Thailand News Today – Tuesday, March 24

Thailand under a State of emergency – Prime Minister

Thai PM Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha told a news conference today that Thailand will be under emergency decree from this Thursday (March 26) until the end of April to deal with Covid-19.

The decree means the PM will have the executive power to declare further measures to contain the virus, including giving extra authority to officials and creating checkpoints to reduce people’s movements.

Prayut says some requirements would be mandatory while others would be “requests.” He said precise details of the decree will be announced before this Thursday.

He urged people not to return to their home provinces and said there will be checkpoints and quarantine measures taken along the way for those who do.

The emergency decree gives various powers, including the potential restriction of domestic travel, censoring media, curfews, commandeering or closing building, among others.

The Thai PM said that rumours of a curfew taking place as early as this evening are false.

The PM also said that social media will be “very closely monitored” during the emergency decree period. Those sharing fake news or making claims of cover-ups or conspiracies “will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

Thailand confirms 106 new coronavirus cases, 3 more deaths

Thailand health officials reported 106 new Covid-19 coronavirus infections today, bringing the total to 827 in the Kingdom. The number of new cases is lower than the 122 recorded yesterday. T

The Ministry of Public Health has also reported 3 additional deaths from the virus in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 4. A Public Health Ministry spokesman says the 3 deaths were patients who had previous health complications, including a 70 year old man with tuberculosis, a 45 year old man with diabetes and a 79 year old man with unspecified health problems. Meanwhile local media are reporting 9 new cases in Phuket, including an unnamed medical official.

Thai restaurants and food chains switching to home deliveries

A difficult time for restaurants as the government rolls out lockdowns across the country. So many of the restaurants and food chains are changing from sit-in facilities to home delivery. They’re saying that they need to switch their financial strategy to stay afloat as the spread of Covid-19 becomes more serious in Thailand. So they’re becoming ‘virtual’ restaurants providing the same food but as a home delivery instead.

Smaller restaurants will have the option of either providing their own deliveries and reaching out to their customer base on social media, or registering with some of the App-based service providers like Grab Food and Food Panda. But these services take a whopping commission to be listed.

Riot fears reopen ‘closed’ Thai border checkpoints as migrant workers flee

Some of Thailand’s recently closed border checkpoints were forced to reopen last night and today as thousands of migrant workers, now unemployed due to the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak, flee Thailand for their homes in Myanmar and Cambodia. Their numbers and their desperation sparked fears of rioting.

In Chiang Rai, the border was reopened after about 100 workers from Myanmar arrived at the Mae Sai checkpoint, only to find it closed. A 28 year old woman in the group, recently laid off due to shutdowns in Bangkok, told reporters:

“We must go home, or we will starve to death in Bangkok.”