Showing posts with label Shopping Malls. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shopping Malls. Show all posts

Sunday, June 7, 2020

#Thailand - Health department urges strict “new normal” measures at beaches


With Phase 3 of the easing of lockdown measures across Thailand, many beaches across Thailand were allowed to reopen, including Chon Buri’s popular Bang Saen beach, which was flooded with so many visitors that traffic came to a halt and police ordered the beach temporarily re-closed.

And beaches in Phuket are set to reopen this Tuesday, as the island has seen no new virus cases for weeks, and the nation has had no locally transmitted cases for 13 days.

But Thailand’s health department is calling for limiting the numbers of visitors to tourist spots to prevent a possible surge in infections. The concerns come as Thailand’s government prepares to allow some businesses and activities to reopen ahead of schedule. The head of Thailand’s health department has said that even though some restrictions on domestic travel have been relaxed, travellers should adapt to the “new normal”.

She says people need to continue to practice and social distancing and other safety measure, especially continuing wearing masks and sanitising their hands wherever they go. For the next phase of easing, she says, it may be necessary to curb the number of visitors to tourist spots, similar to limiting the number of people visiting shopping malls.

She wants local governments to control the number of visitors to beaches in their respective provinces, to prevent overcrowding and enforce social distancing. Tourists and service industry workers should also be required to wear masks while on the beaches.

Hand sanitiser should also be provided for visitors, and toilets and bathrooms at beaches should be cleaned every 2 hours, she said. She also believes visitors should have to check in and out at beaches.

Authorities say the health department is monitoring every phase of the relaxation, and has found that while people are continuing to wash their hands, they’re often not wearing facemasks in public.
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The health department chief clarified that, despite earlier reports, moviegoers aren’t prohibited from eating and drinking in cinemas, but they are urged to take precautions and wear mask at all times.

The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration announced on Friday that more businesses and activities will be allowed to reopen ahead of schedule if they can give assurances that they have plans in place to prevent transmission of the virus. Spokesman Dr Taweesilp say the CCSA has frequently discussed the fourth and final phase of relaxation, especially for high risk businesses and activities like pubs and bars.

A spokesman for PM Prayut Chan-o-cha said businesses that come up with plans to prevent transmissions may be permitted to reopen ahead of schedule, but that such plans will require approval from the CCSA’s business resumption committee first.

The fourth stage of relaxation will effectively lead to a complete reopening of the country. The government plans to completely lift the lockdown on all businesses and activities on July 1, the end of the Emergency Decree. This includes lifting remaining interprovincial travel restrictions, the national curfew, and presumably the ban on international arrivals.


Sources: Chiang Rai Times |Bangkok Post

Monday, May 18, 2020

Thailand Wins: Notify gov’t everywhere you go with new COVID tracking app


Because it’s never too soon to declare “mission accomplished,” a new app will put Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha’s favorite refrain when addressing  the nation –  “Thailand will win!” – into your hand while tracking every place you go.

Polawat Witoonkolchit of the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society said Thursday at the Government House that the COVID-19 task force has developed a smartphone app called Thai Chana (“Thailand Wins”) to track people’s movements – solely for public health purposes, of course.

The application will launch tomorrow along with further details.

Polawat explained that it will require businesses such as restaurants, barber shops and stores to register online and post a QR code for customers to scan with their smartphones.

Customers would use the app to check in and out of venues, Polawat said. Anyone who has visited a venue where they might have been at risk will get a notification that they should be tested for COVID-19. 

Addressing privacy concerns, Polawat said registration would only require people’s phone numbers, which may provide little relief given that all SIM card owners are already registered with the government. Don’t worry, he said, all personal information will be kept secret by the authorities.

“This is the relaxation for the new normal, and all of us are responsible for it,” Polawat said. “Initially, it might have some obstacles, but if we all cooperate, Thailand will definitely win.”

It was not said whether an effort would be made to require its use by all members of the public.


