Headlines summary as of 13 August 2021

News

Newly confirmed case(s)	Total Cases	Patients under severe conditions and those using ventilators	Discharged from hospital	From 1 April, totally confirmed cases (third wave)	1st dose vaccine recipients (from 28 Feb)	3rd dose vaccine recipients (from 16 July)
23,418 (388 from prisons); from ATK (+1,523)	863,189 (last seven days: 148,505)	5,565/ 1,111	644,103 (+20,083)	810,908	17,239,593 (+171,488) BKK: 5,774,671 (+61,996)	414,066 (+19,993) BKK: 100,192 (+2,741)
Local transmission	From abroad	Being hospitalised/ in field-hospital/ quarantined	Confirmed cases in Bangkok	Death toll	Total vaccination (doses)	2nd dose vaccine recipients (from 28 Feb)	Average tests in the last seven days
23,030 [17,642 (get tested in hospital) + 5,379 (active case finding)]	9 (in SQ)	212,179 [150,880 in field hospital]	203,849 (+5,140)	7,126 (+184) (last seven days: 1,272)	22,508,659 (+219,840) BKK: 7,120,582 (+71,521)	4,855,000 (+28359) BKK: 1,245,719 (+6,784)	51,911

• A senior advisor to the Public Health Ministry exclusively told Thai Enquirer that Thailand’s Covid-19 infection numbers are likely much higher than those being reported by the government as there has not been enough tests because of full capacity.—Thai Enquirer
• Dr. Manoon Leechawengwong, a specialist in respiratory diseases at Vichaiyut Hospital posted on his social media warning that the next 100 days is the decisive moment for the Kingdom in curbing the spread of the pandemic and is calling for the PM to exercise his powers Vaccine Security Act temporarily stop exporting AZ vaccines produced at Siam Bioscience. The medical expert estimated that as the Delta variants is spreading to every province, the real infections could be as high as 35 million cases and 30,000 more deaths.—Matichon
• Here comes the other drama on the covid administration as the company which won the auction to supply the much-needed 8.5 million Antigen Test Kits (ATK) in Thailand and the kits are in question:
  • Vocal Rural Doctor Society has called for the GPO to get a higher-quality ATK as the kits from the winning company are that of Chinese-produced and got Class 1 Recall by the American FDA due to inaccurate results. The society underlined that the a high quality ATK is key to the curbing of the pandemic.—Thai Rath
  • The permanent-secretary of the Public Health Ministry held a press conference yesterday deferring the signing of contract with the company until there is more clarity in this complication.—ThaiPBS
  • Ostland Capital Company which won the bid for proposing the lowest price of the ATK have their company profit at 4,500 THB and the other years saw their company returns in red.—Krungthep Turakij
  •  Ostland Capital will hold a press conference at 3.00pm today.

Politics

• Today, Sudarat Keyuraphan, the de facto leader of the freshly established Thai Sarng Thai Party, will bring 700,000 signatures to file a lawsuit against General Prayut and his administration for mismanagement and their inability to control the 3rd wave of Covid-19 outbreak at the Court of Justice. The party opened an online portal to collect the signatures earlier.—Krungthep Turakij
• Opposition Move Forward Party is eyeing to file an urgent motion to the House Speaker to suspend the deliberation of the second reading of the Constitutional amendment motion. The party said that the deliberation was beyond the scope of the motion proposed by ruling Democrat Party and approved by the House. The party said that Opposition Pheu Thai is teaming up with the Democrat in changing the electoral systems.—Krungthep Turakij
• There are two more protests scheduled until the end of the week:
  • Talu Fah Group which was dispersed by the Riot Police on 11 August will hold another gathering today from the Victory Monument and march to the PM Residence.—Krungthep Turakij
  • Political activist Sombut Bunngam-anong is calling for a “Car-Park” movement on Sunday starting from Ayuthaya Province down to Bangkok. He defended his activity as not pressuring the government enough by saying that his approach is to gain more supports from the general population which will lead, eventually, to the topple the PM.—Krungthep Turakij
  • There will be three Former Red Shirt leader and the leader of ‘Car Mob’ has voiced his concerns over the violent engagement of the protestors against the riot police as counter-productive and the violence will even legitimise the government crackdowns.—Krungthep Turakij
    • To mark Thai mother’s day, the mother of the detain student-led protest leaders held a sensational talk on Clubhouse pledging to support Parit ‘Penguin’ Chiwarak cause regardless of his missions.—Matichon
    •  The leader of the Progressive Movement Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit is scheduled to join the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc competition in France in late August.—Matichon
  •  It has been widespread reports within the more right-wing media that the opposition leader eyes to flee the Kingdom as the authority is going to prosecute him.—Thai Move Institute

ASEAN/World

• Editor-in-chief of Nikkei wrote a long report on ‘Biden administration’s Asia Policy: Subtle threat to ASEAN: US indifference to Indonesia and Thailand’ claiming that the new administration leaving out regional powerhouses Indonesia and Thailand, countries that would have been prioritized in the past. The Biden administration has made it very clear that it will only engage with countries that are strategically significant to the US. Also, as Jakarta and Bangkok have been becoming noticeably pro-China as well as Cambodia over the past few years. The article concluded that the much-awaited return of the U.S. focus on Asia is ironically threatening ASEAN’s raison d’etre as it prefers engaging on bilateral than regional levels.—Asia Nikkei

Economic:

