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From Bangkok Post Bang Sue Central Station set to open next year More than 90% of work on Bang Sue Central Station is now complete. Once finished, it will be the largest and most modern railway station in Asean. After several decades of dormancy, Thailand's rail transport sector is entering a renaissance. In the capital city, 10 mass transit projects are under construction. Across the nation, major railway projects are also underway, including the 308-kilometre dual-track railway from Nakhon Ratchasima to Ubon Ratchathani. Many municipalities -- from Chiang Mai in the North to Phuket in the South -- are also pushing plans to build their own rail systems. However, none of these projects reflect Thailand's rail renaissance like Bang Sue Central Station, a "mega-station" that will replace the century-old Hua Lamphong Station as Bangkok's main rail hub. The State Railway of Thailand (SRT) says Bang Sue Central Station will open in January 2021, along with the Red Line commuter rail. "Once completed, Bang Sue Central Station will be the largest railway station in Asean. All diesel train services which terminate at Hua Lamphong will eventually be moved here, and the old train station will be converted into a museum," SRT deputy director Worawut Mala told the Bangkok Post. Mr Worawut said the station will serve as a hub for rail transport, with platforms to accommodate diesel trains, electric commuter trains, as well as high-speed regional trains and the airport link between Don Mueang, Suvarnabhumi and U-Tapao airports. The 15-billion-baht station is being built on 2,325 rai of land owned by the SRT. As it is envisioned as a hub, the station will be equipped with maintenance depots for both diesel and electric trains. Public utilities will be located there, while an elevated walkway will connect the station to the new Mo Chit Bus Terminal. One of the highlights is a 186,030-square-metre (m²) memorial dedicated to King Rama V, known as the Father of Thai railroads. The king's statue will be surrounded by a 14,000m² pond with fountains. While the station itself is nearing completion, work on the memorial has yet to begin as it has to be approved by the Bureau of the Royal Household first. As such, it is unlikely the memorial will be completed in time for the station's opening. The station's main structure consists of a three-storey building, not including the underground car park and the mezzanine level. Once completed, the building will be over 596 metres long and 244 metres wide. With a total usable floor area of 274,192m², the station will have a total of 26 platforms. It will also have enough parking space for 1,624 cars -- which is important to commuters as the station will be connected to the MRT's Blue Line. "Ticketing windows, retail and food shops, waiting areas and the connection to the Blue Line will be located on the first floor," Mr Worawut said. Bang Sue Central Station will be a part of the SRT's Red Line suburban railways system. It will serve as the terminus of the 26km "Dark Red" service between Bang Sue and Rangsit, from which passengers can switch to the 15km "Light Red" service that runs to Taling Chan. By the end of the year, the government plans to find contractors to work on three extensions for the Red Line -- the 8.4km Rangsit-Thammasat Rangsit section, the 14km Taling Chan-Salaya section and the 8km section between Taling Chan and Siriraj Hospital. Combined, the contracts are estimated to be worth around 23.2 billion baht. Once operational, the Dark Red service on the Red Line will provide a rail link between the northern and southern parts of Bangkok, while the Light Red service will link the city's eastern outskirts with the west.

From South China Morning Post Coronavirus turns Teflon Thailand’s wealth gap into a economic chasm As Covid-19 eats into exports and tourism, the gap between rich and poor in one of the world’s most unequal countries is only getting wider With both the lower and middle classes now facing ruin, ‘Teflon’ Thailand’s reputation for weathering financial crises is feeling the heat like never before On a roadside in a mixed Bangkok neighbourhood stands a shiny metal box – a “Pantry of Sharing” – where the haves in one of the world’s least equal countries can leave food for the have-nots, the ranks of whom are bulging as the coronavirus lays waste to the Thai economy. Each day, maids from the grand mansions nearby drop off an inventory of essentials – eggs, noodles, milk, sugar and water, sometimes a bag of mangosteens or rambutans – charity for those suddenly jobless. Opposite the pantry, Sumarin Boonmee says her life has been pitched into uncertainty since she was put on unpaid leave from her job at a supermarket three months ago. “I have no idea when I can go back, so I am selling meat skewers here for a little income,” she says, tending to a tabletop grill. She is a member of the Leelanut community, a slum of day workers and stallholders living under corrugated roofs amid cluttered walkways beside a mucky canal. The community is flanked by wealth – gated villas, wood-panelled cafes, condos and high-end salons. It is a hangover from old Bangkok, before money poured in and breakneck development airbrushed most of the poor from prime areas of the city. There are millions of newly unemployed like Sumarin, according to the Thai government, which last Sunday secured a near-US$60 billion stimulus package – the largest in Thai history – to resuscitate an economy flatlined by the virus. Bangkok locked down in late March. It is stuttering back to life. But jobs have been shredded, especially for those who depend on daily wages or low-paid jobs as cleaners, motorbike drivers and security guards. At the pantries, most are embarrassed for being forced to turn to handouts. “I’m just taking enough for now, so that others have something too,” says Suthep, a 49-year-old truck driver, taking a red-bean bun and a carton of milk for his granddaughter. Thailand’s economy leans heavily on exports and tourism and has been cruelly exposed by the impact of the virus, which has closed international travel and shrunk global demand. Now the “Teflon Thailand” tag, earned for resilience through financial crises, disasters and cycles of political turmoil, is being tested like never before. There are now scores of pantries across Bangkok, lifelines for those in need but also rare connection points between the rich and the poor. The pantry at the Leelanut community is filled twice daily by an heir to a large sock company, who lives 100 metres along the road in a grand house. “My business has been hit hard by Covid. But I’m very lucky,” says Pinnarat Sethaporn, 51. “I really feel for those living hand-to-mouth at times like this.” But it is not just the poor who are facing ruin. Middle-class workers are losing their office jobs, and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are bleeding cash, with knock-on effects on mortgage, car and school payments. Between six and seven per cent will be hacked off annual growth, according to an IMF estimate. The damage is already worse than the “Tom Yum Goong” crisis of 1997, when Thai banks overly leveraged with foreign debt collapsed, leading to a slump in the baht, white-collar redundancies and capital flight – problems that spread across the region and led to the Asian financial crisis. “This time, those who will be hit the hardest are the low and middle classes,” says Pavida Pananond, an academic at Thammasat Business School in Bangkok. “This crisis will further widen Thailand’s inequality.”

