No one knows what Thailand is doing right, but so far, it’s working

Can the country’s low rate of coronavirus infections be attributed to culture? Genetics? Face masks? Or a combination of all three? 

No one knows exactly why Thailand has been spared.

Is it the social distancing embedded in Thai culture — the habit of greeting others with a wai, a prayer-like motion, rather than a full embrace — that has prevented the runaway transmission of the coronavirus here?

Did Thailand’s early adoption of face masks, combined with a robust health care system, blunt the virus’s impact? Was it the outdoor lifestyle of many Thais, or their relatively low rates of pre-existing conditions?

Is there a genetic component in which the immune systems of Thais and others in the Mekong River region are more resistant to the coronavirus? Or is it some alchemy of all these factors that has insulated this country of 70 million people?

Monks from Wat Matchanthikaram, wearing masks and face shields to protect them from COVID-19, receive alms from local residents in Bangkok, in April. Credit... Adam Dean for The New York Times

One thing is certain. Despite an influx of foreign visitors early in the year from countries badly hit by the coronavirus, Thailand has recorded fewer than 3,240 cases and 58 deaths. As of Thursday, there had been no cases of local transmission for about seven weeks.

Police officers in Bangkok patrolling a checkpoint on one of the city’s busiest streets after a nationwide curfew was put into effect. 

Thais were quick to adopt wearing face masks early in the pandemic and maintain social distancing when using public transportation. 

A nearly empty flight from Bangkok to Phuket, Thailand, on March 30.

Construction workers, a group largely made up of migrant workers, returned to their dormitories in Bangkok in April.

Thailand’s low rate of infection appears to be shared by other countries in the Mekong River basin. Vietnam has not recorded a single death and has logged about three months without a case of community transmission. Myanmar has confirmed 336 cases of the virus, Cambodia 166 and Laos just 19.

Yunnan, the southwestern Chinese province through which the Mekong flows before meandering to Southeast Asia, had fewer than 190 cases. None are active now.

“I don’t think it is about immunity or genetics alone,” said Dr. Taweesin Visanuyothin, the Covid-19 spokesman for Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health. “It has to do with culture. Thai people do not have body contact when we greet each other.”

The authorities spraying travelers with disinfectant in Phuket, a popular vacation spot, in March.

Disinfecting a market before it reopened in Bangkok, in May.

Drive-through testing at a hospital in Bangkok, in March.

Workers making cloth face masks at a factory owned by Wacoal, an underwear manufacturer, in Bangkok, in April.

“This is how the countries in the Mekong region greet each other as well,” Dr. Taweesin added.

It didn’t always look so upbeat. In January, Thailand confirmed the world’s first case of the coronavirus outside of China — in a tourist from Wuhan, the central Chinese city where the outbreak is believed to have begun.

Another wave of infections was set off by people arriving from Japan, Europe and the United States. A Thai boxing event turned into a super-spreader event. But after a lockdown was enforced in March, shuttering businesses and schools, domestic transmissions subsided. All of Thailand’s recent cases have been among people who arrived from overseas.

Dr. Wiput Phoolcharoen, a public health expert at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok who is researching an outbreak of the coronavirus in Pattani in southern Thailand, noted that more than 90 percent of those who tested positive there were asymptomatic, much higher than normal.

“What we are studying now is the immune system,” he said.

Dr. Wiput said Thais and other people from this part of Southeast Asia were more susceptible to certain serious cases of dengue fever, a mosquito-borne virus, than those from other continents.

“If our immune systems against dengue are so bad, why can’t our immune system against Covid be better?” he asked.

Though Thailand’s hospitals have not been overwhelmed by coronavirus patients, the country’s tourism-dependent economy has been battered.

In April, Thailand banned almost all incoming flights, amid the tightening lockdown. Holidaymakers stopped coming to Bangkok, once the world’s most visited city. The Thai tourism and sports ministry estimates that 60 percent of hospitality businesses could close by the end of the year.

Students at Sawasdee Wittaya Primary School learning about washing hands after schools reopened this month.

Registering to receive financial aid from the government in Bangkok, in May.

The closed Apple Store at Icon Siam, one of Thailand’s most upmarket and largest shopping malls, in March.

Homeless people lining up at a food distribution center in Bangkok, in April.

The International Monetary Fund predicts the Thai economy will shrink by at least 6.5 percent this year. More than eight million Thais may lose their jobs or income in 2020, the World Bank has said, in a nation already cleaved by a yawning gap between rich and poor.

Thai households have some of the highest debt loads in Asia, and the most desperate have lined up at Buddhist temples for handouts of rice.

