Officials said today they were “weighing” the closure of more venues including public parks, sporting venues and barbers as COVID cases surged to a new dizzying high.
Though it was unclear from the vaguely worded bulletin whether a decision had been made, the COVID-19 task force said it was considering the closure of 10 types of venues including public parks, sports stadiums, beauty salons, hair salons, tattoo parlors and museums in the 13 worst-hit provinces.
The decision comes just two days after strict new lockdown measures were imposed. While not enough time has elapsed to gauge their success, the severity of the situation is clearly enough to push officials to re-embrace questionable restrictions such as closing parks.
The 13 so-called “dark-red” provinces are Bangkok, Nakhon Pathom, Pathum Thani, Nonthaburi, Samut Prakan, Samut Sakhon, Narathiwat, Pattani, Songkha, Yala, Ayutthaya, Chachoengsao and Chonburi.
Task force spokesperson Apisamai Srirangsan did not immediately state when the order would be effective nor clarify whether it would be an advice left up to local administrators to impose.
Bangkok governor Aswin Kwanmuang on late Wednesday signed a document ordering the 10 types of venues to shut from this Friday, July 23, until Aug. 2.
The trend of near-daily records shattered continued today with 13,002 infections logged. There were 108 deaths.
Update: This story has been updated with an official order by the Bangkok governor imposing the 10 types of venues to shut until Aug. 2.
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