Found some interesting offers on Travelocity for Dec. 1-8: Silom Serene (Silom soi 3) has a $41 rate that can be cancelled by Nov. 30) Raya $59 (pay now but cancel before No. 27) Red Planet $31 and can cancel by Nov. 30 You'll find similar offerings in Agoda.

From South China Morning Post How Cambodia’s floating hospitals are saving the lives of its poorest communities The Lake Clinic takes medical care offshore to 10,000 of those who make a meagre living on Tonlé Sap, the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia Tonlé Sap, in northern Cambodia, is the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia. During the May to October rainy season, it swells to six times its dry-season size, extending over 16,000 sq km – an area 200 times that of Hong Kong Island. Tonlé Sap has also long been one of the planet’s most produc­tive inland fisheries. More than a million people depend on the lake for their livelihood, and about 100,000 live in its vicinity. While many dwell in stilted villages on the lake’s flood­plain, the poorest huddle in floating communities on Tonlé Sap itself, sometimes hours from dry land. Their homes are often fragile, rain-leaking shacks cobbled together from woven reeds, scraps of plywood, tin sheets and tarpaulins, all lashed to wooden or bamboo rafts kept afloat on air-filled oil drums. They are among the most isolated communities in Cambodia, the vast majority relying on subsistence fishing for their survival. According to the World Health Organisation, Cambodia has just 1.7 doctors for every 10,000 people (Hong Kong has close to 20, according to government figures released last year). Floating communities on the lake have long had access to zero. American Jon Morgan first became troubled by the lack of health care on Tonlé Sap in the 1990s, after completing his master’s in public health at the University of Hawaii. Morgan, who went on to co-found the Angkor Hospital for Children, in nearby Siem Reap, noted the lake dwellers’ poverty, lack of education, poor nutrition and hygiene. Add to that the high fees for treatment, available only far from home, and it was a perfect storm of preventable diseases and treatable injuries that could ruin or end lives. “I thought, my God, this is a nightmare,” says Morgan, now 67. “Somebody has to do something.” His solution was The Lake Clinic – Cambodia (going, aptly, by the acronym TLC), which became a reality in 2007 and has grown in scope and ambition ever since. Through the years, TLC has provided more than 240,000 individual medical services to people living on Tonlé Sap, and today operates five “floating clinics” – four on the lake and one on the adjoining Stung Sen River – catering to more than 10,000 inhabitants in nine of the most underserved floating communities. With five doctors, two nurses, four midwives, a dental nurse and support staff, funded purely by private donations, TLC’s two home-grown medical teams each make a three-day trip into the field every week. They live and work on offshore facilities, providing free medical care and health education to the most forgotten people in one of Asia’s poorest countries. Continues with photos https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3087394/how-cambodias-floating-hospitals-are-saving

From Khaosod English Government says Cambodian workers should remain in Thailand during Covid-19 The director general of Thailand’s Employment Department, Suchart Phonchaiwisetkun, says Cambodian labourers should remain in Thailand while the fight against the Covid-19 goes on in the region. He was speaking following a meeting with the the Cambodian Ambassador, Ouk Sorphorn, where they discussed how Thailand would deal with its migrant workforce during the pandemic. According to a report in Nation Thailand, Suchart claims Cambodian workers wish to remain in Thailand and continue working, rather than returning to their home country. He says having them travel across the border now would not only cost money but could increase the risk of virus transmission. He adds that having them remain in Thailand provides reassurance to Thai business owners that they won’t have to deal with a shortage of workers, adding that the Cambodians themselves are in agreement. “The Cambodians agreed to the preliminary principles and want relevant agencies in Thailand and Cambodia to meet in a video conference later.”