After a promised disbursement of emergency government funds was bogged down in bureaucracy, a woman swallowed rat poison outside of a government building. She survived, but suicides are up in Thailand.

Covid Thailand Aid, a charity set up in the wake of the pandemic, has been inundated by pleas from Thais with only a dollar or two left in their bank accounts, said Natalie Narkprasert, one of the group’s founders.

The country’s large population of migrant workers, many from neighboring Myanmar and Cambodia, is also hurting. While some people managed to make it home before the borders closed, others are stuck in Thailand with no wages from their jobs as hotel cleaners, kitchen hands and food stall operators.

“Now is when people want more help because it’s been so long and it’s not going to get better,” Ms. Natalie said.

A park in Bangkok on May 3, after the city began easing restrictions.

Protective screens at street food stalls in Bangkok, in May.

Thai boxing gyms were allowed to re-open on June 1.

A salon after re-opening in Bangkok, in May.

A sense of normalcy has recently returned to Thailand. Schools have reopened with children wearing face masks and studying at spaced-out desks. And in early July, the first holiday weekend in months — Thai New Year festivities were canceled in April — prompted an uptick in domestic tourism.

Thailand has also allowed a trickle of foreigners back into the country. But with the new arrivals comes the risk of contagion.

A popular entertainment street, just before curfew, was closed down due to a localized coronavirus outbreak, in Patong, Phuket, in March.

This week, an Egyptian military pilot was confirmed to have tested positive for the coronavirus, after he breached quarantine and visited shopping centers in a Thai beach town. Some schools in the area are now closed again. Two activists who protested the government’s handling of the quarantine violation were arrested on Wednesday for contravening Thailand’s emergency decree.

Questions are also being raised about why migrant workers who were deported from Thailand arrived home and immediately tested positive for the disease, despite not being included in the official Thai count of coronavirus cases. 

Thailand’s testing rates remain relatively low.

“With the disease still looming,” said Dr. Taweesin, the health ministry spokesman, “we have to keep our guard up.”

(Source: NYT)

Rare giant turtles returning to beaches deserted by tourists across world

2020 is set to be ‘really good year’ for leatherbacks, conservationists say

With beaches across the world cleared of people and their waste, one vulnerable sea creature - here for millions of years before humans - appears to be making a comeback.

In recent weeks, rare leatherback turtles have been found nesting in numbers not seen for decades on beaches in Florida and Thailand.

And experts say the resurgence of the vulnerable leatherback is likely closely linked to the desertion of beaches across the world due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In Juno beach, Florida, staff from the Loggerhead Marinelife Centre have discovered 76 nests over an almost 10-mile stretch of sand in the first two weeks of the season, a "significant" increase on last year.

In Thailand, the largest number of leatherback nests in two decades has been found on beaches bereft of tourists, according to environmentalists.

“This is a very good sign for us because many areas for spawning have been destroyed by humans,” Kongkiat Kittiwatanawong, the director of the Phuket Marine Biological Centre, said of the 11 nests they found.

No such nests had been seen for the previous five years.

“If we compare to the year before, we didn't have this many spawn, because turtles have a high risk of getting killed by fishing gear and humans disturbing the beach," Mr Kittiwatanawong added.

Staff at the Loggerhead centre in Juno Beach said leatherback numbers would be "coming in strong this year".

"It's going to be a really good year for our leatherbacks," the centre's research manager, Sarah Hirsch, told West Palm Beach News.

From wild boars patrolling the Israeli city of Haifa to deer venturing into London suburbs, virus closures are drawing wildlife into the abandoned streets of many cities.

In Thailand, with 2,765 infections and 47 deaths, travel curbs ranging from a ban on international flights to an appeal to citizens to stay home have brought a collapse in tourist numbers but freed up the beaches for wildlife.

Leatherbacks are the world's largest sea turtles. They are considered endangered in Thailand and listed as a vulnerable species globally by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

They lay their eggs in dark and quiet areas, scarce when tourists thronged the beaches. People have also been known to dig into their nests and steal eggs.

Late in March, the staff at a national park in the southern province of Phanga Nga bordering the Andaman Sea found 84 hatchlings after monitoring eggs for two months.

(Source: Independent)

Coronavirus: Newborn babies given mini face shields to protect against Covid-19 at Bangkok hospital

More than 2,400 cases reported in Thailand

Hospitals in Thailand are equipping newborn babies with plastic face shields to help protect them against coronavirus.

Nurses at the Praram 9 Hospital in Bangkok have been pictured holding the masked babies in a maternity ward.

Reuters

Another hospital in Samut Prakarn province has adopted the same measure.