• The private sector speculates that the government may extend the lockdown to the end of September, which will bring economic loss to over 1 trillion Baht and will usher the Thai economy into a technical recession. 
• To this end, the Joint Standing Committee on Commerce, Industry and Banking (JSCCIB) submitted a letter to request a meeting with PM Prayut, demanding that the government provide assistance in 3 areas comprising 1) liberalising COVID-19 vaccine import by allowing the private sector to procure alternative vaccines, specifically to inoculate factory workers to help export achieve a 15 percent growth this year; 2) government control the retail price of antigen test kits at 100 Baht as a way to support the expenses for the private sector to test their workers; and 3) allow the private sector to produce favirapir medicine.
• Thai Chamber of Commerce suggests the government inject 5 billion Baht in Q4 2021 and another 5 billion Baht in Q1 of 2021 to retain employment, stimulate the economy, subsidise some costs for SMEs and boost consumers’ purchasing power.
• SME Federation noted that around 2.7 million MSMEs that employ 5 million people and 80000 social enterprises are struggling to survive this latest wave of outbreak.  The Federation asked the government to increase social security compensation and improve access to soft loan.  Source:  Prachachart Turakij  Thansettakij newspaper, 11 August 2021
• Revenue from tourism had dropped to below 10 percent of pre-pandemic level, reported the Tourism and Sports Ministry (MOST).  In Q2 2021, domestic tourism saw a QoQ decline of 56.8 percent (YoY decline is 13.2 percent ) to 7.43 million trips.  Some 24.6 million domestic trips were made in the first half 2021, falling short of meeting the annual target of 90 million trips, while hotel occupancy also dropped to 12.2 percent, a decrease of 17.2 percent YoY.  Currently, 50 percent of the hotels are earning less than 10 percent of their normal revenues, according to Thai Hotel Association.  For August, hotel occupancy rate nationwide is expected to average at 8 percent.  Source:  Bangkok Post

Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) expects the 7+7 sandbox island extension scheme that will allow Phuket Sandbox travellers to visit to Krabi, Phang Nga and Samui to be enforced on 22 August.  The plan will be submitted to CCSA for approval.  

• The 7+7 extension scheme would require sandbox travellers to remain in Phuket for the first 7 days.  From day 8-14, they will be allowed to travel to 3 provinces without the need to quarantine, namely Krabi province’s Ngai, Riley and PP islands; Phang-Nga province’s Khao Lak, Yao Noi and Yao Yai islands; and 3) Surat Thani province’s Samui, Tao and Pha-Ngan islands.  Travellers will be required to specify the routes they wish to take when applying for a Certificate of Entry to Phuket Sandbox scheme.

TAT revealed that Cathay Pacific had started direct flights between Hong Kong and Phuket.  TAT will also launch a marketing campaign with Qatar Airways and SecretEScape luxury digital platform to sell the sandbox package to UK travellers between August- September; a move that is expected to bring in 100 million Baht of revenue since the average spending per person is 75,000 Baht.  Source:  Thansettakij newspaper, 12 August 2021

• TDRI proposed that the government allocate 150 billion Baht of its loan on retaining employment for the 13 million people who work for 3.1 million SMEs for 3 months.  The measures include a monthly payment of 3,000 Baht per employee per month, on the condition that 1) employers must not lay off more than 10 percent of their employees; and 2) employers AMUST upskill their employees with digital skill with the government subsidising 1,000 Baht for each employee.  TDRI also suggested that the government procure 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine for rollout in 2022 by using the 500 billion Baht loan.  TDRI does not expect tourism to see 39 million arrivals until 2024 and in the meantime urges the government to lift the public debt ceiling beyond 60 percent.  Source:    Krungthep Turakij, 13 August 2021
• Thai rice exports are projected to continue to increase for the rest of this year, helped by the fact that the price of Thai rice had dropped and a weak Baht, which depreciated 10.4 percent against USD so far this year.  The Thai Rice Exporters Association expects rice export to average 600,000 -700,000 tonnes monthly and forecasts that the target of 6 million tonnes of export this year will be met.  This follows on from the lackluster export figures that tallied only 2.8 million tonnes in the first seven months of 2021. This is below the export target average of 500,000 tonnes a month, or 3.5 million tonnes during that period.  Source:  Bangkok Post

Headlines summary as of 12 August 2021

News

Newly confirmed case(s)	Total Cases	Patients under severe conditions and those using ventilators	Discharged from hospital	From 1 April, totally confirmed cases (third wave)	1st dose vaccine recipients (from 28 Feb)	3rd dose vaccine recipients (from 16 July)
22,782 (375 from prisons)	839,771 (last seven days: 146,011)	5,495/ 1,103	623,801 (+23,649)	810,908	17,068,105 (+366,677)BKK: 5,693,746 (+63,254)	394,073 (+69,577)BKK: 96,312 (+13,346)
Local transmission	From abroad	Being hospitalised/ in field-hospital/ quarantined	Confirmed cases in Bangkok	Death toll	Total vaccination (doses)	2nd dose vaccine recipients (from 28 Feb)	Average tests in the last seven days
22,399 [19,973 (get tested in hospital) + 2,426(active case finding)]	8 (in SQ)	209,028 [1148,901 in field hospital]	198,709 (+4,854)	6,942 (+147) (last seven days: 1,279)	22,288,819 (+570,865)BKK: 7,025,992 (+89,239)	4,826,641 (+134,611)BKK:1,235,934 (+12,639)	52,404

• Two coronavirus vaccines administered using a nasal spray being developed in Thailand are due to start human trials by the end of this year. The spray has been developed by the National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology anticipating to get the production for wider use in mid 2022.—Reuters
• The Deputy PM and Public Health Minister Anutin said that the government will order the additional 10 million doses from the earlier announced 20 million doses. The top health official said the vaccine will be delivered to Thailand within the Q4 this year.—Thai Rath
• The PM, via the government spokesperson, expressed his condolence to the family of the deceased and has expedited the probe.—Krungthep Turakij
  • The Deputy PM and Foreign Minister Don has also expressed his condolences and had made a call to the Swiss ambassador to Thailand.—Matichon
  • The Police Chief, accompanied by a task-force, has went down to Phuket to lead the probe.—ThaiPBS