From Reuters Thailand's one million health volunteers hailed as coronavirus heroes SALADANG, Thailand (Reuters) - Nearly every day, 77-year-old Surin Makradee goes door-to-door in her village in Thailand, visiting every home to check people’s temperatures in a routine repeated in communities across the country during the coronavirus pandemic. He said volunteers helped create greater participation in the health systems in subsequent decades and won praise during previous epidemics like the H5N1 bird flu in the mid-2000s. Their role, however, had become less prominent over the past 10 years - at least until the coronavirus emerged. “I consider people in the village my family. If I don’t educate them, they will not understand the risk of getting infected,” Surin said in her village of Saladang in Ang Thong province, about 90 km (55 miles) north of Bangkok She is a member of the Village Health Volunteers, a long-overlooked network of more than 1 million community workers dating back to a Cold War-era hearts-and-minds programme. The volunteers have been praised by the World Health Organization (WHO) as “unsung heroes” in Thailand’s relatively successful efforts to fight the novel coronavirus. “Thailand’s village health volunteers are unsung heroes working to support the prevention, detection and reporting of COVID-19,” said Daniel Kertesz, WHO representative for Thailand, referring to the disease caused by the coronavirus. Apart from the temperature checks, the front-line health volunteers help the government collect daily health information and watch for flare-ups in infections. Surin, who has been a volunteer for 38 years and does her rounds by motorcycle, said she is also responsible for monitoring people who have returned from other provinces and need to be in quarantine for 14 days. Created in 1977, the Village Health Volunteers were set up as part of government efforts to help rural communities at a time when communists insurgents roamed through many parts of the country. With basic health training, the volunteers help provide rudimentary care and initial diagnoses in areas that are often a long way from a clinic or hospital. “They were gatekeepers for people in the community to get to medical treatment, and this was important considering the limited resources of our health system,” said Chatichai Muksong, a historian at Srinakharinwirot University. ======================================================================================================== From Khaosod English Doctor Who Founded Rural Health Volunteer Network Dies at 92 BANGKOK — The doctor who pioneered a nationwide volunteer network that looks after local communities’s health well-being died on Tuesday at 92. Amorn Nonthasoot, a former health ministry perm-sec who established the program, known by Thai acronym Aor Sor Mor, died of gastrointestinal bleeding, Nakornping Hospital director Worachet Teacharak said. The network he founded is widely credited for containing the COVID-19 outbreak in Thailand. Amorn dedicated much of his career to the development of the primary health care system in the country. Current health minister Anutin Charnvirakul posted a message of condolences for Amorn on Wednesday. After his graduation from Harvard University in 1962, Amorn piloted a network of health reporters to communicate healthy practices to rural communities. The idea was expanded into the Aor Sor Mor in 1977. The project has since grown to all regions nationwide. A total of 1.04 million volunteers have signed up to act as a middleman between rural residents and health officials, carrying out basic health outreach duties and more recently serving in the frontline against the coronavirus at community level.

From Thai Examiner Thailand begins herd immunity study Herd immunity study by Chulalongkorn University on a village in the Thung Yang Daeng district of southern Pattani. It comes, as around the world, people are beginning to question the response of governments and the huge economic loss caused by lockdown measures. Sweden’s singular approach has emerged as a source of increasing controversy while the role of the media and society itself is also in the spotlight. Thailand’s authorities have fared well in protecting the country against the Covid 19 virus but it is not yet clear how the kingdom will return to complete normality. The answer will be herd immunity whether this is achieved through a vaccine or by natural means. On Monday, it was revealed that Chulalongkorn University has commenced a herd immunity study centred on a small village in Pattani. This comes as the controversial approach taken by Sweden, which did not shut down its economy, begins to draw more strident critics and supporters as the world begins to weigh up whether it got it right or wrong in its reaction to this global pandemic. Even as Thailand is making impressive strides towards the development of the kingdom’s own vaccine against the Covid 19 virus with testing currently underway on monkeys, it is also pursuing another initiative based on the herd immunity theory. Details emerged on Monday of a small community-based study in a Pattani village located in the Thung Yang Daeng district in the southern part of the Muslim majority province. The important research is being led by Dr Wiput Phoolcharaen of Chulalongkorn University and is being called the ‘Pattani Model’ among those familiar with the project. The village being tested has a population of 1,070 people. Dr Wiput, on Monday, described it as the perfect sample site for his scientific study.

