This morning we woke to the news that Elaine’s nephew’s surgery was successful and that he was recovering, as well as the news that Brooke was doing much better and on the road to recovery too. Unfortunately Collin had started to experience the more unpleasant symptoms, but all the grandchildren were well. More news out of South Africa this time revealed that Elaine’s niece’s husband had contracted COVID-19 and, although was very ill with it, was recovering. Although alarming at the number of family members and friends who’ve contracted COVID-19 in a matter of a week, it was a mixed bag of mostly good news and trust Collin will turn the corner soon.

Just as alarming, though, are the number of cases on Phuket Island, making all the restrictions we’ve endured since arriving in Thailand in April a complete waste of time.

Having cases eventually get as low as 25 per day on 21 December 2021, with less than 400 people under medical care, yesterday the numbers reached 256, with 1559 cases under medical care, a trend that was clearly increasing as seen by the daily figures:

21st December 2021 - 25 new cases 22nd December 2021 - 33 new cases 23rd December 2021 - 31 new cases 24th December 2021 - 37 new cases 25th December 2021 - 27 new cases 26th December 2021 - 38 new cases 27th December 2021 - 31 new cases; 439 under medical care 28th December 2021 - 30 new cases; 451 under medical care 29th December 2021 - 43 new cases; 455 under medical care 30th December 2021 - 86 new cases 31st December 2021 - 64 new cases 1st January 2022 - 85 new cases 2nd January 2022 - 64 new cases 3rd January 2022 - 149 new cases 4th January 2022 - 156 new cases; 966 under medical care 5th January 2022 - 227 new cases; 1210 under medical care 6th January 2022 - 256 new cases; 1559 under medical care

Countrywide,Thailand reported 7,526 cases of the coronavirus today, the highest number since early November 2021 and more than double the number that was reported on 1st January 2022. This sharp rise was further reflected in the numbers on 4th January 2022, when approximately 3,800 cases were confirmed to be Omicron and a day later 5,775 cases were confirmed. It certainly didn’t help either that the initiative of mass testing of staff who were working in the Bangla Road area of Patong, considered the busiest tourist areas on Phuket Island, identified 159 individuals infected with COVID-19. Who knows how many more have been infected from this cluster, locals and tourists alike.

However, instead of doing something about curtailing the spread immediately, the situation has been allowed to worsen until all the party revellers have returned home with empty pockets and the rest of us are now left with the fallout and more restrictions again, given that the warning level of the country was raised from 3 to 4 today in attempts to curb the local transmissions. Too little, too late in our humble opinion! Nonetheless, children and parents are paying the price with schools across Phuket being ordered to stop on-site learning, people are being encouraged to work from home and to suspend travel plans, at-risk areas are being closed and limits have been set again on the number of people allowed to gather. Additionally, in eight provinces, including Phuket and the capital Bangkok, alcohol consumption can only be consumed until 2100 in COVID-Free Setting venues and only in restaurants that have received the SHA+ certificates, while being totally banned in 69 of the country's other provinces, but, although the “Test and Go” quarantine waiver scheme for tourists was suspended on 22nd December 2021, existing applicants can still enter Thailand without quarantine until 15th January 2022. Furthermore, the various “sandbox" schemes for Phuket, Samui Plus, Phang Nga, and Krabi, which requires visitors to remain in a specific location for seven days before being allowed free movement around Thailand during their stay, are being allowed to continue. Nothing like bringing in more infections from abroad, since there clearly aren’t enough here already! We sincerely hope that this balancing act of trying to revive the tourism industry, doesn’t backfire. From our perspective, though, our departure can’t come soon enough!

Putting all this anxiety aside, it was a day of rest for us, even though we clearly should have moved to our chosen anchorage for some R&R, given the weather forecast for the next few days. Instead, Elaine rested in bed and caught up on all our blogs, while Roy snoozed on and off for most of the morning. Around midday he decided to take the laundry ashore to the laundromat, saving Elaine the hassle of doing it onboard, but, more importantly, saving our potted water, since we had eventually run out of rainwater. On his return, he cooked up a storm in the galley for dinner; spare ribs, which were absolutely scrumptious! Elaine plucked up the energy in the afternoon to get the laundry dry on the wash-lines and sorted and stowed all her medications.

Unfortunately the swell that caused us to rock and roll just before bedtime arrived right on cue!