Politics

• The last two days witnessed series of protracted and escalated violence from all sides even when the protest has adjourned:
  • The police clashed with protesters for a second successive day on Wednesday, after hundreds sought to rally near the residence of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha to demand his resignation. Hundreds of protesters threw paint at a line of riot police who confronted them as they tried to march on Prayuth’s home and police responded with tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse them.—Reuters
  • Police spokesperson said on 11 August night, there were eleven police officers injured, eight police cars burnt and have apprehended 17 protestors.—Krungthep Turakij
  •  The Police has also come out to warn the parents of the protestors that they could also be prosecuted if the parents allowed their children to join the protests.—Manager
  •  There was a report of the riot police using LRAD to dispel protestors.—Matichon
  • A 14-year-old protestor, who got severe injury at his hand when he tried to throw a fire cracker against the riot control police, got tested Covid positive. The youth protestor has been hospitalised since last night.—Matichon
  • The organiser of the protest on 11 August is calling for the other gathering at the Victory Monument before walking to the PM Residence on 13 August.—Krungthep Turakij
•  It is a no-go for the medical amnesty bill as the Deputy PM and legal pundit Wissanu said in the cabinet meeting pushing back the bill and ask the Public Health to think hard enough before proposing again. The government legal pundit said that the way to protect the medical staffs from accidental wrongdoings is to reassign the staffs to be part of the CCSA.—Prachachat Turakij
•  Piyabutr Saengkanokkul, the secretary-general of the opposition Progressive Movement, posted on his social media his idea on the amendment of Section 2 (regarding monarchy). The amendments include the abolishment of the Privy Council, the oath-taking before the monarch to reign, and the power of the monarch to turn down any laws approved by the House.—Prachatai
• On 11 August, the Opposition has agreed to submit the names of five ministers to be on grill in the upcoming censure debate, including the PM, Public Health Minister Anutin, Transport Minister Saksayam, Commerce Minister Jurin and Agriculture Minister Chalermchai. They will conclude the nameless before sending to the House Speaker on 14 August. As for the Deputy PM Prawit, he made it without being on the grill as the Opposition said he is Deputy PM without any direct agencies under supervision.—Thai Rath

Economic:

Cabinet’s Decisions, 11 August 2021

Approved of increasing the budget for Social Security compensation to cover the 16 provinces that were recently categorised as dark red zones. 

• Compensation for employers and employees under Section 33 of the Social Security Act (SSA) was raised by 2.02 billion Baht from 15 billion to 17 billion Baht.  The implementation period is also extended by 1 month to 24 August 2021.   
• Some 33.5 billion Baht is being allocated as compensation for those insured under Section 39 and Section 40 of the SSA for 6.7 million people.  Source:  Prachachart Turakij

Approved of allocating 12.7 billion Baht for medical workers and 1.88 billion Baht for officials assisting with public vaccination, totaling 14.5 billion Baht.  Source:  Bangkok Post

Approved of the revised law to enable SMEs to enter rehabilitation process without having to declare bankruptcy.  The move is made to assist SMEs with liquidity problems caused by COVID-19 rehabilitate their business.  Source:  Thansettakij

Others

• Dr Suvit Maesincee, the former Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation Minister who conceived of the Bio-Circular-Green economic model, reiterated that the BCG concept will help Thailand survive COVID-19 shocks.  BCG can reduce Thailand’s reliance on foreign investments while bolstering its competitiveness by capitalizing on local resources, such as its bountiful agricultural produce.  PM Prayut had established committees in October 2020 to drive the BCG plans, namely 1) the BCG economy development committee and 2) management committees as well as 9 subcommittees.  Dr Suvit described Thailand’s current BCG development structure as impractical, saying it may fail to boost the economy in the short and medium term.  Instead, Dr Suvit proposed that a strong team be set up to make proposals directly to a special national BCG Strategy Committee, with PM Prayut facilitating their requests.  Source:  Thai Rath Bangkok Post
• Phuket is seeing a steady rise in the number of COVID-19 cases, especially among Burmese migrant workers in the fishery industry.  The island reported 297 new COVID-19 cases last week, and 328 so far this week due to incoming Delta variant.   Tourism Authority of Thailand plans to launch aggressive tourism marketing campaigns overseas to promote the image of Phuket as a safe destination following the murder of a Swiss woman and as the US placed Thailand on the list of countries with a Covid-19 alert.  Source:  Bangkok Post
• Protection for bank deposits is slashed from 5 million Baht to 1 million Baht per depositor since 11 August, according to the Bank of Thailand (BOT).  The move is not expected to have significant impact on the supply of savings.  BOT insists the reduction is not related to COVID-19, but has been in the BOT’s pipeline to achieve its objectives of reducing inequality and make room for the government to allocate more budget for economic activities.  Sources:  The Nation Prachachart Turakij Bangkok Post
• The foreign business confidence index (FBCI) stood at only 27.7 in the Q2 of this year, down from 33.2 in Q1, reported the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (UTCC).  The tepid foreign business confidence in Thailand is attributable to prolonged Covid-19 outbreaks, weak consumer purchasing power, low investment, and battered tourism and employment.  The JFCCT and Thai Chamber of Commerce urged the government to expedite vaccine rollout to restore foreigners’ confidence.  Sources:  Bangkok Post Thansettakij
• Ministry of Commerce had consulted with the public and private sectors about the European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), which will be enforced in 2023.  MoC expects CBAM to affect Thailand’s export of steel and aluminum to the EU, worth around 145 million USD.  MoC urges exporters to start reducing greenhouse gas emission in their production and will consult with the EU to reduce potential repercussions on Thai trade.  Source:  Thailand Plus TV

Headlines summary as of 10 August 2021

News

Newly confirmed case(s)	Total Cases	Patients under severe conditions and those using ventilators	Discharged from hospital	From 1 April, totally confirmed cases (third wave)	1st dose vaccine recipients (from 28 Feb)	3rd dose vaccine recipients (from 16 July)
19,843 (398 from prisons)	795,951 (last seven days: 143,766)	5,450/ 1,106	578,140 (+22,806)	767,088	16,336,743 (+350,389)BKK:5,537,698 (+70,470)	268,022 (+46,457)BKK: 66,486 (+13,790)
Local transmission	From abroad	Being hospitalised/ in field-hospital/ quarantined	Confirmed cases in Bangkok	Death toll	Total vaccination (doses)	2nd dose vaccine recipients (from 28 Feb)
19,424 [14,832  (get tested in hospital) + 4,592 (active case finding)]	21 (in SQ)	211,223 [148,506 in field hospital]	189,330 (+4,226)	6,588 (+235) (last seven days: 1,273)	21,171,110 (+501,330)BKK:6,808,007 (+95,231)	4,566,345 (+104,484)BKK:1,203,823 (+10,971)

