Thailand Closes Restaurants, Construction Sites In 10 Provinces Over COVID-19

BANGKOK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th June, 2021) Thai authorities have imposed tough COVID-19 restrictions on Bangkok and nine other provinces due to a sharp rise in coronavirus cases and deaths in recent weeks, a decree published in the Royal Thai Government Gazette said.

"The government did not introduce a full lockdown. We are talking about measures necessary to reduce the rate of the spread of the infection, and eliminate clusters of infections that have risen in recent weeks," a spokesman for the prime minister told reporters.

From now on, all restaurants in Bangkok, five provinces bordering the capital and four provinces in the south of the country will be open only for take away and delivery for the next 30 days.

In addition, all camps for construction workers will be shut down and construction work will be suspended.

In total, 575 camps will close for 30 days. The camps will be guarded by the police and military and will switch to a full quarantine mode, during which mass COVID-19 testing will be carried out and medical assistance will be provided to those ill right on the spot. Most construction workers in Thailand are migrants from Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos.

In an attempt to escape the quarantine, many construction workers tried to leave the camps before the imposed quarantine measures, and therefore police were deployed to key highways.

Moreover, the decree also bans gatherings of over 20 people and urges citizens to refrain from unnecessary travel between provinces.

Thailand currently has over 43,000 active COVID-19 cases and over 5,000 new ones logged in the past 24 hours. Over 9% of the population have received the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and around 3% have been fully vaccinated.