THE Public Health Ministry is moving to propose to the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) that restaurants be allowed to reopen but the staff must either have received two Covid jabs or undergo antigen testing every three to five days, Amarin TV said this afternoon (Aug. 25).
This step follows a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister and Public Health Minister Mr. Anutin Charnvirakul by Thai Restaurant Operators Association and eight other bodies where they urged him to consider easing lockdown measures as the coronavirus crisis seems to be improving.
The Department of Disease Control and the Department of Health have been assigned to prepare public safety guidelines for operation of restaurants with this to be submitted to CCSA for consideration on Friday August 27.
Three public safety steps are being considered as follows:
– The premises must not pose a risk to the spreading of this infection with key issues being that they be well ventilated and not congested with social distance maintained.
– Employees must be disease free and have received two Covid vaccine doses. If not they must be screened by antigen testing every three to five days.
– Customers may be required to show their Covid-19 vaccination status. Those who have tested positive in the past three months have to provide documents showing that they have not been infected for at least one month. They have to provide their antigen test results and take a Covid test before entering the premises.
The Thai Restaurant Operators Association representatives said they are willing to cooperate with these conditions as their members have already taken strict steps to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Initially the focus will be on air-conditioned restaurants and those located within malls as infection spreads more easily in such zones.
CCSA said today that there were 18,417 new cases of coronavirus and 297 deaths over the past 24 hours with 15,953 cases emerging in surveillance and health service systems, 2,308 found through proactive search, 146 infected in prisons and detention centres while ten overseas arrivals were placed in state quarantine.
The cumulative confirmed total since the start of the pandemic has now reached 1,102,368 and in the current wave that began in April 1,073,505.
Another 21,186 patient were cured taking total recoveries since the start of the pandemic to 903,015 and in the current wave 875,589. There are still 189,268 patient undergoing treatment.
The additional 297 fatalities raised the death toll since the start of the pandemic to 10,085 and in the ongoing wave 9,991.
CAPTIONS:
Top: Two couples having fun at a pub. Photo: Sunny Lapin (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Home Page: Some people enjoying a night out at a restaurant. Photo: Sam Sherratt (CC BY-SA 2.0)
One Reply to “Move to reopen restaurants with strict safety steps in place”