spoon

Yup, any progress on covid vaccine is a good news

Chinese COVID-19 vaccine candidate the first to start phase 3 clinical trials worldwide Chinese-developed COVID-19 vaccine candidate is the world's first to enter phase three human clinical trial which will begin in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Tuesday. It is also the first overseas clinical trial for a Chinese-grown vaccine, and is seen as an important step toward putting the vaccine into use and benefiting all humanity. The opening ceremony of phase three clinical trials for the inactivated vaccine, which may consist of whole, inactivated agents developed by China National Pharmaceutical Group Sinopharm (Sinopharm) was held online in China's Beijing and Wuhan, and the UAE's Abu Dhabi on Tuesday. Abdul Rahman Mohammed Al Oweis, the minister of Ministry of Health in the UAE issued the approval document to Sinopharm for the upcoming clinical trial, according an official statement Sinopharm released on Tuesday. The cross-national cooperation in the phase three clinical trials between China and UAE embodies not only successful attempts of international cooperation in vaccine R&D but also China-UAE's comprehensive strategic partnership, Chinese Ambassador to the UAE Ni Jian said at the opening ceremony. Abu Dhabi-based Group 42, which will work with Sinopharm during the upcoming clinical trials, has offered AI services to coronavirus vaccine researchers, according to media report. The Wuhan Institute of Biological Products, affiliated with Sinopharm, announced on June 16 that the company's COVID-19 inactivated vaccine candidate had not shown any severe adverse effects in the first two phases of clinical trials, and it is the first vaccine candidate in the world to show favorable immunogenicity and safety. Previously, 180 volunteer workers in Sinopharm were vaccinated with the vaccine candidates. More recently, more than 1,000 Sinopharm employees were voluntarily vaccinated, and the results showed the vaccine is safe and effective, with adverse reactions far lower than other vaccines undergoing trials, according to Sinopharm's official statement on Tuesday. On April 12, the vaccine was approved to enter phase one and phase two clinical trials in Wuzhi county, Central China's Henan Province. Sinopharm has also established the high-level biosafety laboratory for the production of the potential COVID-19 vaccine if it is needed for emergency use. On April 15, Sinopharm's Beijing Institute of Biological Products said it had the capacity to produce 120 million doses of the vaccine a year, while the company's institute in Wuhan will be capable of producing 100 million doses annually

If wellness tourist includes sexual wellness..... Lol

There isnt any word used in malay to describe top or bottom. Naturally, we just adopt the western word for it. However, in chinese, people use I and O or rather 1 and 0 for top and bottom. Ive used this as hand symbol in the thai gogo bar successfully to indicate top and bottom as well lol

Seven groups of foreigners expected to be allowed entry The government plans to allow seven groups of foreigners to enter the country, Dr Taweesin Visanuyothin, the spokesman of the government’s Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration, announced today (June 22). The committee has divided these into two main groups. The first group may not include those under the so-called “travel bubble” international pact as they may be required to undertake state quarantine on entry: 1. Businessman and investors (around 700 have registered to enter). 2. Skilled labourers and exporters who need to inspect factories or for specific business purposes (around 22,000 have registered). 3. Foreigners married to Thais, or permanent residents of Thailand (around 2,000 have registered). 4. Medical and wellness tourists (around 30,000 have registered). The other group comprises travellers who won’t need to go into quarantine on entry: 1. Businessman on short-duration stays, including those coming into the country for business discussions. This group might need a specific area and intense screening both before travel and at arrival at airports. Considered a “power group”, these are entrepreneurs who will visit the country to sign business contracts or inspect sites or factories, which is essential to the economy. 2. Government guests who are invited for ceremonies or specific seminars. 3. Tourists under the travel bubble. Dr Taweesin said that the target countries are China, Japan and South Korea, which are presently trying to contain the virus. The CCSA aims to discuss the issue in depth with the Cabinet after finalising the details. Nation Thailand Sadly im not amongst the 7 group yet.

At the beginning of the border closedown, lots of border crossing were shut. My guess is the only myanmar-thailand border crossing that is open now is Mae Sot.