This morning we woke to the news that Elaine’s nephew’s surgery was successful and that he was recovering, as well as the news that Brooke was doing much better and on the road to recovery too. Unfortunately Collin had started to experience the more unpleasant symptoms, but all the grandchildren were well. More news out of South Africa this time revealed that Elaine’s niece’s husband had contracted COVID-19 and, although was very ill with it, was recovering. Although alarming at the number of family members and friends who’ve contracted COVID-19 in a matter of a week, it was a mixed bag of mostly good news and trust Collin will turn the corner soon. 

Just as alarming, though, are the number of cases on Phuket Island, making all the restrictions we’ve endured since arriving in Thailand in April a complete waste of time.

Having cases eventually get as low as 25 per day on 21 December 2021, with less than 400 people under medical care, yesterday the numbers reached 256, with 1559 cases under medical care, a trend that was clearly increasing as seen by the daily figures: 

21st December 2021 - 25 new cases22nd December 2021 - 33 new cases23rd December 2021 - 31 new cases24th December 2021 - 37 new cases25th December 2021 - 27 new cases26th December 2021 - 38 new cases27th December 2021 - 31 new cases; 439 under medical care28th December 2021 - 30 new cases; 451 under medical care29th December 2021 - 43 new cases; 455 under medical care30th December 2021 - 86 new cases31st December 2021 - 64 new cases1st January 2022 - 85 new cases2nd January 2022 - 64 new cases3rd January 2022 - 149 new cases4th January 2022 - 156 new cases; 966 under medical care5th January 2022 - 227 new cases; 1210 under medical care6th January 2022 - 256 new cases; 1559 under medical care

Countrywide,Thailand reported 7,526 cases of the coronavirus today, the highest number since early November 2021 and more than double the number that was reported on 1st January 2022. This sharp rise was further reflected in the numbers on 4th January 2022, when approximately 3,800 cases were confirmed to be Omicron and a day later 5,775 cases were confirmed. It certainly didn’t help either that the initiative of mass testing of staff who were working in the Bangla Road area of Patong, considered the busiest tourist areas on Phuket Island, identified 159 individuals infected with COVID-19. Who knows how many more have been infected from this cluster, locals and tourists alike.

However, instead of doing something about curtailing the spread immediately, the situation has been allowed to worsen until all the party revellers have returned home with empty pockets and the rest of us are now left with the fallout and more restrictions again, given that the warning level of the country was raised from 3 to 4 today in attempts to curb the local transmissions. Too little, too late in our humble opinion! Nonetheless, children and parents are paying the price with schools across Phuket being ordered to stop on-site learning, people are being encouraged to work from home and to suspend travel plans, at-risk areas are being closed and limits have been set again on the number of people allowed to gather. Additionally, in eight provinces, including Phuket and the capital Bangkok, alcohol consumption can only be consumed until 2100 in COVID-Free Setting venues and only in restaurants that have received the SHA+ certificates, while being totally banned in 69 of the country's other provinces, but, although the “Test and Go” quarantine waiver scheme for tourists was suspended on 22nd December 2021, existing applicants can still enter Thailand without quarantine until 15th January 2022. Furthermore, the various “sandbox" schemes for Phuket, Samui Plus, Phang Nga, and Krabi, which requires visitors to remain in a specific location for seven days before being  allowed free movement around Thailand during their stay, are being allowed to continue. Nothing like bringing in more infections from abroad, since there clearly aren’t enough here already! We sincerely hope that this balancing act of trying to revive the tourism industry, doesn’t backfire. From our perspective, though, our departure can’t come soon enough!

Putting all this anxiety aside, it was a day of rest for us, even though we clearly should have moved to our chosen anchorage for some R&R, given the weather forecast for the next few days. Instead, Elaine rested in bed and caught up on all our blogs, while Roy snoozed on and off for most of the morning. Around midday he decided to take the laundry ashore to the laundromat, saving Elaine the hassle of doing it onboard, but, more importantly, saving our potted water, since we had eventually run out of rainwater. On his return, he cooked up a storm in the galley for dinner; spare ribs, which were absolutely scrumptious! Elaine plucked up the energy in the afternoon to get the laundry dry on the wash-lines and sorted and stowed all her medications. 

Unfortunately the swell that caused us to rock and roll just before bedtime arrived right on cue!