From Coconuts Bangkok COVID not spreading undetected, task force says, vowing vigilance Health officials today denied that the failure to detect new locally transmitted coronavirus infections means they aren’t trying hard enough. While announcing that the day’s only new case came from overseas, the outbreak task force said its limited testing that targets “likely” populations; such as medical workers, state officials and new prisoners; had come back negative in the last 32,500 people tested. “The ministry is on task to test 100,000 people classified in risky groups and areas, which began two weeks ago. So far over 32,000 people, or 32.56%, have been tested, and we haven’t found a positive case,” spokesperson Taweesilp Wisanuyothin said. Testing has never been widespread and officials have balked at the expense of expanding it outside of the narrow approach which they have given the muscular name “active case finding.” As segments of society reopen and public spaces fill again, “second wave” anxieties persist. That led to some skepticism after all of the new cases logged in the past couple weeks were only found in Thais returning from abroad. Today, it was a 32-year-old student back from Saudi Arabia, along with the report of one additional death. The student was diagnosed with the virus yesterday at a government quarantine facility in the southern province of Songkhla. She brought the number of known infections to 3,083 since January. The outbreak’s 58th domestic victim was an 80-year-old Thai Muslim infected along with hundreds of others at a religious gathering three months ago in Kuala Lumpur. Asked whether Songkran will happen in July after being postponed from April due to the outbreak, the spokesman played down expectations and said nothing would be official until at least Friday. “When I was asked yesterday if the Songkran holidays would be this July, what I said was if we do good today, it will predict our future,” Taweesilp said. “It will depend on the prime minister, so I can’t answer that”

From Bangkok Post Indonesia’s Lion Air, which suspended all of its scheduled domestic flights late last month, said it will remain grounded indefinitely -- including international services -- because of the impact coronavirus-related restrictions have had on travel. The carrier, whose slogan is “we make people fly”, is grounding its fleet from Friday, it said in a statement. Lion Air has 138 aircraft, according to a spokesperson, and a route network throughout Indonesia and other parts of Southeast Asia, such as Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia. Its units Batik Air and Wings Air, which have a combined fleet of 140 planes, also won’t fly. Indonesia banned air travel from April 24 to try to limit the spread of coronavirus through the archipelago, where confirmed infections are now approaching 28,000 cases. Some exceptions have been made for essential travel for certain businesses and for family emergencies, and after passengers pass tests to show they aren’t infected with the disease. The pandemic has hit the Indonesian airline industry hard, with foreign visitor numbers slumping 87% in April from a year earlier. Flag carrier PT Garuda Indonesia said in April that its first-quarter operating revenue could drop 33%, while AirAsia Indonesia warned its net income may plunge more than 75%, hurting its ability to repay debt.

From Washington Post Amid reopening, Singapore to create new housing for 60,000 migrant workers As Singapore took tentative steps to lift lockdown measures Tuesday, with some businesses opening their doors and some students back in the classroom, the country saw its first death among a migrant worker: a 51-year-old Chinese national, who was the 24th person confirmed to have died of covid-19 in Singapore since March. Singapore has confirmed more than 35,000 cases in a population of less than 6 million, a toll driven higher by outbreaks in crowded migrant-worker dormitories. The government pledged Tuesday to create less-dense housing for some 60,000 migrant workers before the end of the year, with more changes to come after that, in an effort to drive down the risk of infection, Reuters reported Tuesday. “The changes will be necessary to better protect the workers from widespread transmission, and to strengthen the resilience of the dormitories against pandemic risks,” Josephine Teo, the county’s manpower minister, told the South China Morning Post. Singapore has come under criticism for its treatment of migrants workers, who often face unequal conditions, advocates say. At any given time, the country is a temporary home to more than 300,000 foreign workers who live in dormitories, frequently with small, shared rooms holding 12 to 20 inhabitants. “[L]ow-wage migrant workers are the hidden backbone of our society,” Transient Workers Count Too, an advocacy group, wrote on its website.