“We have extra protection measures for little ones and friends, with face shield for newborns. So cute!” Paolo Hospital wrote on its Facebook page.

Thailand reported 50 new coronavirus cases and the death of a 43-year-old woman on Friday.

Nurses at Praram 9 Hospital in Bangkok hold two babies wearing face shields

Of the new cases, 27 are linked to previous infections while eight people are waiting for confirmation of how they caught the disease, said Taweesin Wisanuyothin, a government spokesman.

Since the outbreak escalated in January, Thailand has reported a total of 2,473 cases and 33 fatalities.

(Source: Independent)

Coronavirus: Thai king self-isolates in Alpine hotel with harem of 20 women amid pandemic

Tens of thousands of Thais risk breaking law to criticise him online

Thailand’s controversial king has been self-isolating in a luxury hotel in the Alpine resort town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen with his entourage.

King Maha Vajiralongkorn, also known as Rama X, is said to have booked out the entire Grand Hotel Sonnenbichl after the four-star hotel received “special permission” from the district council to accommodate his party.

The 67-year-old king’s entourage included a “harem” of 20 concubines and numerous servants, reported German tabloid Bild. It is unclear if his four wives are living in the hotel with the rest of the group.

Guesthouses and hotels in the region were ordered to close due to the coronavirus crisis, but a spokesperson for the local district council said the Grand Hotel Sonnenbichl was an exception because “the guests are a single, homogenous group of people with no fluctuation”.

However, 119 members of the entourage had been reportedly sent back to Thailand on suspicions they contracted the highly contagious respiratory disease.

News of Vajiralongkorn’s apparent self-isolation in a luxury location was met with anger by tens of thousands of Thai people, who risked breaking the country’s lèse-majesté laws by criticising him online.

Under the laws, anyone who insults or criticises the monarchy could be imprisoned for up to 15 years.

But a Thai hashtag which translated to “Why do we need a king?” appeared 1.2 million times on Twitter within 24 hours after an activist claimed Vijaralongkorn was travelling on holiday in Germany while the outbreak continued to spread across Thailand.

The Thai Ministry of Public Health announced on Saturday 109 new cases in the country, bringing the total number of infections to 1,245.

Activist Somsak Jeamteerasakul, who lives in exile in France, posted a series of Facebook posts that claimed Vajiralongkorn was flying from Switzerland to various points in Germany from early March out of “boredom”.

Mr Jeamteerasakul is a vocal critic of Thailand’s monarchy and lèse-majesté laws, and said in one post: “[Vajiralongkorn will] let the Thai people worry about the virus. Even Germany is worried about the virus [but] it’s none of his business.”

The Thai king has not made a public appearance in his home country since February, reported The Times.

His reign in Thailand began in 2016 after the death of his father, Bhumibol. Although there is no way to gauge his popularity among Thais because of severe lèse-majesté laws, it is believed he is not as well-loved as his father, who ruled for over 70 years.

(Source: Independent)

Qatar temporarily suspends entry for travellers from 14 countries

Qatar’s Government Communications Office said Sunday that in addition to Qatar Airways' announcement regarding flights to and from Italy, entry to Qatar is temporarily suspended for all those intending to travel from certain countries, as of March 9, 2020.

The decision comes as a preventive measure due to the spread of coronavirus, COVID-19, worldwide.

Hamad International Airport (file photo)

The GCO statement said the decision covers the following countries: Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Syria and Thailand.

The decision affects all individuals intending to enter from these countries, including visas upon arrival, those with a residence or work permit, and temporary visitors.

The statement said the step comes in line with Qatar’s efforts to take all necessary preventive measures to limit the spread.

The State of Qatar urges all citizens and residents to avoid all but essential travel at this time.

The statement said that these precautionary measures may be subject revision on the timely guidance of the national health authorities and international organizations on the spread of coronavirus, in order to ensure safety of all residents.

(Source: The Peninsula)

Thai cave rescuer dies from year-long blood infection

A member of the rescue team that saved 12 boys and their football coach from a flooded cave in Thailand last year has died from an infection he picked up during the operation, officials said.

Petty Officer Beirut Pakbara, a Thai Navy Seal, contracted a blood infection during the rescue at Tham Luang cave.

Beirut was under medical supervision but his condition worsened and he died on Friday, a statement said.

Another rescuer, Saman Gunan, died during the operation.

The rescue operation took 17 days and brought the boys and their coach out alive. Getty Images

Saman, a former Thai Navy Seal diver, had been delivering air tanks and was on his way out of the cave complex when he ran out of air and lost consciousness. A statue of him was later erected near the cave's entrance.

Beirut was buried on Friday in his home province of Satun in a ceremony according to Islamic funeral rituals, officials said.

