Rhacsyn

I agree with your observations. However, closing strictly at 1am has hurt business there. Big crowds empty the bars and gather on the beach or the few places that manage to stay open at 1am. In a strange move, they even banned the street bar pole dancers for a short time, although they were finally allowed to operate again last night. This would not affect all businesses, but closing at 1am has hurt many.

The full article, if read, clearly states that the youngest girl was 15 years old

TRUE have coughed up some money so I am guessing they will show it

A very valid post. Already used for engines in big ships. Anotherr option in LNG carrying ships is to use the natural boil off gas to run the engines. Can all be Googled. Further, there may be a possibility to run engines on "green" ammonia as per the link below: https://www.man-es.com/discover/two-stroke-ammonia-engine

Good luck to him too. Sadly Phuket governor(s) were forced to reverse the decision to go virtually mask free outdoors yesterday, after just one day. Oh dear ????

Confusion prevails for Thailand but there does seem to be a little forward momentum starting with the cancelling of the mask wearing mandate outdoors for Phuket from 1st June. Sorry if there is another thread running but i could not find one: https://thethaiger.com/news/phuket/phuket-drops-outdoor-mask-mandate

I have just completed my 6th entry pass into Thailand during Covid times. Please to report that i registered my submission for Thailand pass at 09:05 and received the QR code and pass 27 minutes later. I had to upload 3 documents, albeit my Covid vaccination certificate 3 times. I guess from reading the full thread that it is not this straight forward for all, and yes, it would be great if they did away with it altogether. However, it was not so difficult for me

Last Saturday was 30th April??? The thread is about arrivals starting from 1st May. Agree that Phuket in general has been pretty quiet with the exception of the couple of areas that are residential for expats and, as expected, Patong. Bangla road, for example, is pretty full, along with the bars, most late evenings, but yes, that is only a tiny part of Phuket. Out of the 21,000 arrivals on 1st May, I can confirm that just under 4,500 arrived in Phuket, and from what I am told by my colleagues, many "tourists". Phuket had similar numbers arriving towards the end of December last year, up until they started tinkering with the Test & Go. Obviously best to do away with it completely. i don't believe the tourists are "hidden". It is just that the numbers arriving are still realatively small when compared to better days and years. Nevertheless, for me it is an improvement in arrival numbers and hopefully it will continues beyond the first few days.

May be close to the truth. Based on the gossip i hear, I do not believe it will close for the full 15 days ????????????

Just to put a few things straight in regards to the original report. Bank, the accused, is known to a lot of us who frequent Bangla. He is a street "boy" and stands with a small group every day, half way down Bangla, outside the alleyway next to the BB gun station. He does not promote restaurants (may be sells flip flops and hand bags ????) and all the "action" was caught, and witnessed by the police on CCTV cameras.

A small move in the right direction getting rid of day 5 PCR test and reducing insurance requirement for incoming travellers from 1st March Possibly an acceptance that many incoming people who tested negative on arrival, but positive on day 5, caught Covid in Thailand, especially with current numbers. https://thethaiger.com/hot-news/tourism/thailand-test-go-update-no-more-day-5-pre-paid-hotel-or-pcr-test

I read with interest the few cynical posts today but in reality is it not time anyway, as things stand with Omicron today, to change from reporting daily case case numbers to focusing on hospital utilisation, and serious cases? I have read this suggestion many times on this forum recently. As an example of how things have changed, Singapore reports that 99.7% of current positive cases either have no or mild symptoms. UK, Denmark, UAE amongst others have opened up. In addition, Sweden has taken the decision to stop testing and that it is time to stop wasting money and resources on testing, even on people with symptoms. Time, they suggest, to simply move on, and focus on looking after the vulnerable and sick as would have been the case for illnesses in pre covid times...........it was not possible to stop or stem the flow of the Omicron variant, but thankfully it does appear to have been a little kinder to us than some of its predecessors. https://www.khaleejtimes.com/coronavirus/covid-19-sweden-ends-testing-as-pandemic-restrictions-lifted

Not wishing to cast aspersions, but here is another story, along the same lines, from the governor of Phuket (published a few days back) https://thethaiger.com/news/national/most-phuket-tourists-infected-with-covid-travelled-from-russia-and-kazakhstan

Below may explain part of it. From the Thaiger yesterday morning. It's running in another thread: https://thethaiger.com/coronavirus/cv19-thailand/cv19-phuket/phuket-officials-alarmed-by-number-of-tourists-testing-positive-on-arrival

Reported in Thaiger this morning: https://thethaiger.com/coronavirus/cv19-thailand/cv19-phuket/phuket-officials-alarmed-by-number-of-tourists-testing-positive-on-arrival

Agree with your comments but to be factual (I can only consider Phuket) numbers never really fell after the first Test & Go was cancelled. Majority of tourists simply opted for the Sandbox route instead and have kept coming in in similar numbers and I am guessing will continue to do so now. As big a risk as it is, the 30 or 40 I get to speak to every day state they were ok to take the risk and were simply desperate to travel, having been in virtual lockdown anyway for 18 months or so. Each to his own.....

Below is a screenshot from Phuket times last night. Similar numbers for many days. 64 community cases, 27 sandbox and 15 T & G.

Most in Phuket who had two sinovac jabs were given AZ as the booster

I entered Thailand on 1st November. Had to leave on 16th December, with a flight booked back to Thailand on 6th January. Read the headlines yesterday and the proposal, quickly booked my SHA+ hotel and PCR test on arrival, uploaded my documents yesterday afternoon for TP application and miraculously got my QR code approval about an hour back. At this point I would not object to a second, free PCR test days after arrival, if they insist. I feel I have run my luck already. Let's see what transpires today / tomorrow as more official announcements are made...

I entered Thailand on a multiple entry OA retirement visa which expires on 14th December. I wish to apply for extension of this visa and believe I have two options: 1) Extend whilst in Thailand or 2) Leave before my visa expires and do the extension overseas. If I extend in Thailand, I have the bank requirements and a letter from my GF who owns the house we like in stating I can stay there. Is there a web link, or official site I can refer to that will guide me through the requirements and paperwork? I had read quite some time ago of option 2 above and if I remember correctly it was stated that this was the simpler option but I have no idea as of now. Grateful for any advice! I wish to do one year extension and ensure the extension will also be multip[le entry as per original visa.

Last Friday, 26th, latest mass testing took place for Patong entertainment staff, focusing on soi Bangla. Just over 800 staff tested for Covid -19. There were 21 posiitive cases <3% positivity.

Following on from proactive testing, today is meant to be a mass testing day for all staff in all entertainment venues in and around soi Bangla, Patong, one of the known cluster centres.....

Proactive testing has been ongoing for some time. Starting tomorrow, the outlets closed recently for 3 days will open again, and all staff in all outlets in and around Bangla will be tested. If negative, they are issued with a certificate which they must carry with them at work. Any outlets not complying will be closed. Same again next Friday.....

A few outlets in Patong, Phuket have been asked to close for 3 days due to small "clusters". Typically the "busier" outlets. All cases initially detected by the regular ATK tests which appear to be working well as a first line of defence. As a point of interest, in the outlets that I know, one member of staff has been confirmed Covid positive, the only staff member not to have received an AZ top up. Speculation on my behalf, but guessing it is a testament to the effectiveness and importance in some cases for an AZ booster.

On the subject of air sanitation / air purification, a small study in the UK in the link below suggests that they were able to completely filter airborne Covid 19 particles from the air in "surge wards" at a relatively low cost..... http://news.sky.com/story/researchers-find-way-to-filter-coronavirus-particles-out-of-the-air-12469882