Yup from national geopgraphy. At the end of the article does mentioned the photographer name who is a storytelling grantee of the National Geographic Society. https://api.nationalgeographic.com/distribution/public/amp/history/2020/06/look-inside-thailand-prevented-coronavirus-gaining-foothold

The first coronavirus case outside of Chinaappeared in Thailand. When the news hit in January, uneasiness spread among the population. Few people seemed confident that our government could handle the situation. After all, the minister of public health is a business tycoon without any background in health—unless you count his advocacy for legalizing marijuana. Many of us thought that we would have to take care of ourselves, as usual. Expecting the worst, I began photographing Bangkok in the early days of the pandemic. I was especially afraid of a runaway outbreak in the city’s slums and that our healthcare facilities would be overrun. It didn’t turn out that way. The work has been frustrating at times, not because there’ve been so many cases but because there’ve been so few. Much to my relief, I am gradually running out of things to shoot. The government surprised us with its efficiency. China first reported the outbreak in Wuhan on December 31, 2019. Just three days later, Thai airports were screening visitors from the city. (Thailand is among the top destinations for travelers from Wuhan.) A day later, the public health ministry set up an emergency operations center. By January 8, the first suspected COVID-19 case was detected; it was confirmed as the first outside of China on January 13. From there, government leaders made the sensible choice to pass the reins to experts. The medical profession is highly respected in Thailand, and we have good medical schools and very affordable healthcare. Early on, healthcare workers monitored the temperatures of people arriving at airports and quarantined them if necessary; eventually everyone arriving from abroad was quarantined. (See how coronavirus has spread around the world.) The country can't afford mass screening so contact tracing was deemed to be more effective. There are more than 1,000 epidemiological teams investigating cases and monitoring them. It seems to work well, especially since the tracing was initiated early. I followed one of the mobile COVID-testing units for a week. The team traveled to different neighborhoods in Bangkok to provide free testing to people who’d been judged to be at risk based on contact tracing. None of the several hundred people tested by the unit that week was infected. At first, I was highly skeptical that the low number of reported cases reflected reality rather than insufficient testing. However, since there hasn’t been a sharp rise in unexplained deaths, the official reports appear to be correct. The cooperation of ordinary citizens has played a key role in containing the epidemic. According to one study, 95 percent of Thais are wearing masks in public during the pandemic, the highest rate in Southeast Asia. Over the past few years, wearing masks has become common practice in Bangkok because of its terrible air pollution from heavy vehicle traffic, industrial emissions, and farmers burning fields to prepare them for planting. I have several masks at home, including a proper respirator with twin N95 filters to use for the days when it hurts to breathe the air. Surgical masks are readily available at convenience stores, although for a brief period early in the pandemic people hoarded them to export overseas or sell locally at exorbitant prices. The public is strict about mask wearing. If I forget to wear one, the “aunties” on the streets glare at me intensely, making me run back home in shame to grab a mask. Bangkok didn’t really feel the effects of the pandemic until March, when transmission rates started to jump following a cluster of infections at a boxing stadium and a nightclub. On March 21, most non-essential businesses were ordered to shut down, including schools and entertainment venues. Five days later, an emergency decree came into effect banning all public gatherings. International flights stopped on April 4, except for those bringing Thai citizens home from abroad. The city changed almost immediately. The doors of the famous red-light district closed, and the majority of sex workers fled Bangkok because there weren’t any jobs. The foreign tourists disappeared. During high season, 50,000 people could pack Khaosan Road, Southeast Asia’s backpacking hub. When I went there during the shutdown, it was empty except for a few construction workers. Bangkok became so quiet. I never could have imagined this city of more than eight million, this center of Thai business, without the traffic jams or overcrowded public transportation that I grew up with. I was surprised by the suddenly available breathing space and how fast I could travel across the city. Walking alone around Bangkok felt strangely nice and a bit otherworldly. But the pandemic also revealed the ugliness that has always been here. Thailand ranks fourth in the world among countries with the worst income inequality, according to a recent study by the Credit Suisse Research Institute. Many people cannot afford to buy food from supermarkets, which meant that the fresh markets, where social distancing is more difficult, had to stay open. Yet I have friends who regularly ordered imported sea urchin and sashimi to be delivered to their house for lunch. It probably cost a hundred dollars each time. Not everybody can afford to stay at home. Many believe that dying from the virus is better than dying from hunger. The unemployment rate reached 9.6 percent in May for the greater Bangkok area and 8.4 million workers across the country are at risk of losing their jobs, according to one government estimate. More people are homeless because they can’t afford to pay rent. Citizens are donating food to the homeless, but the government needs to do more to care for them and to effectively address the inequity that has long plagued our society. Now Bangkok is gradually opening up. On June 15, the curfew was lifted. Nighttime movement is allowed, and most businesses in Bangkok are resuming operations. Some preventive measures remain, such as wearing face masks and social distancing. When we enter a shop or a restaurant, we must scan a QR code with our phone to register that we were there and facilitate contact tracing. Some people worry that the government is using the registration as a way to track people, so they only pretend to scan their phones. Although I don’t feel fully comfortable with sacrificing my privacy, I still report properly because I think it's important for the Ministry of Public Health to have this information. We’ve been lucky so far, with only 3,135 confirmed cases and 58 deaths. But the coronavirus isn’t done with Thailand yet. Although we may have dodged the disease, the socioeconomic impact will probably affect us for a long time. Sirachai Arunrugstichai is a Thai photojournalist covering marine conservation issues. He is an Emerging League of the International League of Conservation Photographers, a talent of the 6x6 Global Talent Program of the World Press Photo Foundation, and a storytelling grantee of the National Geographic Society.

