New disease control law planned to replace Emergency Decree, Covid task force to change

With talk of an end to the Emergency Decree, which was put in place to combat Covid-19 and extended several times, the government is looking into imposing a new disease control law and transitioning the Covid-19 task force, which was formed under the emergency order, into a new body.

According to the Bangkok Post, the government said the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration, which is known as the CCSA, will continue its role as leading the country’s efforts to contain Covid-19. A new disease control law will replace the emergency decree and a new Covid task will form under the law.

Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam says the new law will give the government power to declare a state of public health emergency without invoking the general state of emergency order, which he says covers terrorism and mass unrest, but just isn’t a good fit for a public health emergency.

“As the general state of emergency has been used for some time now, (the government) has found that it doesn’t exactly fit the public health emergency the country is dealing with now. As such a specific law is required to replace the general state of emergency… When the new law is in place, a body even larger than the CCSA may be established if needed, so it doesn’t really matter if the CCSA is dissolved or not.”

SOURCE: Bangkok Post