From CNBC Thai hotels are offering luxury quarantine packages as an alternative to state-funded isolation Thailand is allowing five Bangkok hotels to offer luxury isolation packages as an alternative to the government-funded 14-day quarantine for returning travelers. International passenger flights have been banned from entering Thailand until the end of June, but the government has chartered flights to repatriate citizens who have been stranded abroad amid the coronavirus crisis. Anyone returning to the country is required to spend 14 days in state-designated quarantine facilities, most of which are hotels, with local media reporting that around 80,000 people have been quarantined to date. Now, the Thai government has approved five hotels in the capital to provide packages for anyone wanting to self-fund a more premium isolation period. Ranging from 32,000 Thai baht ($1,016) to 60,000 baht ($1,904) for a two-week stay, the resorts are offering perks like doctors’ consultations and meals to Thai citizens and expat workers who return to the kingdom from overseas. It’s currently unclear whether the offer will be extended to regular tourists when, and if, international passenger flights resume. Mövenpick BDMS Wellness Resort Bangkok The 14-day “Health Watch” package offered by the Mövenpick BDMS Wellness Resort costs 50,000 baht and offers luxury accommodation in a single-occupancy “Wellness Suite.” As well as being provided with three meals a day, guests will receive an initial consultation with a doctor, daily health monitoring under a nurse’s supervision, “immune system enhancing supplements” and a Covid-19 test at the end of their stay. The package was initially only available until June 30, but has been extended until July 31. Qiu Hotel Bangkok’s Qiu Hotel is offering the most wallet-friendly package at 32,000 baht per person, which covers a 16-day, 15-night stay that includes three daily meals and a ride to and from the airport. Qiu’s package also includes two Covid-19 tests and round-the-clock access to ambulance services, hospital visits and video consultations with local doctors. The Idle Residence A two-week quarantine in the Idle Residence ranges from 50,000 baht for a superior room to 60,000 baht for a junior suite. The hotel has drafted in nurses from private health-care chain Samitivej Hospital to provide 24-hour care for guests in quarantine, and is also offering a “virtual hospital” to put them in touch with health-care professionals without going to a clinic. Grand Richmond Hotel The Grand Richmond is offering a 15-night quarantine package for 55,000 baht per person, with nurses from nearby Vibhavadi Hospital on 24-hour standby for guests. Guests will be put up in executive deluxe rooms on the 29th to 34th floors of the hotel, and are provided with three meals a day and a free minibar on their day of arrival. Royal Benja Hotel Quarantining at the Royal Benja comes with a price tag of 45,000 baht per person for a two-week stay. The hotel’s package includes three meals a day, discounted room service and a shuttle from the airport. Nurses will be on hand to care for guests in quarantine at the hotel, and the package also includes two Covid-19 tests as well as an ambulance service and video calls with local doctors.

....that I just needed something to make me smile. This video about a Filipino and his dog did it for me. At least they have each other. It also made me more aware that when I say I miss Thailand, what I'm really missing are moments of intimacy. And the older I get, that matters more than all the other reasons for wanting to return.

From The Thaiger Shopping centre operator Central Retail Corporation has bought 100% of Family Mart, one of Thailand’s major convenience store chains, as it “moves forward to develop a new business model to cater to modern consumers”. CRC’s chief executive officer says the acquisition will strengthen Central’s hold on the food market and convenience store business in Thailand, which is burgeoning. Since 2012, CRC has partnered with Japan Family Mart with its subsidiary SFM Holdings holding a 50.65% stake and Robinson Plc holding a 0.35% stake in Central Family Mart Ltd, the local operator of the Family Mart chain in Thailand. Yesterday’s acquisition saw CRC snap up the remaining 49% from the Japanese partner making it the sole owner of FamilyMart’s Thailand operations.

From Bloomberg News Japan is considering easing entry restrictions on people from Thailand, Vietnam, Australia and New Zealand because of signs that novel coronavirus infections are declining in those countries, the Yomiuri newspaper reported, citing government officials. The government may relax the limits from as early as summer, the newspaper said Sunday. The visitors would be required to carry documentation showing that they had tested negative for the virus before leaving their countries, and would need to be re-tested when they arrive in Japan, according to the report.

Unfortunately--for me--it's not available to those 70 and over. Perhaps a Thai insurer will offer a policy that satisfies immigration requirements. Just one more uncertainty that makes planning just about impossible at this stage.

One of the entry requirements mentioned in the Thai Examiner link above reads: "There must be health insurance coverage for up to $100,000 and this cover must also include insurance against the Covid 19 virus. This coverage must be authenticated by a Thai official." Anyone have any information on this type of coverage that would be available for tourists? NOTE -- Allianz, one of the more popular travel insurance providers, has posted this notice on its website: IMPORTANT: Our travel protection plans generally do not cover losses related to COVID-19, including due to government-imposed travel bans or other travel restrictions related to COVID-19. We highly recommend that you DO NOT purchase a travel protection plan for such conditions.

This has much to do with the drop in demand for petroleum products used in transportation, energy and manufacturing since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. International oil purchases are generally settled in US dollars. In 2019, Thailand paid out $22.3 billion for imported oil. But consumption has slackened off significantly so there is a corresponding reduced need for imports and for dollars to pay for them. Thailand was the 13th largest importer, just behind Singapore and just ahead of Taiwan.

From Coconuts Bangkok Automated people movers designed in Canada and built in China will soon arrive to whisk passengers between commercial developments on the Chao Phraya River. The first of several Bombardier Innovia APM300s will arrive next month to service the Gold Line which will connect the BTS Silom Line to waterfront properties – namely the Iconsiam shopping mall, a city management firm announced yesterday. Though marketed as a monorail, the Gold Line will more resemble another retro-futurist Disney ride: the PeopleMover. Its three people movers, with two cars each, ride on wheels which follow a rubber track. Each train will hold about 140 passengers. When it launches in October, Thailand’s first operator-free train will run at a maximum 80kph. Manit Techaapichok of City Hall project management firm Krungthep Thanakom Co., said work completion was at a very specific “88%.” The cabinet approved the line in 2016 and expected it to be completed two years ago in time for the mall’s opening. Though criticized as a gift to developer Siam Piwat’s Iconsiam shopping mall outside the city’s master transportation plan, the developer underwrote its estimated THB3.8 billion cost. It will connect the existing BTS Krung Thon Buri to three new stations at Thonburi, Charoen Nakhon and Khlong San. A future expansion will close the loop by linking it up to the Purple Line.