The Wild Boars youth football team, aged between 11 and 16, and their 25-year-old coach had been exploring the cave on 23 June 2018 when a downpour flooded the tunnels, trapping them deep underground.

They were all eventually freed in a 17-day international rescue effort that involved more than 90 divers and captured the attention of the world's press.

The cave in Thailand's northern Chiang Rai province was only reopened to tourists in November this year. The opening ceremony was attended by monks, government officials and park rangers.

(Source: BBC)

This Indian epic unites seven different Southeast Asian countries. Sort of.

Considered one of the world's most important literary works, the Ramayana has captured the imagination of many who read or listen to the Indian epic.

The poem, believed to have been written by Valmiki in the 5th century BCE is one of India's two great literary works after the Mahabharata.

With all of its 24,000 verses composed in Sanskrit, the story of Rama and Sita has been told and retold for countless generations in the Southeast Asian region.

More than just a love story.

Rama on horseback. Painting by BK Mitra.

The Ramayana tells the story of Prince Rama who goes in exile into the forest for 14 years upon the orders of his father together with his wife, Sita, and brother, Lakshamana.

Unfortunately, tragedy strikes when Sita gets kidnapped by the evil demon king, Ravana. Rama begins his quest to rescue his wife through the help of the Vanaras, a clan of monkeys.

While the Ramayana has been popularized as a love story, the saga of Rama deals with many themes that we often encounter in life. Because of this, the story has been told in various forms.

From comics, to films, animated features, television series, painting, dance, theater and exhibitions, the Ramayana is now a part of a larger narrative of the world.

Courtesy of Hindu influence over the Southeast Asian region, each country, save for Vietnam, have their own unique versions of the legend.

Reamker - Cambodia.

The Ramayana is believed to have arrived at Cambodia sometime during the 7th century in the form of a poem. This is according to the Veal Kantel inscriptions.

Titled Reamker, which means "Glory to Rama" in the Cambodian language, famous scenes of the epic can be seen on the walls of the Royal Palace and Angkor Wat. The Reamker gives more emphasis to Hanuman, one of Rama's staunches allies through additional scenes.

Cambodians fused Hindu ideas and Buddhism themes together to perform the poem through their dance theatre, L'khaon. The dance is part of the royal ballet's reportoire and is commonly performed during festive seasons in Cambodia.

Kakawin Ramayana - Indonesia.

In the Javanese version of the legend titled Kakawin Ramayana, the second half of the Ramayana diverges from its original Sanskrit version. The modifications include the indigenous Javanase deity, Semar, and his three sons, Gareng, Petruk, and Bagong.

Apparently the Indonesian version was based on the Ravanavadha, a sixth century retelling of the Ramayana by Indian poet Bhattikavya. Written in 870 CE, the focus is more on the antagonist, Ravana.

Indonesians perform the saga through two dance forms: The Balinese kecak dance, Ramakavaca, and Yogyakarta's Wayang Wong Javanese dance.

With Indonesia too, heavily influenced by India, the characters from the Ramayana can be seen in the 9th century Prambanan temple in Yogyakarta.

Phra Lak Phra Lam - Laos.

Interestingly, the Laos version of the story, Phra Lak Phra Lam, focuses more on the heroism of Rama's brother, Lakshamana.

Since Laos has its roots in Buddhism, Rama is believed to be the previous reincarnation of the Buddha, according to the locals.

Considered a national epic, the Ramayana arrived in the Southeast Asian much later than Cambodia and Thailand. By the time it arrived, the legend had lost much of its Hindu influence and became a much more localized.

The title of the retelling is named after the two brothers, Lakshamana (Phra Lak) and Rama (Phra Lam).

Hikayat Seri Rama - Malaysia.

The Malaysian retelling of the epic, Hikayat Seri Rama (Chronicle of the Great Rama), is a little more special because it incorporates shadow puppetry.

This Malay adaptation of the Hindu retelling maintains its originality but with slight modifications to certain scenes where the minor characters are upgraded to become major players.

For example, Lakshamana plays a much more important role than the legend's protagonist, Rama, which the story is based on. In the Malaysian adaptation, Rama, though virtuous, is often seen as weak while his brother courageous and much more focused.

The tale of Rama and Sita is also told through the traditional dance-drama Mak Yung.

Yama Zatdaw - Myanmar.

Yama Zatdaw or Yamayana is heavily influenced by Thailand's version of the Ramayana due to the invasion of Burma by the Siamese kings of the Konbaung Dynasty during the 15th century.

