Thailand

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand’s parliament passed a 1.9 trillion baht ($58 billion) economic support package on Sunday to ease the impact of the coronavirus.

The legislation, comprising three bills, include a government plan to borrow 1 trillion baht and central bank measures worth another 900 billion baht in soft loans and support for corporate bonds.

Of the 1 trillion baht of borrowing, 600 billion baht will be for public heath works and relief measures, and the rest for rebuilding the economy and job creation.

BANGKOK (AP) — Shares fell Friday in Europe and Asia as investors awaited a news conference about China by President Donald Trump later in the day.

Benchmarks slipped in Paris, Frankfurt and Tokyo but rose in Shanghai.

BANGKOK, May 29 (NNN-BERNAMA) – Thailand’s National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC) estimates that about 8.4 million workers in the kingdom may lose their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a report on Thailand’s social situation and outlook for the first quarter of 2020 (Q1 2020), the state planning agency said 2.5 million workers in tourism sector, 1.5 million industrial workers and 4.4 million in the services sector (other than tourism) face the risk of losing their jobs.

BANGKOK (AP) — The risks of reigniting coronavirus outbreaks are complicating efforts to fend off further misery for the many millions who have lost jobs, with a top health expert warning that the world is still in the midst of a “first wave” of the pandemic.

“Right now, we’re not in the second wave. We’re right in the middle of the first wave globally,” said Dr. Mike Ryan, a World Health Organization executive director.

BANGKOK, May 26 (NNN-TNA) – Thai COVID-19 vaccine research team said, it will be recruiting human beings for vaccine trials later this year, following an ongoing three-month test on monkeys.

“We injected the vaccine into 13 long-tailed macaques on Saturday. The animal testing will take three months and results are expected by the end of Aug,” said Dr. Kiat Rakrungtham, director of the Chulalongkorn University’s Vaccine Research and Development Centre.

BANGKOK, May 20 (NNN-TNA) – Thailand’s national flag carrier, Thai Airways International Plc, will seek restructuring via a bankruptcy court, after the Thai Cabinet Tuesday approved a rehabilitation plan for the troubled state enterprise.

The Cabinet meeting, chaired by Prime Minister, Prayut Chan-o-cha, agreed to the plan, proposed by the state enterprise policy committee, to pave way for Thai Airways to start restructuring process in the court.

BANGKOK, May 16 (NNN-TNA) – Thailand’s Ministry of Transport said on Friday that, state-run buses will resume cross-country services between Bangkok and the North and Northeast on May 18, a day after the Phase Two lock-down restrictions are eased.

Inter-provincial buses were suspended in mid-Apr to curb the COVID-19 outbreak.

Services to the South will start on June 1.

Meanwhile, the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) said, the number of its passengers will increase by 100,000 a day, when shopping centres reopen on May 17.

BANGKOK, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Thailand on Wednesday saw zero new COVID-19 case, the first time since Jan. 13 when the first case was recorded in the country, Dr. Taweesin Visanuyothin, spokesman for the Center for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA), said Wednesday.

"This piece of news has delighted all of us for our joint efforts in the past days. This makes us proud that unity has made this figure a reality, thanks to all of us," said Taweesin.

BANGKOK, May 13 (NNN-BERNAMA) — Thailand on Tuesday reported zero new COVID-19 cases and fatalities for the first time since March 9, with  total cases remaining at 3,017 with 56 fatalities as was reported for Monday.

Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) spokesman Thaweesilp Wissanuyothin said to date, a total of 2,844 patients have recovered and discharged from hospitals while 117 remain at wards.

BANGKOK (AP) — Authorities in the Chinese city where the coronavirus pandemic began were moving forward Wednesday with efforts to test all 11 million residents for the virus within 10 days after a handful of fresh infections were found there.

The U.S. government’s top infectious disease expert, meanwhile, issued a blunt warning that cities and states could see more COVID-19 deaths and economic damage if they lift stay-at-home orders too quickly -- a sharp contrast to President Donald Trump, who is pushing to right a free-falling economy.