One of the issues affecting foreigners seeking to get back to Thailand as soon as feasible is the "transit" status of connecting airports. Scanning through today's news came up with some information on Singapore and Hong Kong airports. However, the reports about both Singapore and Hong Kong are sketchy on details and it's uncertain if the new rules announced by Beijing will affect transit passenger traffic in Hong Kong. SINGAPORE From Reuters Singapore, a regional travel and tourism hub, will gradually allow travellers to transit through its Changi Airport from June 2, the city-state's aviation regulator said on Wednesday. Currently, foreign passengers may only transit through Singapore if they are on repatriation flights arranged by their governments. In March, visitors were banned from entering or transiting through the city-state to help combat the COVID-19 pandemic. "This is part of Singapore's strategy to gradually re-open air transport to meet the needs of our economy and our people, whilst ensuring sufficient safeguards for safe travel," the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore said. It said airlines should submit their proposals for transfer lanes, which will be evaluated taking into account aviation safety, public health considerations, as well as the health of passengers and air crew. Changi Airport, among the world's busiest last year, recorded 25,200 passenger movements in April, crashing 99.5% from the year ago. HONG KONG From South China Morning Post Transit through Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) to and from mainland China will not be allowed in the first phase of opening up transfer travel in the city from June 1 as coronavirus measures are eased. Cathay Pacificconfirmed the restrictions after two sources said transport officials in Hong Kong had instructed the firm and Hong Kong Airlines that they could not fly transit passengers to the mainland in a meeting with company representatives earlier this week. “In this first phase, transiting to and from destinations in mainland China is not available,” Cathay said on its website. According to a third source at the meeting, officials explained that they did not want to overwhelm transit facilities, citing the need to slowly build up the airport’s capability otherwise it could not cope. China currently has the highest demand for air travel anywhere in the world. The Hong Kong administration earlier announced that transiting would be allowed at the airport starting from June, a move to relax travel restrictions imposed to combat the Covid-19 pandemic. But no details had been unveiled. “Airlines have the utmost responsibilities in ensuring, at the point of check-in at the origin ports that the transit passengers will be accepted at the final destinations. It is the responsibility of the airlines to conduct all necessary verification at the origin ports,” the Airport Authority Hong Kong (AAHK) told carriers in a briefing on Friday. Airlines said they had been hit with a raft of other restrictions on transit passengers too. As part of HKIA opening up, any transit passengers with tickets sold before May 29 would not be accepted for travel, according to instructions from the AAHK, which runs the Asian megahub. Tickets could only be sold on the same booking by the same airline groups, such as Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon, but interline or code-share arrangements involving a foreign airline connecting onto a Cathay or Hong Kong Airlines service was not permitted. Also, passengers who have stopovers of more than eight hours in Hong Kong will not be permitted to travel, with the AAHK hoping to avoid the risk of contact and transmission of Covid-19 among passengers.

