Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said on Friday he was considering taking legal action against anyone who used the expression “Thai Khu Fa Club” to mock the government amid reports a minister had contracted Covid-19 at a nightclub in Thong Lor.
“I have ordered the legal team to consider whether it is against the law or not. Using the term Thai Khu Fa … is not [right],” Gen Prayut said.
The 101-year-old Thai Khu Fa building houses the Prime Minister’s Office and is located in the grounds of Government House
Gen Prayut was speaking after some people made fun of the place to link it with a new Covid-19 cluster linked to entertainment venues in Bangkok’s Thong Lor area, where a minister is rumoured to have caught the virus.
He added that the government could not prohibit anyone from visiting nightclubs.
Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and other ministers currently in quarantine were doing fine, Gen Prayut said. They were working from home via video conferencing and other apps.
Meanwhile, Transport Minister Saksayam Chidchob on Friday sent a current photo of himself to the media to show he was healthy despite having Covid-19.
Mr Saksayam tested positive on April 7 and is being treated at Buriram Hospital.
The Buriram provincial public health department on Thursday published the minister’s timeline from March 23–April 7 on Facebook but he has since deleted the post, saying there were some mistakes that needed to be fixed.
The minister’s published timeline did not contain an entertainment venue.
Mr Saksayam asked his lawyer to file a complaint with the police against a Twitter user who posted a video clip of a nightclub in Thong Lor.
The user used hashtags that could make people believe that a man in the clip was Mr Saksayam, the lawyer said.
Kittichai Reangsawat, a Bhumjaithai Party MP for Chachoengsao, denied reports he had caught Covid when he accompanied the infected minister to the Thong Lor nightclub, saying it probably happened while he was out dining with a friend on April 4.
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