All images from The Nation Thailand/Asian News Network
BANGKOK, Oct 27 (The Nation Thailand/ANN): The haze has returned has returned to Bangkok and vicinities, where levels in three districts exceeded safe limits on Tuesday.
Pollution Control Department (PCD) reports from 71 stations in and around the capital recorded PM2.5 levels of between 25 and 52 micrograms per cubic metre.
The areas where PM2.5 exceeded the 50mg safe level were the Bangkok districts of Bang Kho Laem district ((55mg) and Bangkok Yai (51mg) and Mahachai (54mg) in Samut Sakhon province.
PCD chief Attapol Charoenchansa said the rising levels of PM2.5 stemmed from a low-temperature air mass that was causing the dust to linger.
People who live in affected areas are advised to follow pollution updates at the national air quality websites.
Meanwhile, some 300 employees of the Mass Communication Organisation of Thailand (MCOT) have offered to take early retirement in exchange for a huge lump-sum pay, said an executive official of the state media firm on Tuesday (Oct 26).
Of a total of about 1,400 employees of the financially-ailing MCOT, about 300 have offered to take early retirement at the end of this year so that they will be entitled to a maximum of 22 months of salary in severance pay, according to acting MCOT President Sirote Ratanamahatana.
The MCOT television and radio stations have been operating at loss due to steeply reduced income over the last several years as people have largely turned to social media, Sirote said.
However, those who may have been employed for less than 10 years are not eligible to take early retirement, he said.
Meanwhile, The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) reported three new cases in state quarantine facility over a 24-hour period on Tuesday (Oct 27).
All three cases were asymptomatic and included a 53-year-old British engineer, who arrived from Qatar on Oct 21 and tested positive on Oct 24. He was in an alternative state quarantine hotel in Bangkok.
The second case was a 20-year-old US embassy employee, who had also arrived from Qatar on October 23 and tested positive on October 25 while quarantined in a Bangkok hotel.
The third case was a 19-year-old Sudanese medical student who had arrived from the United Arab Emirates on October 24 and tested positive on the same day while quarantined in a Bangkok hotel.
Meanwhile, eight patients have recovered and been discharged. The total number of confirmed cases in Thailand has risen to 3,746 (798 in state quarantine), 136 of whom are in hospital and 3,551 have recovered. The death toll remains unchanged at 59.
According to Worldometer, as of 10am, the total number of confirmed cases worldwide has risen to 43.7 million (up by 411,372). Of them, 32.1 million have recovered, while 10.43 million are active cases (79,034 in severe condition) and 1.16 million have succumbed to the virus (up by 5,110).
Thailand ranks 146th for most cases in the world, while the US tops the list with 8.96 million, followed by India 7.94 million, Brazil 5.41 million, Russia 1.53 million and France 1.16 million. - The Nation/Asian News Network