From CNN How Vietnam managed to keep its coronavirus death toll at zero (CNN)When the world looked to Asia for successful examples in handling the novel coronavirus outbreak, much attention and plaudits were paid to South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong. But there's one overlooked success story -- Vietnam. The country of 97 million people has not reported a single coronavirus-related death and on Saturday had just 328 confirmed cases, despite its long border with China and the millions of Chinese visitors it receives each year. This is all the more remarkable considering Vietnam is a low-middle income country with a much less-advanced healthcare system than others in the region. It only has 8 doctors for every 10,000 people, a third of the ratio in South Korea, according to the World Bank. After a three-week nationwide lockdown, Vietnam lifted social distancing rules in late April. It hasn't reported any local infections for more than 40 days. Businesses and schools have reopened, and life is gradually returning to normal. To skeptics, Vietnam's official numbers may seem too good to be true. But Guy Thwaites, an infectious disease doctor who works in one of the main hospitals designated by the Vietnamese government to treat Covid-19 patients, said the numbers matched the reality on the ground. "I go to the wards every day, I know the cases, I know there has been no death," said Thwaites, who also heads the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit in Ho Chi Minh City. "If you had unreported or uncontrolled community transmission, then we'll be seeing cases in our hospital, people coming in with chest infections perhaps not diagnosed -- that has never happened," he said. So how has Vietnam seemingly bucked the global trend and largely escaped the scourge of the coronavirus? The answer, according to public health experts, lies in a combination of factors, from the government's swift, early response to prevent its spread, to rigorous contact-tracing and quarantining and effective public communication. Vietnam started preparing for a coronavirus outbreak weeks before its first case was detected. At the time, the Chinese authorities and the World Health Organization had both maintained that there was no "clear evidence'' for human-to-human transmission. But Vietnam was not taking any chances. "We were not only waiting for guidelines from WHO. We used the data we gathered from outside and inside (the country to) decide to take action early," said Pham Quang Thai, deputy head of the Infection Control Department at the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology in Hanoi. By early January, temperature screening was already in place for passengers arriving from Wuhan at Hanoi's international airport. Travelers found with a fever were isolated and closely monitored, the country's national broadcaster reported at the time. By mid-January, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam was ordering government agencies to take "drastic measures" to prevent the disease from spreading into Vietnam, strengthening medical quarantine at border gates, airports and seaports. On January 23, Vietnam confirmed its first two coronavirus cases -- a Chinese national living in Vietnam and his father, who had traveled from Wuhan to visit his son. The next day, Vietnam's aviation authorities canceled all flights to and from Wuhan. As the country celebrated the Lunar New Year holiday, its Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc declared war on the coronavirus. "Fighting this epidemic is like fighting the enemy," he said at an urgent Communist Party meeting on January 27. Three days later, he set up a national steering committee on controlling the outbreak -- the same day the WHO declared the coronavirus a public health emergency of international concern. On February 1, Vietnam declared a national epidemic -- with just six confirmed cases recorded across the country. All flights between Vietnam and China were halted, followed by the suspension of visas to Chinese citizens the next day. Over the course of the month, the travel restrictions, arrival quarantines and visa suspensions expanded in scope as the coronavirus spread beyond China to countries like South Korea, Iran and Italy. Vietnam eventually suspended entry to all foreigners in late March. Vietnam was also quick to take proactive lockdown measures. On February 12, it locked down an entire rural community of 10,000 people north of Hanoi for 20 days over seven coronavirus cases -- the first large-scale lockdown known outside China. Schools and universities, which had been scheduled to reopen in February after the Lunar New Year holiday, were ordered to remain closed, and only reopened in May. Thwaites, the infectious disease expert in Ho Chi Minh City, said the speed of Vietnam's response was the main reason behind its success. "Their actions in late January and early February were very much in advance of many other countries. And that was enormously helpful ... for them to be able to retain control," he said. The decisive early actions effectively curbed community transmission and kept Vietnam's confirmed cases at just 16 by February 13. For three weeks, there were no new infections -- until the second wave hit in March, brought by Vietnamese returning from abroad. "We have a very strong system: 63 provincial CDCs (centers for disease control), more than 700 district-level CDCs, and more than 11,000 commune health centers. All of them attribute to contact tracing," said doctor Pham with the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology. A confirmed coronavirus patient has to give health authorities an exhaustive list of all the people he or she has met in the past 14 days. Announcements are placed in newspapers and aired on television to inform the public of where and when a coronavirus patient has been, calling on people to go to health authorities for testing if they have also been there at the same time, Pham said. As of May 1, about 70,000 people had been quarantined in Vietnam's government facilities, while about 140,000 had undergone isolation at home or in hotels, the study said. The study also found that of the country's first 270 Covid-19 patients, 43 percent were asymptomatic cases -- which it said highlighted the value of strict contact-tracing and quarantine. If authorities had not proactively sought out people with infection risks, the virus could have quietly spread in communities days before being detected. "The country understands that these things need to be taken seriously and complies with guidance from the government on how to prevent the infection from spreading." Continues with video https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/29/asia/coronavirus-vietnam-intl-hnk/index.html

From Khaosod English Otters Reconquer Thai Beach in Tourists’ Absence RANONG — Wiggling out from the water, rubbing their backs and bellies along the beach weren’t the usual crowd of tourists, but of rare sea otters. Residents of Koh Phayam in Ranong Friday spotted at least 10 smooth-coated otters playing on the beach, months after tourists left the island due to the coronavirus pandemic. “I’m so excited and happy to see them,” Jutharat Ladkaew, owner of a resort on Koh Phayam who posted photos of them online said. “Instead of sunbathing farangs and families vacationing, we have a new group of sunbathers.” Jutarat counted around 10 otters. They are believed to have swam from the mainland, around the wetland area near Kra Buri River which serves as a boundary between Thailand and Myanmar. “The otters are playing in the water, sunbathing in place of the farangs,” Sonchai Ui-tek-keng, president of the Tourism Council of Ranong said. “This shows that Ranong is so rich in biodiversity.”

From The Nation The long wait for handouts Some 1,000 locals in Chonburi province were queuing up from as early as 1am on Thursday (May 28) at Soi Thappaya 5 in Banglamung district to receive handouts of food and consumer products provided by the Norwegian Seamen's Church Pattaya. The church distributes 2,000 packs of the handouts at 9am every Thursday to people who have been affected by the Covid-19 situation in Pattaya, the famous tourist city that has been shut down to avoid the outbreak. At around 3am, police officers from Muang Pattaya Station came to disperse the crowd as 11pm to 4am are curfew hours imposed by the government. However, a news source said that the crowd dispersed only temporarily and queued up again once the police had gone.