Politics

• The PM has officially cancelled the extra order under the Emergency Decree which prohibits the spread of fake news and news which could stir fears even they are true. The cancellation has been gazetted. The Civil Court has issued temporary suspension order after case filed by online news outlets.—all media outlets
• Thai authorities have detained at least 11 leaders of the country’s anti-government protest movements, all of whom presented themselves to the police after seeing the arrest warrant. Panupong “Mike Rayong” Jadnok and Jatupat “Pai” Boonpattararaksa surrendered to police after having their bail request rejected; Parit “Penguin” Chiwarak, had his previous bail terms revoked and also surrendered to police, while human rights lawyer Arnon Nampa handed himself in over fresh protest-related charges.–Reuters
• Online users circulated a leaked document showing a government watchlist of more than 100 dissidents who are under government surveillance and facing travel restrictions. The list included Move Forward and Progressive Movement’s executives, student-led protest leaders, iLAW coordinators, an actress and journalist. The document was labelled as confidential and dated as of 1 June 2021.—all media outlet
  • Move Forward Party’s secretary-general held a press conference saying that the PM and Deputy PM Prawit must be held accountable for such a list which regards government dissidents as the enemy of the state.—Krungthep Turakij
• After much speculation, the Public Health Ministry came out to admit that the ministry is preparing for the amnesty bill for health workers from any legal penalty in handling the pandemic.—Ministry of Public Health
  • Deputy PM and Public Health Minister gave an interview saying that he did not see the whole draft and that it was the public officials’ idea, not at the ministerial level. The top health officials defended the rationale behind the decree, saying that it will comfort the officials.—Inside Thailand
• The Opposition whip from the main Opposition Pheu Thai Party said that the opposition parties are going to meet and decide who will be on the list of the censure debate. The whip said the name list will be presented to the House Speaker on 16 August. The numbers of ministers who will censured are around three to seven positions.–Matichon
• Former Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya has suggested the way for the PM to peacefully step down from power, that is a social contract that he will dissolve the Parliament within 6 to 8 months. In the meantime, the PM must be the main initiator of Constitutional Amendment.–Matichon
• After the US authority arrested two Myanmar citizens in New York who plotted with an arm dealer in Thailand to kill Myanmar’s ambassador to the United Nations–Reuters, deputy Police spokesperson said that the Royal Thai Police has not received any request from any authority, but it is ready to cooperate.–Komchadleuk

Economic:

• The American company NatureWorks (owned by US multinational Cargill), together with GC International Corporation (subsidiary of Thai conglomerate PTT) is investing 20 billion Baht (600 million USD) to open the first polylactic acid polymers manufacturing complex in Thailand in 2024.  The complex uses advanced technology to produce biopolymer (bio-plastic) from sugar derived from sugarcane grown in Thailand. The complex is to be located in Nakhon Sawan province, at a special zone called Nakhon Sawan Bio Complex, which is Thailand’s first zone dedicated to promoting circular economy.  The investment was approved by BOI.  PM Prayut and DPM Supattanapong attended the virtual ceremony to kickstart the construction of the facility, hailing it as a significant milestone for Thailand in progressing towards BCG Economy by adding value to Thai agricultural product and promotes innovation as well as sustainability.  Sources:  Thai Government Press Release Krungthep Turakij Thai Rath
• The value of investment applications in the first half of 2021 rose 158 percent YoY to 386 billion Baht while the number of projects increased by 14 percent to 801 projects, led by the electronics and medical sectors, according to the Board of Investment (BOI).  Japan (87 projects worth 42.8 billion Baht), the United States (18 projects worth 24.1 billion Baht) and China (63 projects worth 18.6 billion Baht) were the top 3 source countries of FDI applications. In terms of sectors, the electrical appliances and electronics industry attracted the most investment, with investment value soaring by 136 percent YoY to 61 billion Baht through 77 projects. The Eastern Economic Corridor attracted 232 projects with investment value of 126.6 billion Baht, a 54 percent increase YoY.  Source:  Krungthep Turakij Bangkok Post
• Modern trade sentiment fell to a 3-year low, while operators were increasingly concerned about their liquidity, according to a quarterly survey by the University of Thai Chamber of Commerce (UTCC).  The drop is attributable to the growing concerns on domestic COVID-19 outbreak situation and the lockdown that is incurring an economic loss of 500 – 800 billion Baht monthly.  The retail business is one of the hardest hit, in which up to 270 billion Baht worth retail sale was lost in the 16 months since the COVID-19 outbreak.  Another concern is the rising infections among workers in factories and the logistics sector, which is starting to affect the overall food supply chains.  Sources:  Bangkok Post Krungthep Turakij
• Finance Minister Arkhom insisted it is not necessary to raise public debt to GDP ceiling to above 60 percent, given that public debt ratio at the end of 2021 is expected at 58 percent.  His response came after the JSCCIB proposed that the public debt ceiling be raised to 65 – 70 percent of GDP.   Ministry of Finance reasoned that the government currently has no plans to borrow more, since only 840 billion Baht of the 1 trillion Baht loan been disbursed.  Additionally, there is an additional 500 billion Baht loan that has yet to be used.  Minister Arkhom also added that plans are not in the pipeline to raise the public debt ceiling.   Source:  Prachachart Turakij
• Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand (IEAT) is inviting investors to bid for the third-phase development of the Map Ta Phut deep sea port in Rayong province, which is part of the EEC zone.  IEAT plans to announce the 55-billion-Baht project’s terms of reference to interested bidders by the end of 2021 and expects to sign a contract with an investor by October 2022.  Construction is scheduled to start in 2024, with the start of operations slated for 2026.  Source:  Bangkok Post