Just like Laos, the Yama Zatdaw borrows elements from the Theravada Buddhist culture as well. The story, Rama sā-khyan, was believed to have been told orally during King Anawratha's reign before it was composed by U Aung Phyo in 1775.

Meanwhile, Loik Samoing Ram is the Mon version of the epic which incorporates elements found in Thailand, Java, and Malaysia but with its own unique episodes. It was written by a Buddhist monk named Uttama in 1834.

Maharadia Lawana - The Philippines.

According to indologist Juan R. Francisco, the Ramayana arrived at Filipino shores sometime between the 17th to 19th century thanks to Javanese and Malayan traders who themselves were influenced by India.
The Maharadia Lawana, written as an epic poem by the Maranao people, became indigenized and has contrasting differences from the original Sanskrit version. Character names and locations were changed to perhaps suit the cultural perspectives and orientations of the locals.

Ramakien - Thailand.

Just like Laos, Thailand's version of the legend, Ramakien, is considered a national epic.

However, unlike the original Sanskrit version, Sita is the daughter of the antagonist Thotsakan (Ravana). Phiphek, the astrologer brother of Thotsakan predicts that Ravana would die because of Sita. Furious, he throws his daughter into a river and she is rescued by Chanok.

The earliest records of the poem dates back to the 13th century, during the reign of the Sukhothai kingdom. By the 18th century, during the Ayutthaya kingdom, the Ramakien was written. Sadly when the Burmese invaded, much of the editions were lost.

Under the supervision of King Rama I of the Chakri dynasty which still maintains the royal throne today, the story was reconstructed. King Rama II further adapted the retelling for the khon drama. This version has an added role for Hanuman who is often portrayed lasciviously.

Today, the Ramakien forms an integral part of Thai culture and is taught in schools nationwide.

Uniting cultures.

A painting at the Wat Phra Kaew depicting the battle between Rama and Ravana. IMAGE: Aiden McRae Thomson

In India alone, the birthplace of the Ramayana, there are various versions of the epic told and retold.

Yet, it amazes me how the legend travelled throughout the ages to seven different countries, with each nation making it their own.

Would the tale of Rama and Sita continue to capture people's imaginations and thrive? It will for generations to come so long as the beautiful arts and cultural works above are preserved.

Cover image sourced from YouTube and Daily Travel Photo.

(Source: Mashable)

Thailand Tiger Temple: More than half have died since rescue

More than half of the 147 tigers that were rescued from a controversial Thai Buddhist temple just three years ago have died, officials have said.

A total of 86 tigers have died since they were moved from the Wat Pha Luang Ta Bua temple, a tourist attraction known as Tiger Temple, in 2016.

Thailand's park service said many had died of a virus, having been weakened by the stress of relocation.

Officials also blamed genetic problems linked to inbreeding among the group.

But conservationists have questioned whether authorities were holding the tigers in safe conditions.

The temple's monks, meanwhile, have denied accusations of animal abuse, trafficking and illegal breeding while the tigers were under their care.

The temple has been closed to the public since 2016.

What happened to the tigers?
Since police raids in 2016, the tigers have been held at two breeding stations in nearby Ratchaburi province as it is believed they would have little chance of survival in the wild.

But only 61 of the original 147 have survived in captivity. Thai authorities said some fell ill with Canine Distemper Virus or CDV. Many had difficulty breathing or eating, and died as a result.

Tiger Temple attracted thousands of tourists before it was closed to the public 2016

Speaking with Reuters news agency, temple caretaker Athithat Srimanee denied the accusations that the tigers died because of inbreeding. He said the government was playing a "blame game".

Edwin Wiek, founder of the Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand (WFFT), told the BBC that the big cats were being kept in small, cramped cages, making it easy for disease to spread.

He added that Canine Distemper is treatable with proper food and supplements, access to clean water, and enough space to move around. But a limited government budget made this impossible.

"To be very honest, who would be ready to take in so many tigers at once?" said Mr Wiek. "The authorities should have asked for help from outside, but instead insisted on doing all work themselves."

A lucrative trade
Analysis by Jonathan Head, BBC South-East Asia correspondent

The deaths of so many tigers in two government facilities has refocused attention on the challenges of managing an ever-expanding population of captive tigers, not just in Thailand, but in neighbouring countries like Laos and China.

Despite pledges by both Thailand and Laos to reduce the numbers of tigers held in captivity on so-called "tiger farms", the populations have continued to rise.

There are now around 2,000 captive tigers in Thailand. Many are held by private individuals, not state institutions.

Captive tigers are a lucrative business, popular in particular with Chinese tourists who now make up nearly one third of foreign visitors in Thailand.

