Coronavirus: Bangkok halts dine-in services; Sydney begins two-week lockdown
- Thai construction sites were also ordered to shut and workers’ quarters in Bangkok and nine other provinces were sealed off for 30 days
- Elsewhere, Sydney braces for a rise in cases even as it begins a lockdown, while Japan will ask athletes from India and other nations to take more Covid-19 tests
Construction sites were also ordered to shut and workers’ quarters in Bangkok and nine other provinces were sealed off.
The country reported 3,995 confirmed cases and 42 casualties in the last 24 hours. The numbers have doubled recently, and health officials blame a lack of cooperation from migrant workers employed in construction and in factories.
“Camps were closed but workers sneaked out to markets and communities, and spread the disease,” Apisamai Srirangson, spokesperson for the Center for Covid-19 Situation Administration, said on Friday.
She said that “bubble and seal” disease control measures had proved successful within 28 days in handling clusters in Samut Sakhon province, south of Bangkok, but not in the capital.
The situation has become critical as the number of hospital beds in Bangkok for seriously ill Covid-19 patients runs short despite the creation of several field hospitals.
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Thailand plans to reopen Phuket to vaccinated tourists in July
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said on Friday that a proposal for a seven-day curfew for all of Bangkok has been rejected for the time being.