PRIME MINISTER Prayut Chan-o-cha will preside over a meeting of the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) executive committee via video conference at 1.30 p.m. tomorrow (August 1) to consider extending the 14-day lockdown in the dark red zone that expires on Monday August 2, Siam Rath newspaper said.
This step is being considered after the daily Covid count has continued to rise reaching 18,912 cases and 178 deaths this morning.
It is likely that the meeting will extend Announcement No. 28 issued under the emergency decree, especially the sections related to imposing a lockdown in 13 dark red zone provinces, as suggested by the Public Health Ministry.
The ministry had said that if a stringent lockdown is in place the number of cases would drop but if it is lifted the tally would skyrocket.
Talks will also be held on adding more provinces to the dark red zone as many of them in the North and Northeast have seen the number of cases rise through residents returning home.
The meeting will also look into relaxing some restrictions such as allowing restaurants in malls and shopping centres to reopen for delivery only. Stricter personal protection measures would be placed on the kitchen staff.
In addition, allocation of vaccines will be monitored to ensure that all at-risk and labour groups as well as frontline medical personnel and other targeted groups are covered.
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Top: Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha. Photo: Siam Rath
Home Page: Downtown Bangkok during the curfew. Photo: Maythee Anegboonlap (CC BY-SA 2.0)
