New coronavirus cases set record in Thailand's capital

Health authorities in Thailand expressed concern as they announced Friday that the country’s capital has confirmed a record 869 new coronavirus cases as it battles a resurgence of the pandemic. The city reported 18 new deaths.

Taweesilp Visanuyothin, a spokesman for the government’s Center for COVID-19 Situation Administration, said Bangkok has recorded more than 500 new cases every day since the beginning of this month, with no sign of decline.

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration announced Friday night it will extend restrictions that were due to end May 9 until May 17. They include limiting restaurants to takeaway meals, closing 35 types of venues including bars, gyms, stadiums and boxing rings, and limiting the operating hours of other businesses.

Bangkok currently has 496 patients in critical condition, a number that is straining the capacity of hospitals to provide ICU beds. Anyone in Thailand who tests positive for the virus, even without symptoms, is supposed to be hospitalized, so there is a shortage of hospital beds for non-critical cases as well. Almost 30,000 patients, including 1,170 in critical condition, are in hospitals and field hospitals around the country.

Field hospitals have been established in several cities including Bangkok. Taweesilp said the government center is trying to set up a new one in the capital with more than 1,000 beds.

Thailand reported 2,044 new cases and 27 new deaths nationwide on Friday, bringing the total since January last year to 78,855 cases and 363 deaths.

Thailand’s recent coronavirus wave originated in upmarket entertainment venues in Bangkok in late March, and has spawned clusters in several crowded slum communities.

The government of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha managed to contain the coronavirus for much of last year, with relatively small numbers of cases and deaths. But after a wave of infections hit a crowded community of migrant workers near Bangkok late last year, the government has been criticized for failing to secure adequate supplies of vaccines.

Just a bit more than 2% of the population has received vaccinations, and inoculations on a large scale aren't scheduled to begin until next month.

Prayuth’s government is promoting a prayer session at Buddhist temples and online on May 11, in the stated hope that it bring people peace of mind and help them get through the coronavirus crisis together.

The government's board on tourism policy, meanwhile, endorsed a four-phase plan to reopen the country to foreign tourists. Currently, foreign visitors with vaccination certificates are allowed to enter but must then undergo quarantine. Starting next January, vaccinated tourists are to be allowed to enter all provinces without being quarantined.

Regularly scheduled passenger flights into Thailand were stopped in April last year.

The tourism industry is a major employer and generator of foreign exchange for Thailand.

Visitors to Thailand who are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus will no longer need to undergo any test or quarantine on arrival starting May 1, a measure the authorities hope will help rejuvenate the country’s lucrative tourism industry.

“Many countries have already eased their restrictions,” Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said Friday. “We are a country that relies on the tourism industry, especially during these times. This will help move the economy forward.”

Under the new rules announced by the Center for COVID-19 Situation Administration, unvaccinated travelers will still have to provide proof of negative results from a RT-PCR test taken no more than 72 hours before arrival.

All visitors still must register with an online “Thailand Pass” system and provide proof of health insurance with coverage of at least $10,000 for COVID-19 treatment.

Under the current arrival scheme known as “Test and Go,” even fully vaccinated travelers have been required to take RT-PCR tests upon arrival and then stay in a government-approved hotel for one night until the results are known. On the fifth day of their stay. a self-administered rapid antigen test has been required.

The Public Health Ministry on Friday announced 21,808 new confirmed coronavirus cases and 128 related fatalities, bringing the totals since the pandemic began in 2020 to 4,128,038 cases and 27,520 deaths.

The official figures are based on RT-PCR tests, and the new cases do not include 20,635 positive results from antigen tests, which would almost double the number of new cases to 42,443. Many other positive results from self-administered antigen tests may not have been reported to authorities.