Buddhist monks wearing facial shields collect alms during a partial closure in Bangkok.
Photographer: Andre Malerba / Bloomberg
Photographer: Andre Malerba / Bloomberg
Thailand will impose more restrictions on companies and meetings in regions most at risk due to the latest outbreak in coronavirus cases, including the capital Bangkok.
Authorities identified 28 provinces as high-risk areas and set new restrictions, such as suspending some business operations and meetings that could boost infections, health ministry officials in Bangkok said on Saturday. The new measures will take effect on Monday once approved by Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha, they said.
Thailand is battling a resurgence of the virus outbreak and the country reported more than 2,000 new cases in the last two weeks alone, prompting authorities to close schools in Bangkok and temporarily close some businesses, including gyms, spas, pubs. and bars. The Prayuth government did he refrained from imposing a national closure, but allowed the provincial authorities to establish their own measures based on the risk of infections.
The new wave threatens to delay Thailand’s plan to gradually reopen its tourism industry and revive Southeast Asia’s second largest economy. The government plans to do so expands its domestic travel subsidy program beyond April to help the tourism industry cope with the success of the latest outbreak, Tourism Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said earlier this week.
Under the stricter rules of social distancing recommended by the Covid-19 response center, travel between provinces with more than 50 active cases will be discouraged and people working from home are recommended, officials said. The new curbs may be in effect until the end of this month and will be reviewed later, they said.
The Ministry of Education also ordered that all schools in these areas be closed from January 4 to the end of the month, government spokesman Rachada Dhnadirek said on Twitter.
Thailand reported 216 new cases of the virus and one death on Saturday, with most infections transmitted locally. Although many of the new cases in recent weeks were related to a seafood market in Samut Sakhon province near Bangkok, local broadcasts from more than 58 provinces have now been reported, according to ministry data. of health.
According to Taweesilp Witsanuyotin, a spokesman for New Zealand, new cases in Thailand, which were relatively unsuccessful in containing the pathogen after becoming the first country outside China to report the deadly virus, could reach 18,000 per day if no control measures are applied. the Center for Covid-19 Situation Administration. The country can limit new infections to about 1,000 cases a day with strict control measures, he said.
– With the assistance of Thomas Kutty Abraham
(Updates to close schools in more areas in the sixth paragraph.)