Headlines summary as of 9 August 2021

News

Newly confirmed case(s)	Total Cases	Patients under severe conditions and those using ventilators	Discharged from hospital	From 1 April, totally confirmed cases (third wave)	1st dose vaccine recipients (from 28 Feb)	3rd dose vaccine recipients (from 16 July)
19,603 (313 from prisons)	776,108 (last seven days: 142,824)	5,218/ 1,084	555,334 (+19,819)	747,245	15,986,354 (+143,071)BKK:5,460,638 (+50,804)	221,565 (+24,381)BKK: 51,987 (+2,352)
Local transmission	From abroad	Being hospitalised/ in field-hospital/ quarantined	Confirmed cases in Bangkok	Death toll	Total vaccination (doses)	2nd dose vaccine recipients (from 28 Feb)
19,278 [16,119 (get tested in hospital) + 3,159 (active case finding)]	12 (in SQ)	214,421 [145,526 in field hospital]	185,104 (+3,114)	6,353 (+149) (last seven days: 1,185)	20,669,780 (+191,145)BKK:6,703,480 (+61,299)	4,461,861 (+23,693)BKK:1,190,855 (+8,143)

• The deputy head of the Disease Control Department said that the spread in Greater Bangkok begins to slow down and should there is no new major cluster, the situation could be under control within a month. Meanwhile, the situation in the provinces will be under control in two weeks. The health authority has called for the people to stay at home more to help curb the pandemic.—Prachachat Turakij
• It is a spooky news for widely-believed Thai anti-Covid herb ‘Creat’ as the research team has withdrew their publication from the medRxiv (journal awaiting publications) as there are flaws within experiment. The current experiment in the publication could be concluded that the usage of the herb could reduce the lung’s inflammatory in no greater effects than the placebo. The herb has been used and trusted by many locals as the panacea to the coronavirus.—Thai Rath
  • Political Scientist from Chulalongkorn University Pitch Pongsawat said that the ‘myth’ revolving around the herb is in accordance with the psyche of ‘Thai exceptionalism’ where Thai people believe that the Kingdom is home to the best herb in the world. This kind of ‘myth’ has been there since the Thai herb as the solution to HIV/AIDS. The effects of the herbs are, however, never have scientific proof.—Voice TV
• Thai police on Saturday said that a man had been taken into custody for the death of a Swiss tourist who entered Phuket on the government flagship Phuket Sandbox scheme. The 27-year-old suspect knocked out the tourist and robbed her, having encountered the woman at a waterfall where he had gone to find fruits.–Reuters

Politics

• The rumor regarding position in high place has been circulating over the weekend:
  • Starting with BBC Thai, the name of Sarath Ratanavadi has returned to be under political spotlight as the potential figure for minister or even the prime minister. The reports came in coincidentally with the signal from Deputy PM Prawit of the new PM to be person aged 45 to 60 who has been successful in business.—BBC Thai, Voice TV
  • On Friday, the Deputy Agriculture Minister and the secretary-general of the main ruling Palang Pracharat Party (PPRP) came out to dismiss the reports that he said he is ready to be the next Prime Minister as fake news. The minister said he never gave such remarks with ultra-conservative TopNews and has assigned his legal team to prosecute the news distributor.—Prachachat Turakij
  • An MP from PPRP has suggested the idea of cabinet reshuffle swapping the Interior Minister to be the Public Health Minister and vice versa in a bid to curb the pandemic. The MP said that the father of the Health Minister was the former Interior Minister, he will have contributions to bring to the Ministry. The MP said the reshuffle will bring about positive changes to the pandemic administration.—Thai Rath
    • The MP this morning came out to apologise on his suggestion saying that it was merely the personal opinion not on the PPRP MP capacity. To take responsibility of such remarks, he said he has resigned from the position of deputy PPRP spokesperson and an PPRP regional secretary-general.—Prachaya Nongnuch
• A vocal MP from the Opposition Move Forward Party leaked internal presentation of the Ministry of Public Health which is preparing to issue an amnesty for mistakes of vaccine policy makers. The document laid out the royal decree for health workers and policy makers on their mistakes and failures in handling the pandemic.–Matichon
  • The official whose name was on the presentation declined to give clarification to the media, so do the Public Health executives.—Inside Thailand
  • Health Minister Anutin came out to defend the bill saying it was necessary to give doctors ease-of-mind as they deal with the pandemic. He said the legislation would close loopholes where patients could file lawsuits against the doctors. The Minister, however, dismissed claims that the legislation was to grant amnesty to decision makers—Thai Enquirer
• Over the weekend, there were various developments regarding the anti-government protestors:
  • On Saturday, anarchist-prone Free Youth Movement clashed with riot police after they changed the destination of the march from the Grand Palace to the Government House and then to the PM House in an army base. Organic protestors were in stalemate with riot police at Din Daeng intersection. There was a report of a police car being lit on fire. The metropolitan announced that they have apprehended 14 suspects on six different cases.–Matichon
  • The PM, through the government spokesperson, praised police for “adhering to international standards” in crowd control on Saturday, calling for the protestors to avoid using violence.—Krungthep Turakij
  • Free Youth Movement, the organiser of the protest, turned their stance on the fire lit on the police car that it remains unknown who is the vandal. Earlier, the  Movement implicitly said that the fire was a vengeance reaction against the violent crackdown by the police.—Krungthep Turakij
    • After seeing the violence on Saturday, the Twitter #BanFreeYouth has made it to the top trending in defiance against the relatively anarchist fashion of the movement.—Krungthep Turakij
    • Deputy PM Prawit has called for unity among the Thai people joining hands to pass through this pandemic together.–Matichon
  • Parit ‘Penguin’ Chiwarak, a student-led protest leader who got his arrest warrant turned himself in at the Police headquarters. The protest leader and other were taken into Border Patrol Police in Pathum Thani.—Thai Rath
  • Former pro-establishment PDRC leader Tanat Thanakitamnuay (see the Vice News report) led the so-called ‘enlightened former royalist’ movement from the posh area of Thonglor to the Ratchaprasong intersection against the PM whom he fully supported seven years ago. The group using car as means called for the resignation of the PM, the Constitutional amendment and the access to quality vaccines.—Prachachat Turakij
  • The United Front of Thammasat and Demonstration Group led by Parit Chiwarak is scheduled to hold a car mob protest at the Ratchaprasong intersection on 10 August from 1.00pm.
  • Natthawut Saikreau, former Red Shirt leader, has called for the other major CAR PARK (car mob and Hyde park) on 15 August.–Matichon
• There is an instability to the position of the government spokesperson as the PM has signaled last week saying that “for any spokesperson who does not want to work, just leave”, though the PM later clarified that the comment was made against ministerial spokesperson. Anucha Buraphachaisri, the government spokesperson, who has been in position for one year has been witnessed as stepping up his contribution in the last week. The support behind Anucha, who is closed to the former Education and the Digital Economy Ministers who got kicked out of the cabinet earlier, is running thin as there are emerging competitors against the spokesperson.—Matichon Weekly
• After the Civil Court made a verdict that the PM order under the Emergency Decree to ban the report on ‘information which may stir fear’ and the authority to close down IP address of the outlets are unconstitutional, the Deputy PM and government legal pundit Wissanu warned the media that even with the Court protection, the media must not violate any other clauses regarding the fake news and that the court order is just temporary.—Thai Rath