They breed easily, and there is always a suspicion that some are diverted into the illegal trade in tiger parts, which then encourages the poaching of South East Asia's dwindling population of wild tigers.

Wildlife campaigners say state institutions in Thailand need better funding to start taking custody of these privately owned tigers, and the tiger industry should be regulated more strictly.

What is the Tiger Temple?
The attraction, run by Buddhist monks, was located in Thailand's Kanchanaburi Province, west of Bangkok.

At its height, visitors were charged 600 Thai Baht ($16, £11) for entry, with additional costs to pet, feed, or take pictures with the tigers.

The bodies of 40 tiger cubs were found in a freezer in the temple's kitchen

A National Geographic report alleged that the monks were operating a for-profit breeding business.

The WFFT also alleged there was evidence that wildlife trafficking took place, but has not provided specific examples.

In December 2014, authorities were alerted after three adult male tigers vanished from the temple. They had been micro-chipped, a legal requirement for captive endangered animals in Thailand, which allows them to be tracked.

The temple's veterinarian Somchai Visasmongkolchai later came forward after resigning from his post and said the microchips had been cut out of the three males.

When police raided the site in 2016, 40 dead tiger cubs were found in the temple's kitchen freezer, along with other animal body parts.

(Source: BBC)

Bangkok capital hit by six bomb blasts at different locations as it hosts Asean security summit, police say

PM condemns 'those causing the situation which destroys peace and damages the country's image'

Police in Bangkok say at least six bomb blasts went off at a number of locations in the city on Friday, as the Thai capital hosted a key regional security summit.

A seventh device was recovered unexploded, officials said, as the Thai prime minister ordered an urgent investigation to find the perpetrators.

Four people were injured in the blasts, none seriously, according to a central medical facility. Images from one bomb site showed three street cleaners looking dazed and getting treatment from medics.

The first two explosions took place near metro stations in the city centre, just before 9am during the morning rush-hour. The fourth injury occurred in a blast near the 77-storey King Power Mahanakhon tower, one of the tallest buildings in the city.

And shortly afterwards, a blast was heard at a government complex housing several ministries in the northern part of the city. There has been no claim of responsibility.

"I would like to condemn those causing the situation which destroys peace and damages the country's image," said prime minister Prayuth Chan-ocha on Twitter.

"I have instructed officials to take care of public safety and those affected promptly."

Deputy prime minister Prawit Wongsuwan told reporters that police had arrested two suspects, and accused the bombers of trying to "create a situation".

On Thursday police had found two fake bombs near the venue of the meeting of foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The meeting was not interrupted.

China's top diplomat Wang Yi and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are among the regional and global representatives attending the forum.

It was not immediately clear whether the bombings were designed to target the summit, or if they were linked to Thailand's recent democratic election, in which the country's military junta formally gave up power - but coup general Prayuth remained in office.

Analysts say the use of small, generally harmless bombs is a not uncommon part of the Thai political scene, often characterised by power struggles between factions within the country's highly politicised security forces.

Bombings are usually blamed on those in opposition at the time, though substantial arrests are rarely made. 

(Source: Independent)

Resistant malaria spreading in South East Asia

Malaria parasites resistant to key drugs have spread rapidly in South East Asia, researchers from the UK and Thailand say.

The parasites have moved from Cambodia to Laos, Thailand and Vietnam, where half of patients are not being cured by first-choice drugs.

Researchers say the findings raise the "terrifying prospect" drug-resistance could spread to Africa.

However, experts said the implications may not be as severe as first thought.

What is happening?
Malaria is commonly treated with a combination of two drugs - artemisinin and piperaquine.

The drug combo was introduced in Cambodia in 2008.

But by 2013, the first cases of the parasite mutating and developing resistance to both drugs were detected, in western parts of the country.

The latest study, published in the Lancet Infectious Diseases, analysed blood samples from patients across South East Asia.

Inspecting the parasite's DNA showed resistance had spread across Cambodia and was also in Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.

It had also picked up further mutations, making it even more problematic.

In some regions, 80% of malaria parasites were drug resistant.

"This strain has spread and has become worse," Dr Roberto Amato, from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, told BBC News.

Does this mean the disease is becoming untreatable?
No.

A second study, published in the same journal, showed half of patients were not being cured with standard therapy.

However, there are alternative drugs that can be used instead.

"With the spread and intensification of resistance, our findings highlight the urgent need to adopt alternative first-line treatments", Prof Tran Tinh Hien, from the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit, in Vietnam, said.

That could include using different drugs alongside artemisinin or using a combination of three drugs to overcome resistance.

What's the concern?
Huge progress has been made towards eliminating malaria. However, the development of drug resistance threatens that progress.