Source - Coconuts / The Thaiger

Saturday, May 16, 2020

Thailand - Second phase of lockdown relaxation to start from May 17


The government has approved the second phase of the easing of lockdown measures from May 17 to help lift the economy, Dr Taweesin Visanuyothin, spokesman of the government’s Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration, said on Friday (May 15).

The Cabinet has approved the proposal by the National Security Council to ease the strict measures in the second phase for businesses in the green group (moderate risk of the virus spreading).

Businesses that could reopen are:

1 Stores in department stores or communities malls, such as consumption, computers, electrical appliances, bedding, building materials, furniture, office supplies, flowers, clothes, cosmetics and sport equipment.

▪︎ commodities, gold and jewellery

▪︎service provider; internet cafe, laundromat, repair workshop, car shops for changing tyres, repairing and cleaning

▪︎ credit business

▪︎insurance companies

▪︎drug stores

▪︎dentist clinics

▪︎nail salons

▪︎restaurants, food courts and food centres

2 Large retail shops

▪︎building materials stores

▪︎furniture houses

▪︎large wholesale markets such as Simummuang market and Talaad Thai

3 Beauty clinics for body and skin (no surgeries on face)

4 Gym and fitness centres

▪︎Only allow non-physical-contact sport with only three people in one team and no viewers, such as badminton, table tennis, yoga, fencing, squash, etc.

▪︎partially open fitness centres for free weight training (no workouts in groups or use of exercise machines)

▪︎ public pools, allowing number of people in pool equal to lanes (at least 7-feet long) and only allowing one hour of use per person.

5 Hotel meeting rooms and convention halls for meetings of limited number of people

6 Library

7 Gallery and museum

8 Film crew to start production with 50 people from all sections in the filming studio and must have space for people to eat individually.

There are no changes in the measures on transportation -- no regular international transport, and strict screening of inter-provincial transport.

Curfew timings will be relaxed by one hour, from 11pm to 4am compared to 10pm to 4am at present.

Source - TheNation

Thursday, January 23, 2020

#Dubai announces record tourism arrivals in 2019


Dubai welcomed a record 16.73 million tourists in 2019, an improvement over the previous two years driven by soaring Chinese, Russian and Omani visitor numbers.

The number of international visitors grew by 5.1 percent last year but is still short of its 2020 target of 20 million tourists.

"While the global economy remains in a state of flux, we can clearly see an exciting opportunity to further grow Dubai's dominance in the tourism industry in 2020," said Dubai Tourism chief Saeed al-Marri, according to the Dubai Media Office. 

By country, Indian tourists topped arrivals with nearly two million visiting Dubai, a slight drop from 2018.

They were followed by 1.6 million Saudi visitors to the city-state, one of seven sheikhdoms that make up the United Arab Emirates.

Like last year, Britons came in third with 1.2 million tourists. Visitors from Oman increased 24 percent to over one million, putting the neighboring country in fourth place.

Chinese tourists rose by 15.5 percent to 989,000 and Russian visitors increased by 7.4 percent to 728,000.

Earlier this month, the UAE introduced a multiple-entry visa scheme valid for five years for all nationalities.

Dubai has the most diversified economy in the region and forecasts record spending this year, with its 2020 budget increasing 17 percent to $18.1 million as it seeks to boost its sagging economy.

The emirate has high hopes that the six-month global trade fair Expo 2020 starting in October will revive its fortunes.

But it still foresees a deficit for the fourth year in a row of $700 million.

The government is hoping Expo will attract 25 million visits, most of them from abroad, and is projecting a 25 percent increase in revenues to $17.4 billion.

Dubai is the only government in the Gulf not dependent on hydrocarbon revenues, and projects around 94 percent of income to come from non-oil sources.

The desert city has large numbers of opulent shopping malls, luxury resorts and even an indoor ski slope.

Source - TheJakartaPost