Construction is one of the sector that opens up early in malaysia. It was closed in the initial lockdown phase though, which resulted in many foreign workers to go back to their hometown while some choose to stay. During the first easement of lockdown, construction was the first to open along with all related chain industry. However, our SOP was the construction company needs to have their workers who has symptoms to go for tests. Not long after, we see rises in cases from construction workers, and mass testing of foreign workers in construction were done. New cases increases daily hence the mass testing were expanded to all foreign workers in surrounding states. Im unsure how rigorous is thai gov with testing those who are working and what kind of SOP needed to be able to open up businesses after lockdown being relaxed. But over here, apart from rigorous contact tracing, we have additional clustering detection (5 cases or higher that isnt a close contact in an area), and if the cases are highly concentrated in an area, it will lead to a full lockdown of the area (no one in and out) followed by mass testing everyone in the area. This has been happenning throughout the lockdown period and are still happening. Maybe those who have been following the thai gov testing method can enlighten us all on their method which from posts here all i see is only contact tracing, random testing of frontliners, and testing and quarantine of citizen returning from oversea. This is certainly good enough for thailand to keep their cases low and their healthcare not overwhelmed and they are definitely doing more than myanmar, cambodia, or laos. Other than foreign workers, another seemingly neglected group id the homeless and during the lockdown, the homeless dont really have home to quarantine themselves in. Over here, they are all put in a makeshift shelter that are usually used for natural disaster shelter. Sadly, covid-19 doesnt care whether you are citizen or not, rich or poor, homeless or not, until everyone is following the same SOP and have access to testing and treatement, itll be hard to contain it. And id like to quote Trump here. "One way of reducing cases would be to stop testing altogether"

I know and already mentioned issues regarding covid19 spread amingst foreign workers is happening both in malaysia and singapore, hence the mass testing done to most foreign workers in both countries. Those registered foreign workers are traceable but ubfortunately, the illegal ones are not easy to trace. The condition of their housing, often in dormitories where 10-20 of them in one big rooms are one of few reason that a breakout within foreign workers is rampant. That is also true in detention centers for illegals, where malaysia's most recent return to the 3 digits daily cases were attributed to, and as a result, all detainees in 20 plus detention center nationwide undergone mass testing. Its a white elephant in the room that thai gov choose to ignore, and i guess since its from the southern region, and not near the center where most of the population resides, its seems not a priority. The argument about increase of unaccounted death are also dubious at best as most of the foreign workers are young and fit, so their death rate are much lower in the first place, and if you dont test the dead for covid, you wouldnt find out if the dead is due to covid or not. This also explain the low death rate for singapore and malaysia as well despite higher number of cases. That doesnt stop the young foreign workers who are positive from spreading the virus though. I guess since the south isnt as densely populated and i believe most foreign workers in the south work in plantation or fishery where they arent living amongst the thai population, it is still contained. I dont blame thai gov for not pursuing mass testing, especially foreign national, as it is not cheap, but not doing so might hide the reality and also hinder their decision to open up economy. They are doing the right thing to be cautious though and i believe this does contribute to why they are very hesitant to open up border and allow more foreigners to come in (which includes more foreign workers as well). I do believe the gov are aware of this hence they are delaying the opening of borders.

