Stricter Covid restriction measures are coming, the government said on Friday, as the latest steps have not stopped the latest surge of infections.


“The results from five days of the current measures were discussed at the meeting, and led to the concern that there might be a need for stricter measures,” said Dr Apisamai Srirangson, the assistant spokeswoman for the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA).


“There might be a need to close down more businesses and as many as we can,” she added.


She did not give a timescale for the new measures but said it would be “very soon”.


The government introduced a lockdown on Monday which include a curfew, the lockdown of construction worker camps, shorter opening hours, the temporary closure of some shops inside shopping malls, the temporary closedown of salons, spas and traditional massage parlors and the setting up of checkpoints to discourage people’s movement between provinces within the Bangkok and Metropolitan Region.


Apart from Bangkok, Nakhon Pathom, Nonthaburi, Pathum Thani, Samut Prakan and Samut Sakhon, the curfew and checkpoints are also being applied in four other provinces in the south including Narathiwat, Pattani, Songkhla and Yala but other measures are not in effect there.


“Currently, the lockdown is being applied in 10 provinces and not the entire country,” Apisamai said. “But after the results from the five days of current measures have shown that the outbreak situation is still worrisome, the CCSA’s director has asked medical advisers to urgently come up with new measures” she said, referring to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha who chairs the CCSA.


The existing measures were set to be in place for two weeks from Monday.


The state-of-emergency decree to prevent the spread of Covid, which has been in effect since March 26 of last year, has also been extended for the 13th time and it will be in effect until the end of September.


The Bangkok and Metropolitan Region is still reporting more than 4,300 cases every day since the semi-lockdown began on July 12.


From the 351,140 locally transmitted cases that have been reported since the start of the third wave on April 1, a total of 187,206 or 53.3 per cent were found within the region.


The CCSA said the surging number of new Covid cases in the country is being led by the outbreak of the Delta variant, first identified in India.


In Thailand, the first Delta cluster was found at a construction worker camp in Bangkok. The variant is expected to overtake the Alpha variant, first identified in the United Kingdom, as the dominating variant in the country by September or October.


Nationwide, there were 9,692 confirmed cases and 67 Covid related deaths in the past 24 hours.


Of the 9,062, cases in the general Thai population, excluding 615 cases in prisons and 15 imported cases, the highest numbers were 2,195 in Bangkok followed by 653 in Samut Sakhon, 607 in Samut Prakan, 530 in Chonburi and 456 in Nonthaburi.


The third wave had led to 353,044 cases and 3,005 deaths with a mortality rate of 0.85 per cent.


There are now 106,951 patients being treated at hospitals. Of that, 3,367 are in critical condition including 847 on ventilators.


Tighter Covid restrictions coming "very soon" - Thai Enquirer