DaveG wrote: ↑Wed Oct 28, 2020 3:31 pm Any news on the amnesty??, or are they thinking of sending 150 thousand farangs to the slammer

Special Tourist Vias, 14 day quarantine, “plans”, “models” and endless red-tape. Now we’ve got the “smartband” to track foreigners when they visit Thailand. The so-called Smartband will have to be worn by any foreign travellers entering Thailand. The new wearable restriction for travellers to Thailand coincides with the Cabinet announcement this week to allow more foreign tourists and crew of yachts to enter Thailand under the Special Tourist Visa program.

“The wristband can track their locations and measure the body’s temperature, blood pressure, and heart rate. It can also help the wearers with various problems, such as asking for directions when they get lost.”

The Smartband is being introduced from today.It’s the brainchild of the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society, in cooperation with Thai startups, according to the announcement on PR Thai Government.

Details, as usual, are sketchy and there is no clarification where the smartband is given to the tourists, if it’s compulsory to wear or who pays for it. Nothing explains how the Smartband can help when the wearer is “asking for directions”. Or is it waterproof? On the government’s own PR Facebook page the reception was less than enthusiastic

Cambodian migrant workers stranded in Thailand can now extend their travel documents after the country declared it will continue to close the borders for November to prevent the spread of Covid-19, the Cambodian embassy in Bangkok announced.


Tola said there are at least two million Cambodian workers – both legal and illegal – working in Thailand. He said over 100,000 people have returned to Cambodia since the onset of the pandemic.