Thailand’s ‘state of emergency’ finally draws to a close

Thailand’s Emergency Decree will finally come to an end on October 1 after being extended 19 times since the beginning of the pandemic. As a result, Thailand’s Covid-19 task force – the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) – will be dissolved.

The decision to end the state of emergency has been in the pipeline for some time and was finally confirmed today by the CCSA at a meeting hosted by acting Prime Minister of Thailand Prawit Wongsuwan.

Today, the Covid task force unanimously agreed to end Thailand’s state of emergency due to a steady improvement in Covid cases. Therefore, the CCSA has served its purpose and will not reconvene again.

Back in March 2020, the CCSA was formed under emergency orders by the then-Prime Minister of Thailand Prayut Chan-o-cha. The decree gave the government what Human Rights Watch have called “unchecked powers” to enact whichever measures they please to “protect the public interest” and curtail the Covid virus, without having to go through parliament.

Many countries in the world abandoned coronavirus prevention measures a long time ago, yet Thailand’s Emergency Decree remained firmly in place, being extended by the CCSA a total of 19 times.

The decree was widely criticised as simply a pretext by which the government could suppress peaceful protests and demonstrations under the guise of Covid control measures. Public gatherings were banned under the decree on the basis that they risked coronavirus transmission.

However, pro-democracy fighters ignored the government’s orders and went out to protest anyway. Several peaceful demonstrators were arrested and detained for violating the ‘Emergency Decree’ for attending or arranging demonstrations.

Next month, Covid will be reclassified as a “communicable disease under surveillance” rather than a “dangerous communicable disease,” said the CCSA.

For the first time in years, all that travellers will need to enter Thailand from October 1 is their passport and possibly a visa depending on their nature of stay in the kingdom.

Thailand also recently decided to extend the duration of ‘visa on arrival’ from 15 to 30 days and ‘visa exemption on arrival’ stays from 30 to 45 days. The government hopes that the prospect of a longer stay will lure more tourists into Thailand, benefitting the economy.

SOURCE: KhaoSod

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