Thai tourism hopes to add 500,000 Russian visitors to its 1 million international tourists this year after the Sputnik V vaccine was endorsed for the sandbox programme, says the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT).

A Thai public health agency on Tuesday issued data to back the decision to purchase another 12 million doses of Sinovac, despite public criticism of Thailand’s reliance on the Chinese vaccine.

The CCSA approved every ‘sandbox’ area to receive tourists who have been vaccinated with Sputnik V, which could help clear an obstacle for Russian tourists.

Bangkok Airways Public Company Limited reported a net loss of THB1,454.4 million for the first half of 2021, according to a statement to the Stock Exchange of Thailand last Friday.

Most European vacationers won’t consider Thailand as a holiday resort until fully vaccinated tourists are spared compulsory quarantine, according to a report by a group of British travel agents.

Thammasat University Council announced on Monday that university councillors have unanimously agreed to invoke a regulation that allows it to source medicines and equipment necessary for treating patients.

New measures have been ordered by the provincial communicable disease committee to curb the latest outbreak of Covid-19, which has been linked to workers' camps, factories and other workplaces on the island.

The Covid-19 vaccine jointly developed by the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation (GPO) and Mahidol University has begun phase 2 human trials after generating a strong immune response in phase 1, GPO chief Dr Witoon Danwiboon said on Monday.

The ‘Sandbox Express Bus’, which was to cease operations today (Aug 16), has been extended to continue taking Sandbox tourists from Phuket to Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok until at least Aug 30

The 116-million-baht facelift of Pattaya Beach got underway over the weekend with hopes it will be completed by November 2023.

The governor of the Bank of Thailand (BoT) has called for an additional 1 trillion baht in government spending to counter coronavirus, saying the blow to the economy from the pandemic is greater than from the Asian financial crisis in 1997.

Easing in Q4 seen boosting demand

Over 22.50 million Covid-19 vaccine doses have been administered in Thailand, the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation said.

Phuket, which is implementing the Phuket sandbox model, is extending Covid restrictions until the end of this month due to rising numbers of new locally transmitted Covid-19 cases.

Thailand logged 182 more Covid-19 fatalities and 21,157 new cases over the previous 24 hours