Economic:

• In the 3 years since the establishment of EEC in 2018, it had succeeded in attracting investments worth 1.5 trillion Baht, which is 94 percent of its 1.77 trillion Baht target.  The EEC Board is currently working on a strategy for the next 5 years with the goal of attracting 500 billion Baht into 4 target industries, namely 1) 5G businesses that had already transformed Rayong province’s Ban Chang district into a Smart City; 2) Medical Business 3) Electric Vehicles (EC) for which it aims to establish 100 EEC stations in 2021 and 200 stations in 2022 and 4) BCG economy where investment in clean energy was made in 30 percent of the EEC zones, such as solar cells.  Moving forward, the EEC establish more industrial estates and special economic zones.  Board of Investment reported that Investment applications in the EEC as of Q1 2021 had risen by 39 percent to 64.4 billion Baht and is anticipating investments of 250 – 350 billion Baht in the 4 target industries from 2022 onward.  The EEC Office affirmed they have not given up on pursuing the MRO in U-Tapao despite having to start the project from scratch.  Source:  Prachachart Turakij
• The government is committed to investing 52.9 billion Baht in 38 projects from now until 2037 to secure sufficient water supply to the EEC.  The EEC Office is also deliberating on using underground water to fulfill the EEC’s demands for 1.295 billion cu m of water annually.  In 2027, the EEC’s water demand is estimated at 1.493 billion cu m.  Source:  Bangkok Post
• The Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand (IEAT) saw its revenue in the first 9 months of FY 2021 increase by 138 percent YoY to 130 billion Baht, driven largely by industrial estates located in the EEC. Most investments went into car manufacturing (13.8 percent of total investment), followed by steel (10.8 percent).  China invested the most in industrial estates (15.2 percent), attributable to the US-China trade war that led investors from China to relocate their facilities to Thailand and other ASEAN countries.  IEAT noted investors have relocated 230 projects to Thailand with a value of 120 billion baht since 2018.  Source:  Bangkok Post
• Given that Thailand is unlikely to reopen in September and the momentum for Phuket Sandbox is slowing down, Bank of Thailand (BOT) forecasted that Thailand will receive 150,000 visitors this year and 6 million in 2022 if it can curb the pandemic in Q4.  If COVID-19 is rampant until the end of this year, foreign tourists would total 100,000 in 2021 and 2 million in 2022.  Similarly, Tourism Authority of Thailand projected that in the worst-case scenario, Thailand would welcome 10 million international visitors in 2022 and up to 18 million visitors in the best case scenario.  To this end, Thailand will have to resort to other drivers of growth such as export, start-ups and e-commerce and reforming tax structure to boost investment.  Source:  Bangkok Post
• Some 107 environmental groups have called on the government to prohibit the import of plastic waste within 2021 and promote the use of domestic plastic waste for recycling to protect the environment and promote circular economy. The environmental groups objected revisions made to a plan to ban plastic waste imports by September 2020 by a subcommittee on plastic waste and electronic waste management.  Nonetheless, the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources confirmed plastic import will be completely banned on 1 January 2026.  Sources:  Thai Public Relations Department News Bangkok Post
• Food processors asked Commerce Ministry to raise the prices of processed food by 5-7 percent, citing high production costs from raw materials and packaging to labour. Thai Food Processors Association attributed this to the rising number of Covid-19 infections in the manufacturing sector, wherein costs have risen by 10 percent.  Concurrently, Commerce Ministry has instructed provincial commerce officers to monitor the prices of goods in the market to ensure sufficient supply.  Source:  Bangkok Post

Headlines summary as of 6 August 2021

News

Newly confirmed case(s)	Total Cases	Patients under severe conditions and those using ventilators	Discharged from hospital	From 1 April, totally confirmed cases (third wave)	1st dose vaccine recipients (from 28 Feb)	3rd dose vaccine recipients (from 16 July)
21,379 (484 from prisons)	714,684 (last seven days: 136,309)	4,993/ 1,058	495,904 (+22,172)	685,821	15,180,276 (+397,275)BKK:4,129,989 (+42,267)	175,190 (*just announced today)
Local transmission	From abroad	Being hospitalised/ in field-hospital/ quarantined	Confirmed cases in Bangkok	Death toll	Total vaccination (doses)	2nd dose vaccine recipients (from 28 Feb)
20,885 [16,812 (get tested in hospital) + 4,073 (active case finding)]	10 (in SQ)	212,926 [127,896in field hospital]	174,689 (4,700)	5,854(+191) (last seven days: 1,175)	19,632,537(+670,834)BKK:6,431,393 (+53,188)	4,277,071 (+98,369)BKK:1,150,702 (+10,921)

