The Department of Health ( DOH) will push for measures to curb the number of visitors to tourist spots in order to prevent a new surge in the transmission of Covid-19 as the government considers it possible to resume more businesses and activities before schedule.
DOH Director-General Panpimol Wipulakorn said travelers should adopt "new normal" practices and maintain social distance and safety precautions such as wearing masks and regular hand-washing wherever they go, even though some restrictions on domestic travel have been relaxed.
For the next step of lockdown easing, steps to curtail the amount of tourists to tourist sites will need to be released, close to restricting the number of people heading to shopping malls, Dr Panpimol said.
She added that measures to control the number of visitors to beaches in their respective provinces should also be developed by local organizations to prevent overcrowding. Tourists and service sector staff would also be allowed to wear masks on the beaches, Dr Panpimol said.
Sufficient hand sanitisers should also be provided to beach-goers, while toilets and bathrooms on the beachfront should be cleaned every two hours, she said, adding that visitors have to check in and out at beaches so that they can be traced, among other measures.
Dr. Panpimol said the department tracked every relaxing process, and noticed that although people keep washing their hands frequently, they appear to wear fewer face masks in public places.
She also stated that it is not forbidden for moviegoers to consume popcorn and soft drinks in cinemas, but they were advised to take care and wear masks all the time.
Meanwhile, Taweesilp Visanuyothin, spokesperson for the Center for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) said on Friday that all companies and activities would be permitted to reopen ahead of schedule in the final process of the Covid-19 lockdown relaxation if they can
provide guarantees that they have plans to deter virus transmission.
Dr. Taweesilp said the CCSA has discussed regularly the fourth and final relaxation phase for businesses and activities in the red or high-risk category such as pubs and bars.
The spokesman quoted Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, who is the director of the CCSA, as saying that any companies and events that come up with proposals to avoid transmissions will be authorized to reopen ahead of the next relaxation process which would ultimately contribute to the country 's full reopening.
Nonetheless, these arrangements will first be authorised by the CCSA 's Committee on Business Resumption, Dr Taweesilp said.
The committee is headed by Secretary-General of the National Security Council Somsak Roongsita.
The government intends to remove the lockout on all companies and operations nationally on July 1. This includes lifting restrictions on inter-provincial travel, as well as ending the emergency decree and curfew.
The emergency declaration, enacted on March 26 to cope with Covid-19, would expire in June, and at the same moment it is removed, the prohibition on foreign travel will stop.
One new case of Covid-19 infection was confirmed by the CCSA on Friday, an asymptomatic returnee from Kuwait who tested positive just before quarantine left. There were no additional deaths.
Source Bangkok Post
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