Buddhist monks wearing face shields collect alms during partial confinement in Bangkok.
Photographer: Andre Malerba / Bloomberg
Photographer: Andre Malerba / Bloomberg
Thailand will impose more restrictions on business and meetings in regions that are most at risk from the latest outbreak of coronavirus cases, including the capital Bangkok.
Officials identified 28 provinces as high-risk areas and set new limitations, such as the suspension of some business operations and meetings that could cause infections, health ministry officials in Bangkok said on Saturday. The new measures will take effect on Monday as soon as they are approved by Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha, they said.
Thailand is battling a resurgence of the virus outbreak, with the country reporting more than 2,000 new cases in the past two weeks, prompting authorities to close schools in Bangkok and temporarily close some companies, including gyms, spas, pubs and bars. The Prayuth government has refrained from imposing a national blockade, but allowed the provincial authorities to define their own measures based on the risks 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 to extend its domestic travel subsidy program beyond April to help the tourism industry deal with the impact of the latest outbreak, Tourism Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said earlier this week.
According to the stricter social distance rules recommended by the Covid-19 response center, travel will be discouraged between provinces with more than 50 active cases and people will be recommended to work from home, officials said. The new brakes could remain in effect until the end of this month and will be revised later, they said.
The education ministry also ordered all schools in these areas to be closed from January 4 until the end of the month, said Rachada Dhnadirek, a government spokesman, on Twitter.
Thailand reported 216 new cases of virus and a death on Saturday, with most infections transmitted locally. Although many of the new cases in recent weeks have been linked to a seafood market in Samut Sakhon province, near Bangkok, local broadcasts have been reported in more than 58 provinces now, data from the ministry of health showed.
New cases in Thailand, which was relatively successful in containing the pathogen after becoming the first country outside China to report the deadly virus, could reach 18,000 a day if no control measures are implemented, according to Taweesilp Witsanuyotin , spokesman for 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 help of Thomas Kutty Abraham
(Updates aimed at closing schools in more areas in the sixth paragraph.)