Like bars and nightclubs, lounges beauty salons were closed by authorities in Bangkok to fight the spread of the coronavirus. – MLADEN ANTONOV / AFP
Bars, nightclubs and restaurants will close on Saturday and the sale of alcohol will be prohibited in Bangkok under a series of measures adopted to contain the increase in cases of coronavirus in Thailand. If the kingdom was the first country to spot a case of infection outside of China at the start of 600, until November it had been relatively spared from the pandemic with a little more than 4. 19 cases and 60 deaths reported.
But the appearance of cases in the largest seafood market in Thailand last month caused a sudden surge in cases infections, detected in 20 of 60 provinces of the kingdom. On Saturday, the number of contaminations jumped to more than 7. 190 case.
Farewell cockfighting and massage parlors
In Bangkok, where more than 2. 600 cases were detected, the municipal authorities reacted quickly and decreed partial confinement, which takes effect on Saturday. Bars and nightclubs, places where boxing and cockfighting takes place, massage parlors, beauty salons and gyms are among the businesses affected by these restrictions. The capital announced Friday that public schools would be closed for two weeks.
“We don’t want to use extreme measures like containment or curfew but we need a stronger remedy to curb this new wave,” said Taweesin Visanuyothin, spokesperson for the Thai working group on
the Covid – 19 . Restrictions and closures are expected across the country from Jan. 4 until Feb. 1, he said, in order to allow a two-day reprieve to allow traders to prepare for it.