The other issue is if the resistance spreads further and reaches Africa, where more than nine in 10 cases of the disease are.

"This highly successful resistant parasite strain is capable of invading new territories and acquiring new genetic properties, raising the terrifying prospect that it could spread to Africa, where most malaria cases occur, as resistance to chloroquine did in the 1980s, contributing to millions of deaths," Prof Olivo Miotto, from the Wellcome Sanger Institute and University of Oxford, said.

What does this change for people living there?
The findings will not change much in people's day-to-day life in the Greater Mekong Subregion, in South East Asia.

Tackling malaria is about more than just picking the right treatment after an infection.

All the efforts around controlling the mosquitoes that spread the disease will not change.

However, the researchers say the drugs people are given after an infection should change.

The studies also show genetic analysis of malaria parasites can help doctors keep one step ahead of emerging drug-resistance in order to give patients the right treatment.

Is this the whole picture?
The spread of resistance is set against the backdrop of falling cases in the region.

"These parasites are scary beasts, there's no doubt," Prof Colin Sutherland, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said.

"However, I wonder if these parasites are not very fit because the population as a whole is crashing."

In Cambodia there were:

262,000 cases of malaria in 2008
36,900 cases of malaria in 2018
So, while the drug-resistant parasite has undoubtedly spread, it is not necessarily a global threat, according to Prof Sutherland.

"The implications are not as severe as we might think," he said.

How bad is malaria?
There are about 219 million cases of malaria around the world each year.

Symptoms include cycles of feeling cold and shivering followed by a high temperature with severe sweating.

Without treatment, the parasite can lead to breathing problems and organ failure.

The disease kills about 435,000 people every year - most of them are children under the age of five.

(Source: BBC)

On the eve of my eternal marking

My son wants to know why flies are even a thing; he wants to know why bugs are even a thing. They bother him. I get it. I, too, have his sensitivities. On the other side of the world, where our real lives reside, Chicago winters coerce living things to slumber or die—not so here, in Thailand, where life announces itself in its full verdancy and fecundity, unending, its tight and insistent tendrils ever unfurling.

Tomorrow, I will receive the sacred blessing of a Sak Yant, a talismanic, ancient, protective, and mystical stick-and-poke tattoo from one of the most revered spiritual masters in Thailand. This, however, was not a decision I made for myself: my mother said she had a premonition; it was overwhelming. She told me I needed this tattoo for protection. Such tattoos are simply part of Thai culture, especially as it is lived by the peasant class, a class that, without power or money or resources, depends on luck and superstition to bank their hopes and dreams and visions of someday. Superstition or no, my mother says I need the protection. And soon.

So here I find myself, in the country of my birth, on the eve of an eternal marking.

It is more than a mere mark; like baptism or confirmation, getting a Sak Yant is ceremony, a pronouncement that one has made a significant life choice. With this mark, I am making the choice to be mindful of the spiritual dimension. In other words, I will have to believe that there is something to believe in.

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR.

I tell my son that bugs are a thing because God made them. My children, who are not brought up religiously, know that I use the word loosely. What I mean by God is something greater, a mystery, a deep unknowing that touches us and perhaps makes the flowers beautiful or worse for wear. My son corrects me: God didn’t make bugs, he says; God made life. According to this worldview, whatever happened after that just happened. Bugs just happened, but life made it possible for bugs to happen.

I know that things just happen. I just happened to lose a pearl earring on the flight here. I took the earrings off in the middle of an awful wake-and-sleep, toss-and-turn, nauseating airplane slumber and just tossed them in my bag without properly securing them. It was a bittersweet loss, because the pearls served as proof, a visible mark, that I, a poor girl, had made it.

I attended a women’s college in the South, where girls from well-to-do families wore their pearls even as they burned off their tiny salads on the treadmills. As a student there, I didn’t own pearls, and even though I eschewed money and what it represented, I thought their pearls were beautiful.

I pined for their pearls. I wanted the luster, the shine they bestowed, but more, I wanted the sense of self-worth, of belonging, of status and surety, even if these things were merely fabrications of my own mind, informed by and easily persuaded by my insecurities.

When I got my first salaried job for $25,000 a year as an editorial assistant for an academic publisher in Manhattan, I bought myself, discounted from overstock.com, pearl earrings, one of which is apparently lost forever, perhaps stuck in a crack underneath seat 64E en route to Hong Kong as we speak.

