Six types of business and activities will be allowed to restart on May 3 (Sunday) when lockdown restrictions are eased, Dr Taweesin Visanuyothin, spokesman of the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA), said on Thursday (April 30). Meanwhile the state of emergency will stay in place for another month, until May 31.
Strict standards of hygiene must be maintained, including frequent hand washing, wearing of masks, and social distancing, the CCSA said. Governors could tighten the measures if the situation in their province worsened.
The following six businesses and activities are permitted to restart on Sunday:
1. Markets. (Fresh markets, floating markets, community markets, walking streets, and street-vendor operations.)
2. Food shops outside malls, including drinks shops, ice-cream shops, and street food vendors.
3. Retail businesses including department stores, small restaurants (social distancing measures must be applied for sit-in customers), carts, vendors, and telecoms shops.
4. Sport and recreation areas including parks – with the exception of team and competition sports, which remain banned.
5. Beauty salons (but only for cut, wash, and hair drying).
6. Pet salons and pet nurseries.
Taweesin added that the lockdown was being eased as a result of cooperation from all sectors, but the government will assess the situation every 14 days. If the rate of Covid-19 infections rises, the government will reapply the strict lockdown measures.
Meanwhile, the ban on sale of alcohol has been extended for another month, to May 31.
Dr Sukhum Karnchanapimai, permanent secretary for health, warned that lifting state quarantine measures would result in another 10,000 cases of Covid-19. Meanwhile, an additional 20-30 new cases are forecast after restrictions are eased on Sunday.
Kalin Sarasin, chairman of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, added that clothes shops would also be allowed to open from Sunday under the same social distancing restrictions.
