BANGKOK – Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan o-cha said the government has no immediate plans for a wider lockdown after 382 new Covid-19 cases were reported over the last 24 hours.
Of those cases, a total of 360 are migrant workers at a seafood market in Samut Sakhon province where a lockdown and night curfew have been imposed until January 3 following a surge in cases.
The retired army general, who previously led the country’s military junta from 2014 to last year, said that guidelines will be drawn up to impose tigther restrictions if the situation worsens.
Earlier deputy prime minister and Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul denied that the country is facing a second wave of Covid-19 infections, Thai news agency reported.
He said that the prime minister ordered a testing drive to begin in earnest, especially on migrant workers in at-risk areas.
About 42% of them were infected and most of the confirmed cases were asymptomatic, Anutin said.
He insisted that it was not the second wave of Covid-19 in Thailand and it was unnecessary to lockdown the whole of Samut Sakhon province because officials could identify the source of the outbreak.
“Only some areas of the province are under lockdown and officials are strictly controlling at-risk areas. The Public Health Ministry has set up a field hospital with 100 beds. Hospitals in provinces have enough resources and are capable of handling Covid-19 patients. I am confident that the disease will be contained soon, Anutin said. – Bernama, December 21, 2020
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