This confirmed my concern regarding thailand not mass testing foreign workers as their neighbors do. And further strenghten the reason why thai gov hesitate to open the country even when they have no locally transmitted case for more than 20 days. If 23 out of 35 myanmar citizen tested positive after coming back from thailand, i wonder how many more of them who is in thailand still might be positive.

Im disappointed that you didnt even bother to answer OP and give advise.

All i can say is wishful thinking. Yup, its easy to find wealthy tourist willing to stay in expensive hotel for 14 days before allowed to travel elsewhere in the country. Isnt that just similar to being quarantine, except its in a bigger area instead. Im sure there will be those who might go though but i doubt thatll really save thailand tourism.

Sauna mania and R3 sauna will open as well. I wonder if they will also follow babylon and only open the gym and pool only.

That gives about 4.7k per night for 14 night stay. Not too shabby especially if pattaya s part of the holiday lol

Coronavirus: Dexamethasone proves first life-saving drug Seems like there are headways on the treatment drug that cuts the death rate up to a third in those on ventilator and a fifth of those using oxygen.

Agree that they still didnt find vaccine for either sars or mers, though infection rate arent nearly as high as covid and sars practically gone on its own before the vaccine were developed. One can argue there isnt a vaccine because they dont have enough motivation to find one. Neither of the two virus have shutdown the economy and borders of almost 90% of the countries in the world nor have any of the two registered death in the hundred thousands and cases in the millions. But then again, certain infectious disease still dont have vaccine such as HIV, Hep C, and for HIV, the prevention switched gear to prevenatative medicine instead of vaccine. Treatment is definitely a more urgent and pressing issue to tackle now though. While treatment alone wont help curbing the infection, if it can significantly bring the death count down, its worth pursuing. Some of HIV treatment drugs have now been used as PREP, and certainly if that can be applied to Covid-19 as well, those high risk group will also benefit from this. Vaccine is ideal for us to go back to the normal though.

U can ask bareback expert @gaperking

Lets be honest, low risk country is one part of the equation but the major part of their decision is which country that will brings the most money, which is why singapore is also included while they are having hundreds of new cases daily. Cant blame them as the main reason to open up border is money, so if you are going to take risk, u want the reward to justify the risk. That said, this is all temporary steps taken until vaccine is found. After that, most likely the only requirement will be you have to be vaccinated to travel.

Soi 6, has long been neglected, except for tawan and the lesser of the 3 small host bar tucked away in the smaller sub soi. Maybe soi4/2 bars might go there as well. Location wise it is still convenient.

Gentrification of the area, hopefully for the better. As we can see before in soi twilight, most of the destruction also resulted in either the movement of the bars or a rebirth of bars such as lucky boys. Soi 4 bars like jupiter will surely take another venue, most likely on the same road as the other gay bars, perhaps replacing one of the straight girlie bars that didnt survive. The night market transformation is what id like to see! Hopefully some beer bars will grab the prime location and we will see a revival of dicks/maxis of soi twilight there. Food trucks at the like, more foods that can be enjoyed hopefully at street food price, nothing wrong with that lol. One thing Bangkok have too much already is the place to shop for cheap knock off.

My prediction is sort of right, economic hardship due to covid19 means more guys will enter the scene. Sad reality but i guess if i were there, id like to think im helping distributing the wealth and helping the poor.

Foreigners doesnt just mean tourist/expat, it also includes the many migrant workers. Given that malaysia, singapore both experiencing surges in cases when mass testing were done for migrant workers, its not unfounded for thai to fear the foreigners, at lrast for the time being. Thai gov didnt adopt to mass testing so the uncertainty is high. Instead of mass testing the migrant workers, this is the easy way to isolate them. Of course this is in no way justify isolating every foreigners but its just easier lol. TIT.

Could the bar open as restaurant instead? Serving food or takeaway alcoholic drink but doesnt serve at the bars?

I know some boys in pattaya have work permit, so i guess will be the one coming back sooner but i doubt they can produced insurance coverage as of the current requirement. Interested to see the development of boys returning to thailand as well.