Thailand’s government does not want to impose a national lock-down despite increasing Covid-19 infection numbers, sources inside the cabinet told Thai Enquirer on Monday.

Thailand’s Center for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) said on Sunday that the country discovered 121 new coronavirus cases with 94 local infection cases spread throughout the country. (Read here)

According to the latest government statistics, the virus has spread to 38 provinces with Samut Sakhon and Rayong the hardest hit provinces. Both places have now imposed a provincial lock-down and restricted movement and businesses.

Bangkok, and its surrounding conurbation, is the third hardest hit area but no lock-down is forthcoming, according to cabinet sources.

Economic Concerns

That is because businesses and vendors have let it be known in private to the government that the new year festive period was the last opportunity for the economy to recoup some of the losses they have experienced over the past year.

With the economy expected to contract by as much as 8 per cent in 2020, according to the latest World Bank estimates, any little gain for businesses would be a welcomed development.

“If there were no economic concerns, we would be in lock-down already,” said a senior cabinet source who asked not to be named citing the sensitivity of the matter.

“But the government is hesitant to impose anything that could dampen new year’s celebrations even further.”

Revised 2021

The second wave of coronavirus infections has also seen the government lower their predictions for recovery in 2021.

The Bank of Thailand, last week, revised GDP growth predictions for next year down to 3.3 per cent from a previous prediction of 3.6 per cent growth.

“Unless Thailand quickly gets this second wave of infections under control, the country could see significant impact on next year’s economic growth,” a former analyst at Credit Suisse told Thai Enquirer.

The government, according to spokesman Dr Thaweesin Visanuyothin, says it is still capable of controlling the situation. In a press conference on Wednesday, Thaweesin told viewers that the situation in migrant dormitories in Samut Sakhon, where the virus first appeared, was largely under control with containment and widespread testing.

Thaweesin said that public cooperation was needed to ensure that the second wave did not become widespread.

 

 

THAI Enquirer