This week: Monkeypox runner, cannabis confusion, Covid concern and 'dead' man's new ID
Monkeypox runner caught
Authorities in Cambodia have arrested a Nigerian monkeypox patient — the first to be confirmed in Thailand — who fled the country after he was diagnosed in Phuket.
The arrest took place on Saturday afternoon at a market in Phnom Penh.
The 27-year-old man is the first monkeypox case in Cambodia, and officials have urgently begun tracing to find out where the man has been and who he has had contact with since entering the country.
A second infected man was diagnosed in Bangkok on Thursday.
Thailand currently has no plans to bring the Nigerian back from Cambodia.
Cannabis confusion
Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has refused to back down from his decision to decriminalise cannabis despite calls for the policy to be immediately suspended.
More than 800 doctors from Ramathibodi Hospital called for the suspension of the decriminalisation pending adequate controls to protect the young.
To further add to the confusion, the Ministry of Public Health recalled an urgent letter shortly after it was sent to police asking them to take legal action against those who failed to seek permits related to the use of cannabis.
Anutin reiterated that a draft law being examined by the House does not permit recreational use of the plant.
Covid sixth wave feared
Bangkok is bracing for a sixth wave of Covid-19, as the capital sees more than 10,000 new cases per day, threatening the city's public health system.
The latest BA.5 Omicron subvariant is the main culprit, and is the most infectious strain so far as it can infect those who are already vaccinated or have previously recovered from Covid.
The Ministry of Public Health is only recording around 2,000 cases per day, but because the new subvariant generally causes mild sickness among healthy people, a large number of infected people who have few symptoms are not reported.
'Dead' man gets ID card
An elderly man who was mistakenly declared dead in 1997 has finally been issued a new national ID card.
A morgue official reported the death of a man with the same name in 1997, leading to officials being unable to extend the elderly man's ID card.
He complained, but nothing happened. He lost all the rights of a Thai citizen, including state welfare benefits, and his monthly pension.
Officials finally issued him with a new ID card this week.