My son is bothered by all the flies in this country; my daughter seems to be the food choice for mosquitoes. Despite their insect woes, my children are luckier than I was at their age. I didn’t visit Thailand until I was seventeen, going on eighteen; for my family, it was hard won. I had not fully considered that there existed another world to consider. Until my first visit, Thailand and my mother’s sufferings and poverty were mere abstractions. And although my children did not know my Thai grandmother or live in her little shack, or poop in her outhouse into the old-world toilet, or force that poop into the septic tank by pouring water into that old-world toilet, or sleep in sweaty sheets under mosquito netting without air-conditioning, they have so much more to consider here. They have seen the little girl across the street who lives among piles of broken glass; they have seen the little cat eating grass outside the noodle shop, vomiting right there in front of us; they have seen the flies that land on the little shop’s table; they have seen how effortlessly I exchange my bills for baht; they have seen how little little can be.

Despite my mother’s flight to the United States and her hard-earned financial stability and despite my being a professor with a Ph.D., here, I am still of the peasant class. I will always be. I am unsophisticated. I am of the country. I am not the daughter of an educated Bangkok doctor like the Thai girls I met in college. I speak differently. My word choices, my expressions, my way of speech gives me away. Peasant, my Thai words say, no matter what I say.

Or perhaps these characterizations are mere fabrications of my insecurities.

I wear my pearl earrings practically every day. I suppose, however, that I should lean here on the past tense. I can no longer wear what I no longer possess. I should say: Before I lost one, I would wear my pearl earrings practically every day. I wore them almost always. There were, in essence, part of my identity, a part of my very body. My face does not seem right without them. My face then is no longer my face. Losing my pearl means losing what I have held as my identity, as my visage, as my look, for almost two decades now.

Tomorrow, my body will be irrevocably altered.

Things can just happen; things are the way they are. I will trade one identity for another. I will say goodbye to the girl who wanted so badly to be acknowledged, who grew up between nothing and a heartbeat, who felt that she had to try harder, work harder for anything at all. But this, too, I know, can’t be accomplished simply by my banishing the empirical symbol of my imagined status: the pearl, after all, is merely a pearl.

And is a Sak Yant by the most revered master of these numinous tattoos merely a tattoo? Or is it something truly sacred, holy, powerful, endowed?

My mother loves to tell the story of how my little sister, narrowly escaping what would have been a fatal car crash, called on her tattoo, called on the teachings of the Master, and that is why she avoided what would have been certain death. Before my little sister got her tattoo, my mother had a premonition similar to the one she had about me, and she called on something greater to ask what she could do to protect her daughter. My little sister, who slithered into the darkness, who fell into a place where we could no longer reach her, came back to life after getting her Sak Yant.

But why is life even a thing? That is the question that I’m terrified of my children asking.

After my first trip to Thailand, I went to college and I learned what cashmere was. I still didn’t know to wear a scarf when it got cold. My hall mates came back from winter break with beautiful J. Crew sweaters. I took a sociology course, Introduction to Anthropology. I remember one classmate in particular wore pearls so big they were cartoonish; indeed, her pearls were a bit reminiscent of Wilma Flintstone’s. We watched a film in which foragers found bird nests full of baby birds. The girl with the cartoon pearls flinched at the savage scene of the third-world inhabitants collecting their supper. I felt ashamed by her looking away. I felt shame for the world I had just left.

In anthropology, I learned that ceremony is brief, that the buildup is long, that the pinnacle is passed before one knows it. Then it’s downhill, a denouement, a return to the mundane of the everyday. Ritual is sublime, but like all things that radiate sublimity, the experience of it is so otherworldly as to evade memory or even temporal bearings.

I wonder, then, whether life itself is ritual, ceremony. Perhaps life itself is the apex of something greater and unknown. That would mean then, that life itself—and by life here, I mean life with all its platitudes, its housekeeping, its cooking, its child-rearing, its labors and horrors and joys, all—is ethereal.

THE AUTHOR RECEIVING HER SAK YANT.

Life is there, and then things happen.

I admit to having lingered too long in the darkness. I, too, have sewn a black veil over me.

I would be lying if I said that I didn’t fear the premonition that my mother had for me. If my mother has taught me anything, she has taught me that she is always right. I fear that I will need this tattoo.

I have chosen a design by the Master himself; it is a design imbued with powers to give the bearer “Massive Success in Everything.” The tattoo, however, doesn’t just give things to the bearer: the bearer has to work hard, and the harder the bearer works, the harder the tattoo works, too.

Fortunately, for me, being of the peasant class has taught me that life is hard work.

Life, I know, is a made thing. It doesn’t exist without me and my hands and my labors and my ambitions. If the tattoo serves merely as a reminder that I myself have to make it, then I’ll take it. And, so, I would be lying, too, if I said that I didn’t believe that there is something to believe.

(Source: The Paris Review)