• The government-flagship project ‘Phuket Snadbox’ is facing its greatest challenge, thus far as a Swiss nationalst who entered the island on the scheme has found dead near a waterfall.—Reuters  Authorities have responded to the case as followed:
• The PM, via the government spokesperson, expressed his condolence to the family of the deceased and has expedited the probe.—Krungthep Turakij
• The Deputy PM and Foreign Minister Don has also expressed his condolences and had made a call to the Swiss ambassador to Thailand.—Matichon
• The Police Chief, accompanied by a task-force, has went down to Phuket to lead the probe.—ThaiPBS

Politics

• The Civil Court has made a verdict that the PM order under the Emergency Decree to ban the report on ‘information which may stir fear’ and the authority to close down IP address of the outlets are unconstitutional and that the Emergency Decree did not allow the PM to have authority to ban the use of internet. The online media outlets filed a requests to the civil court asking for a temporary protective measures against the Emergency Decree order.—all media outlet
• The Democrat’s secretary-general denied the reports that coalition parties have supplied classified documents to the Opposition during the upcoming censure debate.—Matichon
• Pro-monarchist Political Science professor Chaiyan Chaiyaphorn posted on his social media pondering why student-led protestors are. Noosing 7 and 10 August as the day of their protest that the former was the day when the now-defunct Thai Communist Party picked up weapons to fight the Thai state; and the latter was the day of French Revolution.—Manager
• Piyabutr Saengkanokkul, secretary-general of the opposition Progressive Movement countered the argument as a logical fallacy.—Matichon
• Yesterday, Parit ‘Penguin’ Chiwarak posted what is regarded as a ‘leaked’ recording of police plans against the protest on 7 August. In the clip, the police planned to charge the protestors with Article 112 (royal defamation), 113 (overthrow the regime) and 116 (sedition). The recording indicated that the police focused very much on the Royal portraits of the Royal family members to be set on fire.—Prachatai
• The police has deployed 38 battalions of police from all over the country to take control of the protest.—Krungthep Turakij
• A source in the Police said that they are tightening up protective measures within the grounds of the Grand Palace and have stationed military inside the palace to prepare for any emergency.—Krungthep Turakij

Economic:

• Australia’s Minister for Trade, Investment and Tourism, Dan Tehan, convened a WebEx meeting with Thailand’s Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce Minister Jurin, noting that Australia is keen to forge a strategic economic partnership with Thailand in addition to the existing Thailand-Australia Free Trade Agreement (TAFTA).  Thailand and Australia agreed to pursue a strategic economic partnership to boost bilateral trade and investment, with TTIM Tehan inviting Minister Jurin to Australia to sign the deal next year.  DPM Jurin has also asked Australia to consider donating COVID-19 vaccines to Thailand.  TTIM Tehan informed the DPM that Australia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs is currently considering the matter.  Sources:  Prachachart Turakij  Thai Post  Post Today  Department of Trade Negotiations Press Release Thansettakij
•  The long road to recovery for Thai tourism marked a milestone following the first month of operation of the Phuket sandbox scheme.  The island welcomed 14,055 international travellers, contributing 829 million Baht, which created a multiplier effect of 1.9 billion Baht for the local economy and led to 2,719 full-time jobs, according to the Tourism and Sports Ministry.  Phuket’s reopening definitely had a positive financial impact as for the first time in over a year, many hotels have managed to cover operating expenses.  Hoteliers remain confident that demand will pick up towards the end of the year.  Source:  Bangkok Post
•  The 7+7 sandbox island extension scheme looks set to launch in August, with registration for certificates of entry (COEs) for inoculated tourists due to be ready on Aug 15.  The scheme was previously scheduled to launch on Aug 1, but it was postponed due to a surge in local cases on Phuket and Koh Samui.  CCSA will provide final approval at its meeting on 11 August.  Source:  Bangkok Post
• Ministry of Agriculture reveals that agriculture GDP in Q2 2021 (April – June 2021) expanded by 1.2 percent, an improvement from Q2 of 2020 which contracted by 3.1 percent due to better climate conditions.  Farmers also benefitted from the government’s debt holiday program as well as the rise in prices of agricultural goods.  However, Agriculture Ministry will continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation, which has affected distribution activities as well as suspended the activities of some factories.  For 2022, agricultural GDP is anticipated to expand by 1.7-2.7 percent YoY.  Source:  Naew Na
• Commerce Ministry reported that inflation was 0.45 percent in July after tallying 1.25 percent in June, 2.44 percent in May and 3.41 percent in April.  Month-on-Month, CPI dropped by 0.12 percent from June.  Core CPI, which excludes raw food and energy prices, rose 0.14 percent YoY in July. The decline is attributable to government subsidies for utilities, tuition and education fees to alleviate the impact of the prolonged Covid-19 outbreak.  Core CPI, which excludes raw food and energy prices, rose 0.14 percent YoY.  For the first 7 months of 2021, headline inflation averages at 0.83 percent YoY and core inflation 0.26%.  Source:  Bangkok Post

Headlines summary as of 4 August 2021

News

Newly confirmed case(s)	Total Cases	Patients under severe conditions and those using ventilators	Discharged from hospital	From 1 April, totally confirmed cases (third wave)	1st dose vaccine recipients (from 28 Feb)
20,200 (187 from prisons)	672,385 (last seven days: 129,024)	4,910/ 1,035	455,806 (+17,975)	643,522	14,492,385 (+284,908) BKK: 4,045,031 (+40,304)
Local transmission	From abroad	Being hospitalised/ in field-hospital/ quarantined	Confirmed cases in Bangkok	Death toll	Total vaccination (doses)	2nd dose vaccine recipients (from 28 Feb)
19,992 [16,284 (get tested in hospital) + 3,708 (active case finding)]	21 (in SQ)	[211,076 in field hospital]	165,849 (+4,118)	5,503 (+188) (last seven days: 1,106)	18,578,096(+379,271) BKK: 6,286,483 (+53,808)	4,085,711 (+94,363) BKK: 1,120,726 (+13,504)

