Koh Samet to close from today for at least 2 weeks, Koh Chang may follow
The island of Koh Samet, in Thailand’s eastern Rayong province, is closing to visitors and non-residents for at least 14 days to help stop the spread of Covid-19. The province saw 21 new infections yesterday, with at least 1 being linked to Koh Samet. The shuttering is effective as of today with another popular island, Koh Chang, also possibly following suit. is only allowing residents to enter and leave the area from Na Dan Pier for essential travel to and from the mainland during the closure period.
The Rayong Governor signed the order yesterday along with the public health coordinator to shutter the island from today until at least May 10th. The island’s hotels, resorts and other accommodations are to close and the entire island is to be disinfected and cleaned. The Governor says those who reserved rooms should contact the property they were planning to stay at to postpone or cancel their reservations. He says they should be refunded by the properties and asked for island business owners to cooperate in refunding customers who had pre-booked stays.
Despite the governor reminding such businesses that they could collect social security payments, it is understood that a majority of tourism industry workers are informal and not qualified to receive social security payments. Those payments, if one is qualified to receive, can make up for 50% of one’s overall salary.
The island of Koh Chang may also follow suit as leaders are discussing the move today. The closures come before this weekend’s 4 day holiday which features labor day and His Majesty the King’s coronation anniversary day for government workers on Monday and Tuesday of next week. But due to Covid, many provinces have placed travel restrictions and are discouraging any non-essential travel, with 14 day quarantines mandatory for those arriving from red zone provinces or presenting a negative Covid test.
Today, Thailand is reporting 2,179 new Covid-19 infections and 15 coronavirus-related deaths. Since the start of the pandemic last year, Thailand has reported 59,687 Covid-19 infections and 163 coronavirus-related deaths.
SOURCE: The Pattaya News
