Thailand-
The following is a weekly feature article looking at this same time period LAST year in national and Thailand news.
This new section takes a look back at news from the same period last year (and sometimes different time windows, such as six months or three months) to see how things have changed, following up on the progression of stories, as well as look at potentially broken promises or things that didn’t take place in Pattaya and Thailand.
As we publish dozens of stories a week this is a quick way for people to take a look at what the biggest stories were a year ago, as chosen by our editorial team, and how they impact us today and relate to current news. They are in no particular order of importance, however, are in order of publication. This week, we cover the SECOND week of April 2020, which was a major week due to Covid-19 from Sunday, April 5th, 2020 to Saturday, April 11th, 2020. They are in order of publication.
1. Disabled Swiss ex-pat injured in condo fire
This drew a lot of comments on social media last year.
Disabled Swiss expat injured in early morning condo fire in Pattaya
2. Pattaya City restricts access to the city, sets up checkpoints, makes masks mandatory
Remember this? Many want to forget it. P.S. masks are still mandatory, a year later, although the law isn’t always enforced.
3. Foreigner’s express frustration over long lines at Immigration during the pandemic
This was a major problem last year early in the Covid-19 situation but eventually, authorities would give an amnesty, stopping the problem. The amnesty visa is still in effect a year later for a small number of people.
4. Immigration grants an automatic extension of visas
As following the last point…Immigration responded to mounting complaints and made an amnesty.
Immigration Bureau has granted automatic extensions of visas, here are the details
5. Kev-in-Thailand, a popular Youtuber, passes away
A one-year anniversary and wake were held earlier this week by his friends and a variety of other Youtubers.
Popular Pattaya Vlogger Kev in Thailand passes away from Cancer
6. A look at Pattaya during the complete shutdown.
Here is what we looked like a year ago. Things are better this year, but still having issues with Covid-19.
A visual walk around closed off “Ghost Town” Pattaya during COVID19
7. Pattaya begins crackdown on beaches and people on walkways
Surely you remember this drone from last year?
8. Chonburi bans alcohol sales before Songkran
Likely the least popular decision of last year’s shutdowns and restrictions, along with condo pools and beaches.
Chonburi Governor bans all alcohol sales, drinking outside, transportation of alcohol until April 30
That is all for this week, we hope you enjoyed reading and thinking back!