A popular shaman and a lawyer have asked Crime Sup­pression Di­-vision (CSD) police to take action against a drug rehabilitation centre at a temple in Kanchanaburi for alleged torture and other human rights abuses.

Bangkok could be back on the tourist map and reopen by Nov 1 if double-dose mass vaccinations cover at least 70% of the capital's population before this month ends, says the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA).

An amended Communicable Disease Act will grant the national committee on communicable diseases authority equivalent to that of the emergency decree, the government said on Wednesday.

A popular shaman and a lawyer on Wednesday asked Crime Suppression Division police to take action against a drug rehabilitation centre at a temple in Kanchanaburi for alleged torture and other human rights abuses.

Personal data of 106 million international travellers to Thailand was found to have been exposed online in August before it was quickly secured by Thai authorities, according to Comparitech, a cybersecurity research firm.

Thai police have refused to confirm media reports that Malaysian transgender entrepreneur, Muhammad Sajjad Kamaruz Zaman, who is wanted by authorities in her home country, is looking to claim political asylum.

The reopening plan for five provinces might be delayed by a month to Nov 1 as each province's vaccination rate still falls short of 70% coverage, leading Chiang Mai to put its faith in the domestic market instead.

The cabinet has approved a draft amendment to the 2015 Communicable Disease Act, seen as a new mechanism to replace the emergency decree in the country's ongoing battle against Covid-19.

The imminent reopening promised by the government will be welcomed by most leaders. However, we will not be coming back to either the old or current business as usual.