No lockdown in Bangkok, Prime Minister Prayut insists

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha announced on Friday that Bangkok and its neighboring provinces as well as the four southern provinces of Songkhla, Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat, will not go into lockdown.

“No lockdown will be imposed in Bangkok, its surrounding provinces and the four southern provinces,” said Prayut. “However, construction sites that have reported infections will be shut down for a month. The Ministry of Labour will be responsible for taking care of affected Thai and migrant labourers,” the PM added.

According to The Nation report, the proposal to lock down Bangkok came from the Ministry of Public Health, which cited the concerns of several doctors and medical experts that hospital beds and ICU rooms in these areas were mostly occupied while the number of new infections in the country was still rising at around 3,000 to 4,000 patients per day.

The report added “that the rental contracts of several field hospitals in Bangkok are about to expire, which will further reduce the city’s capacity to treat new patients.”

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha also urged people to avoid traveling to lessen the possibility of spreading the virus to wider areas.

“If inter-provincial travel is unavoidable, please strictly adhere to Ministry of Public Health’s disease control measures and other measures announced by each province,” he said. “If you have to enter Bangkok, we urge you to remain in self-quarantine for 14 days and refrain from going to crowded areas.”

Source: The Nation