From Bangkok Post State of emergency likely to end June 30 The government has set July 1 for the lift of all business and activity lockdowns ordered earlier to cope with the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), said the National Security Council chief. These include interprovincial and international travel, as well as the end of emergency decree and curfew. NSC secretary-general Gen Somsak Rungsita said on Thursday that the lift of restrictions would be a complete reopening of the country. Officials would next month prepare measures for the reopening. "Authorities will have serious discussions because after the emergency decree ends, other laws will be used instead," he said. ========================================================================================================================== From The Nation Thai economy could take more than 2 years to recover Standard Chartered Bank today (May 28) said it remains conservative on Thailand’s economic outlook, even as positive signs emerge with the possibility of a further policy rate cut to below 0.25 per cent. The return to pre-Covid levels of economic activity could take more than two years on the back of improving business sentiment as the economy reopens, the bank assessed, adding the government has been disbursing cash handouts to pandemic-affected households since April. Standard Chartered forecast Thailand’s 2020 GDP to contract by 5 per cent, with a sharp contraction of 13 per cent in the second quarter, followed by a gradual recovery in the second half of the year. "We expect another 25bps rate cut in the third quarter, taking the policy rate to 0.25 per cent. We also do not rule out further policy rate cuts to below 0.25 per cent, however. Negative rates are unlikely but not off the table,” added Tim.

From Bangkok Post With its "fortune hanging in the balance", the chief of Thai AirAsia (TAA) says it may merge with another low-cost carrier (LCC) to clamp down on pricing wars once flights eventually resume in the country. If Thailand does not resume tourism activities by July, TAA's chairman said next year the company would begin laying off employees, downsizing the company and its fleet to keep its business alive. Local aviation has suffered considerably over the past few months because of the Covid-19 pandemic and government restrictions on international and domestic air travel, including the total shutdown of Phuket's airport. Some 40% of TAA's revenue had previously come from flights in southern Thailand passing through Phuket airport. "TAA is burning about 1.2 billion baht per month during the lockdown when the 60-aircraft fleet of TAA is left stranded at airports," said Tassapon Bijleveld, executive chairman of SET-listed Asia Aviation Plc (AAV). Mr Tassapon, a major shareholder with 40.52% of AAV, which is the owner of TAA, told the Bangkok Post he already had a conversation with other airlines about the possibility of a merger, but cannot disclose any details as there's not yet a concrete plan, and other conditions are needed to accelerate this decision. Thailand has seven LCCs, but in his opinion three operators are sufficient for the competition in this market. "A merger is possible if aviation in Thailand resumes with the same old fiery price wars, as now we have more limited revenue sources," said Mr Tassapon. He admitted AAV is anticipating unprecedented losses this year. Though domestic air services have taken off since May, the load factors have not been good, as only those required to travel did so, not leisure travellers. While international guests are expected to return in October, starting with an Asian wave, European guests will need another two years for a full recovery, said Mr Tassapon. He said the operation cost of each domestic flight has risen by 15-20%, mainly attributed to hygiene safety standards, but the average revenue decreased because of limited seat allocation to comply with physical distancing rules. To avoid losses for each flight, airfares should price their tickets at 1,200-1,400 baht, up 15-20% from the usual rate of about 1,000 baht, said Mr Tassapon.

From South China Morning Post Queer Malaysian singer Alextbh on embracing his sexuality, living in a conservative society and going global Living in conservative Malaysia has not stopped the proudly queer Alex Bong from making waves in the music industry. Going by the stage name Alextbh, he writes songs that deal with relationships and heartbreak, and are mostly inspired by experiences in the modern-day dating world. The Sarawak native got his first taste of music production when he was only 14. After his mother gave him an iPad, he started experimenting with the music software Garage Band. The first song he posted to YouTube received just four reactions. Ten years on, the 24-year-old has appeared at festivals across Asia, opened for international stars including US singer Khalid and British electronic band Clean Bandit, and toured with Australian soul/R&B sensation Jess Connelly. With a sound that straddles minimalist R&B and dream pop, Bong has notched up more than 400,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. The singer’s most played single, Stoop So Low, has so far been streamed more than 20 million times on the platform. Bong says Stoop So Low track represented a turning point in his career. Moving away from soundscapes inspired by electronic dance music (EDM), Stoop So Low became his first venture into R&B genre. “I started with EDM because a lot of YouTube tutorials revolved around very loud, ‘synthy’ soundscape designs,” he tells the Post. “Once I made Stoop So Low, I realised the beauty of minimalist R&B and putting [my] vocals centre stage. [My musical style] has settled on R&B and I’ve been sitting here comfortably since then.” Alex says that his recent tracks have pushed the envelope further, with lyrics that unapologetically embrace his sexuality. Between, released in April, is accompanied by an enigmatic lyric video, featuring close-up shots of male bodies and blossoming flowers. This is the first track in which he discusses sex, using words such as “guy” and “boy” to refer to his lover. Continues with three videos (recommended) https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3086290/queer-malaysian-singer-alextbh-embracing-his-sexuality