Thailand will reimpose a nightly curfew for Bangkok and nine other provinces for 14 days, starting midnight Monday (July 12), as the country battles to contain an escalating Covid-19 outbreak.
The announcement was made following an urgent meeting between the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) and medical personnel who called on the government to take urgent action to curb the virus spread.
Over the past nine days, daily new Covid-19 infections in Thailand has been on the rise, with 5,530 cases reported on July 1 and 9,276 cases today. Meanwhile, the death toll has also soared from 57 on July 1 to 72 today.
Under the new regulation, residents in the capital and its vicinities – namely, Pathum Thani, Samut Prakan, Samut Sakhon, Nonthaburi and Nakhon Pathom – together with four provinces in the southern region – Narathiwat, Pattani, Yala and Songkhla – will not be allowed to leave their homes from 21.00 until 04.00 the next morning, except for essential reasons, said Apisamai Srirangsan, deputy spokesperson for CCSA.
Meanwhile, restrictions will also be tightened for all the 10 areas declared as dark-red zones, including the requirement for all convenience stores, shopping malls and restaurants to close latest 20.00.
In addition, activities that involve groups of more than five will also be banned, while public transport services will run until 19.30. Authorities have also urged people to stay home and work from home as much as possible.
JP Morgan has named Thailand as among five emerging economies that are most vulnerable to the Delta variant, with the other four being South Africa, Colombia, the Philippines, and Peru, according to a Reuters report.