·                     In contrast to earlier online reports that the CCSA is going to reverse its decision and allow take-away for restaurants in shopping malls, the CCSA firmed that they have not reversed the decision as public health staff concerns that allowing take-away from mall restaurants will force people to gather in front of the shop, prone to pandemic.—Matichon

Politics

 Yesterday saw a great conflict within the Opposition between the main Pheu Thai and second largest Move Forward parties:

• In the budget committee meeting Phue Thai Party agreed with the move to allocate 16.36 billion baht to the central budget under the PM direct control, a move that Move Forward does not agree with. The MF party said that giving the money to the PM direct control is giving a blank cheque. Phue Thai said, however, that there are restrictions on how the PM is going to spend the budget.–Thai Rath
• Phumtham Wechayachai, advisor to the leader of Pheu Thai Party leader, posted on his FB grilling Move Forward Party and that the quarrel between the two main opposition parties will be beneficial to the government.—Matichon
• The Supreme Commander of the Thai Armed Force issued a nation-wide ban on gathering of more than five peoples, including political protest. The order has been gazetted with a fine of two year term or 40,000 THB fine.—Krungthep Turakij
• The order is seen as a preemptive move to curb the protest on 7 August led by Free Youth Movement. The relatively more’ violent’ crack down by the police on 1 August was also read as an attempt to deter the protestors on 7 August.—Matichon
• Free Youth Movement has called for the protest on 7 August at the Democracy Monument and will march to the Grand Palace.—Free Youth
• The cabinet has finally nominated Suthipong Chulacharoen as the new permanent secretary of the prestigious Interior Ministry. The nomination of the millionaire state official who has been spearheading the royal project of the Royal Consort has various political ramifications:
• Krungthep Turakij viewed that the nomination of Suthipong might mean that the much anticipated new party led by the current Interior perm-sec might not proceed. As it is reported that Suthipong is not the best candidate to work with the Interior Minister to push for electoral campaign.—Krungthep Turakij
• Thai Rath regarded the unexpected nomination as influenced by ‘special signal’ and has disrupted the political plan of the PM to remain in power which has been very smooth so far. The failure to push the PM-DPM Prawit and Interior Minister Minister Anupong’s preferred candidates has made it very difficult for the three to place their ‘men’ in high positions.—Thai Rath
• It is reported that in yesterday’s cabinet meeting, the PM has ordered the Digital Economy Minister to curb the fake news issues as soon as possible and that he will keep on following-up with the development.—Matichon
• Yesterday marks one year anniversary of the historic ‘Harry Potter’ speech when anti-government and monarchical reform leader Anon Nampa explicitly touched upon the needs to reform monarchy. He spokes in front of the Bangkok Arts and Cultural Centre in Bangkok CBD on the royal involvement of the vaccine administration and pledged to take part in every demonstration from now on.—Prachatai

Economic:

Cabinet’s decisions, 3 August 2021:

• Approved for 12 ‘agenda services’ to be digitized into e-service format by FY2022.  These include digital ID verification, online tax payment, employment online service and National Single Window system to facilitate cross-border trade between ACMECS country.  Agenda services are those that involve numerous agencies and make significant impacts on the well-being of the population, or support economic and social recovery from COVID 19 pandemic.  Source:  Manager Online
• Approved allocating 30 billion Baht to help affected workers and entrepreneurs in the 16 provinces that recently became subjected to lockdown measures.  The relief measures replicate those already enforced earlier in the 13 lockdown provinces, wherein workers and entrepreneurs must be registered with Social Security System to be eligible to receive compensation.  The relief measures for 13 dark red provinces are extended to 2 months (July-August), while the measures for the additional 16 measures would run for 1 month (August).  This brings the total budget for the relief measures up to 60 billion Baht from 30 billion Baht for 29 provinces.  NESDC noted the lockdown on 29 provinces could chip away 1 percent of Thailand’s GDP, or 160 billion Baht.  Sources:  Bangkok Post  Thansettakij
• Approved for taxi and motorcycle taxi drivers over 65 years of age in 29 provinces to subscribe to Section 40 of the Social Security Act in order to receive compensation.  Transport Ministry is working on changing the regulations.  Source:  Thansettakij  Matichon

Others

• Thai National Shippers Council (TNSC) said Thai exports could fall by 300 billion Baht from August to December if the number of factories hit by COVID-19 doubles to 3,000, particularly in labour-intensive factories such as food as well as auto and electronic parts.  Should this occur, Thailand’s export for 2021 would grow by only 7 percent rather than 10 percent.  The infection has currently spread to at least 1500 factories.  TNSC called out for the government to expedite vaccination in factories as well as accelerate work on e-document management and applications through the National Single Window system.  Sources:  Bangkok Post  Naew Na
• Investor confidence has plunged to the lowest level in 9 months, according to the Investor Confidence Index conducted by the Federation of Thai Capital Market Organizations (FETCO) in July.  This owes largely to the worsening COVID situation in Thailan and weakening of the Baht that led to a 17.7-billion Baht outflow from the capital market in July.  FETCO also forecasted that the economy is likely to enter into a recession in the second half of this year, that the lockdown would be enforced throughout August and Thailand will not be able to reopen in October.  Sources:   Krungthep Turakij Bangkok Post
• Phuket Sandbox tourists left stranded in Phuket after all domestic flights were suspended as part of the measures to curb COVID-19 infection are offered a special bus transfer service to Suvarnabhumi airport.  The bus is available until 16 August, and is applicable only for thos who want to catch a flight from Suvarnabhumi airport to other destinations.  Source:  Bangkok Post