Thais seek sun and surf as officials re-open some beaches
PATTAYA, Thailand — People returned to some of Thailand's famed sandy beaches Monday, keeping well apart but enjoying the outdoors, as authorities eased some coronavirus restrictions for the first time in more than two months.
In Pattaya, visitors marvelled at the clarity of the turquoise-blue waters of the Gulf of Thailand, and pensioners eager for exercise promenaded along the beach.
Social distancing rules still applied, with local authorities ordering beachgoers to stay at least a metre (three feet) apart.
German expatriate Heidi Glemeau was one of the first to take an early-morning dip in the water, and couldn't believe how empty it was.
"I couldn't resist the temptation," she told AFP. "It's become a paradise — just like it was 30 years ago."
Not all beaches were closed during the lockdown, and not all re-opened Monday.
Phuket, in the south, is still off-limits, while Hua Hin remained open throughout.
Thailand has been under various lockdown restrictions since mid-March, when authorities declared a state of emergency against the coronavirus -- shuttering malls, leisure centres and public spaces, including its beaches.
But the number of new infections slowed in May, and on Monday cinemas as well as tattoo and massage parlours across the kingdom were given the green light to return to business.
"I think it's been long enough," said Nutthawut Kanasup, 29, who waited for a foot massage at a downtown Bangkok spa.
Student Prayos Plodchai, who had tickets for US blockbuster "Bloodshot", said he was not very confident about the hygiene standards at Central World mall's cinema.
"But I'm willing to take the risk because I've been stuck at home for so long," the 19-year-old said.
Official records show the kingdom escaped the worst of the disease relatively lightly, recording just over 3,000 infections and 57 deaths.
Some experts, however, say a lack of testing may mask the true toll.
Regardless, the exodus of foreigners and a ban on new arrivals hit the economy hard — particularly as the country is so reliant on tourist dollars in resorts such as Pattaya.
Tourism revenues dropped by 40 percent in the first three months of the year, and the government has warned the virus's impact on the second quarter will be more severe.
A major tourist destination with an infamous nightlife and red-light district, Pattaya has turned into a virtual ghost town.
Bars and clubs remain shuttered, and it is not clear when normal activity will resume.
Follow this page for updates on a mysterious pneumonia outbreak that has struck dozens of people in China.
New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins says on Sunday that he had contracted COVID-19, testing positive at a key point in his flailing campaign for re-election.
Hipkins saYS on his official social media feed that he would need to isolate for up to five days -- less than two weeks before his country's general election.
The leader of the centre-left Labour Party said he started to experience cold symptoms on Saturday and had cancelled most of his weekend engagements. — AFP
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The WHO classified the new variant as one under surveillance "due to the large number (more than 30) of spike gene mutations it carries", it wrote in a bulletin about the pandemic late Thursday.
So far, the variant has only been detected in Israel, Denmark and the United States. — AFP
The World Health Organization says on Friday that the number of new COVID-19 cases reported worldwide rose by 80% in the last month, days after designating a new "variant of interest".
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In its weekly update, the UN agency said that nations reported nearly 1.5 million new cases from July 10 to August 6, an 80% increase compared to the previous 28 days. — AFP
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The cross-party Privileges Committee said Johnson, 58, would have been suspended as an MP for 90 days for "repeated contempts (of parliament) and for seeking to undermine the parliamentary process".
But he avoided any formal sanction by his peers in the House of Commons by resigning as an MP last week.
In his resignation statement last Friday, Johnson pre-empted publication of the committee's conclusions, claiming a political stitch-up, even though the body has a majority from his own party.
He was unrepentant again on Thursday, accusing the committee of being "anti-democratic... to bring about what is intended to be the final knife-thrust in a protracted political assassination".
Calling it "beneath contempt", he said it was "for the people of this to decide who sits in parliament, not Harriet Harman", the veteran opposition Labour MP who chaired the seven-person committee. — AFP
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