• Thailand

Thailand reported a total of 56 deaths by 20 May, 58 deaths as of 3 June, unchanged 20 August but 59 deaths as of 20 September.

Thailand reported its first case of Coronavirus in late January 2020. Thailand remained among the top ten countries in the world with the most cases of Coronavirus till late February.

The first death was reported on 1 March.

Thailand followed other countries in imposing restrictions on the movements of its population.

The first nation-wide restrictions were imposed on 17 March. Massage parlours and bars had to close. Some pubs ignored the order. 

Rats disappeared from Bangkok's main tourist strip by April.

By 24 March, Thailand had reported a total of four deaths. From that point, deaths became an almost daily occurrence.

Most international flights have been banned since early April. All Minor hotels were closed in April.

All persons arriving from other countries must have special permission to enter, or they are not allowed to disembark, or they are quarantined for a fortnight.

By 17 April, Thailand had reported 47 deaths. The rate levelled off. Eleven died since then. A death was reported on 1 or 2 June.

One more death occurred on 18 September, the first since early June, bringing the total to 59. The victim was a Thai interpreter who returned from Saudi Arabia on 2 September. No reports of deaths since then (3 Nov. 2020).

Thais have grown accustomed to convenience (grocery) stores, fast-food restaurants and supermarkets since the early 1990s. Many cannot imagine life without them. Throughout the Coronavirus 'lock-down', convenience stores, like 7-Eleven, Family Mart and Lawson, and supermarkets, like Foodland and Tops, and fast-food restaurants, like Subway, remained open longer than other establishments. They sustained the population. The employees were exposed eight to twelve hours a day, seven days a week, but none contracted the virus.

On 1 June, Thailand lifted many restrictions imposed in early April.

Many establishments reopened on 2 and 3 June.

There was bumper-to-bumper traffic in Bangkok for the first time in many weeks.

But restrictions on international air travel remained.

Thus, many hotels in Bangkok, like the famous Oriental Hotel and the Sheraton (Sukhumvit), remain closed. Some hotels reopened in June. Due to the limited air travel and talk of a second wave of the virus, some hotels do not expect to reopen before October at the earliest. The big economy class Nana Hotel on Bangkok's tourist strip reopened in September. The nearby five-star Landmark, on the other hand, never closed. A few Minor hotels reopened in July. The Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit Hotel, at Asoke, reopened in October.

On Wednesday, 10 June 2020, the government announced the country would remain under a state of emergency until further notice. This was extended on 30 June to 31 July and, again, to the end of August.

Some Thai (traditional) massage parlours were operating again by mid-June.

The curfew was lifted on 15 June for a 15-day trial period   -   and not imposed again. 

Convenience stores opened 24 hours again. Some supermarkets, like Foodland, are open 24 hours again. Others, like Tops, by choice, are closed from 10 p. m. to 6 a. m.

'Social distancing' became a haphazard thing. Some restaurants ignore it completely. Others provide tables for one patron only, tables for two and tables for four to six patrons.

After 'social distancing' restrictions were imposed in April, most of the business of McDonald's, a favourite hang-out, was limited to take-outs. Some McDonald's restaurants were open but virtually empty all day   -   not the crowded and noisy places they once were. People come in to order take-outs or pick them up.

Some fast-food joints deliver by scooter.

The take-out and home delivery business has boomed in Bangkok since March. The home-delivery motor-scooter drivers now have their own company, baaed in Singapore, called Grab, and their own scooter stands, with a half-dozen or more scooters waiting for a call and ready to go, just like the taxi-scooters. 

Burger-King outlets remained closed until early August.

KFC is open and one of the more popular restaurants.

The Thai government announced on 22 June that most restrictions would be lifted on 1 July.

There is no curfew in Thailand now, to reduce socialising (although open political conflicts may lead to one).

Go-go bars, shut down since 17 March, reopened on 1 July, with nude dancing girls wearing face masks and face shields. No social distancing.

Schools resumed classes on 1 July. However, fears of a second wave quickly forced many schools to close again. As of mid-September, some schools were opened and others were not.

There were claims that international flights would 'resume' on 1 July but the severe restrictions imposed in April remain in place.

Reports of new cases of the virus in Thailand have mentioned only Thais returning from abroad and foreign visitors on stop-overs. Since mid-July, there have been calls to ban in-coming flights and bar entry to foreigners.

At present, all Thais and foreigners arriving in Thailand must submit to a fortnight of quarantine in a specified hotel.

About one hundred American soldiers arriving in early August for military exercises with the Thais were immediately quarantined for a fortnight at the Conrad Hotel (near Lumpini Park) and Anantara Hotel (on the Chao Phraya) in Bangkok.

It will be a while before international travel, as it was before the virus, resumes.

The big surprise was the complete abandonment of 'social distancing' by Bangkok's subway and Sky train in August. Coaches are packed again with people standing elbow to elbow. Yet, everywhere, 'social distancing' is being promoted   -   on TV, in posters and in public videos. City buses do not follow social distancing. No one has pointed out this glaring contradiction. The top government officials are not talking about 'social distancing' anymore.

  

Many buildings still check the temperatures of people entering but this is rather haphazard.

One cannot enter a building or a park or climb aboard a boat or bus or train without a face mask. But 'social distancing' is not enforced and no longer mentioned in many places.

 

     

Mass protests and demonstrations in Bangkok in mid-October. The biggest in six years, since 2014. 

The above photos were taken in Bangkok on 16, 17 and 18 October.

Demonstrators wore facemasks but, of course, there was no social distancing, Thus far, there have been no reports of Coronavirus infections.

The mass protests continued daily throughout the rest of the month and are continuing.    

The demonstrators include many young students in their mid-teens. The protesters want the prime minister, an army commander who came to power in a military take-over six years ago, to resign. They want new elections and constitutional amendments or a new constitution. They want to curb royal prerogative and open the financial accounts of the royal household to the public.

Behind the protesters are nouveau-riche billionaires   -   political parvenus with populist programmes   -   ready to roll.

Photos above: Top row, L - R: Victory Monument, Democracy Square; middle row: ?, Siam Square, 16 Oct.; bottom row: Siam Square, 16 Oct.; ?  

  

      

Top row left and right: Protesters march to the German Embassy in Bangkok on 26 October. The King of Thailand has spent most of the year in Germany.  

Many popular items disappeared from store shelves in February. Many items have not reappeared. Some items were back in August with a 50% price increase.