with a licensed pharmacist on duty approved by Thailand’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The approval of the antigen test kits for sale was published in Royal Gazette on Tuesday.

BANGKOK, July 9 (Xinhua) -- Tougher restrictions are being imposed in Thailand's capital and surrounding provinces in an effort to curb rapidly increasing COVID-19 infections.

The Center for the COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) announced on Friday a set of new restrictions that will take effect from July 12, and will further limit people's movement in public.

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) — China’s most popular social media service has deleted accounts on LGBT topics run by university students and nongovernment groups, prompting concern the ruling Communist Party is tightening control over gay and lesbian content.

WeChat sent account holders a notice they violated rules but gave no details, according to the founder of an LGBT group, who asked not to be identified further out of fear of possible official retaliation. She said at least dozens of accounts were shut down, all at about 10 p.m. on Tuesday.

BANGKOK, July 5. /TASS/: The existence of the so-called Thai coronavirus strain has not been confirmed by the World Health Organization (WHO), Tanee Sangrat, Director-General of the Thai Foreign Ministry’s Department of Information, said in a statement, commenting on the words of a Russian expert who said that a Thai coronavirus strain had been found in Russia. 

BANGKOK (AP) — A massive explosion at a factory on the outskirts of Bangkok early Monday shook an airport terminal serving Thailand’s capital, injured at least 11 people and prompted the evacuation of residents from the area, authorities said.

The fire broke out at around 3 a.m. at a foam and plastic pallet manufacturing factory in a southeastern area just outside Bangkok near Suvarnabhumi Airport.

Firefighters could be seen in photos from Thai media climbing through twisted steel wreckage to get their hoses close enough to the flames as they fought to control the blaze.

BANGKOK (AP) — Myanmar’s government began releasing about 2,300 prisoners on Wednesday, including activists who were detained for protesting against the military’s seizure of power in February and journalists who reported on the protests, officials said.

Buses took prisoners out of Yangon’s Insein Prison, where friends and families of detainees had waited since morning for the announced releases. It is standard practice to take freed prisoners to the police stations where they were originally booked to complete the processing for their freedom.

BANGKOK, June 29 (Reuters) - Thailand lost 550,000 tourism jobs in the second quarter, a private industry group said on Tuesday, as the tourism-reliant economy struggles with a third wave of coronavirus infections,

Thailand's most severe outbreak so far started in April and has badly hit domestic spending and travel in the absence of foreign visitors.