Thailand
Thailand: Covid controls to be eased for restaurants, flights
The Public Health Ministry will propose dining-in be allowed at restaurants in dark-red and red zones for customers who are fully vaccinated or passed Covid-19 tests.
Airline passenger flights, now banned in dark-red zones, would also be allowed to resume, with the same criteria.
Dr Kiatiphum Wongrajit, permanent secretary for health, said on Thursday that the ministry would propose the relaxation of Covid-19 controls to the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration on Friday.
Lockdown measures over the past four weeks reduced the number of new daily Covid-19 cases from about 20,000 to 18,000 and the decline was likely to continue, he said.
Under the proposal, air-conditioned restaurants in the 29 dark-red zones of maximum and strict Covid-19 control, and the 37 red zone provinces, would be allowed to serve meals to customers at up to 50% of their seating capacity. Social-distancing must be observed. They could open until 8pm.
Restaurateurs and staff must have received two doses of Covid-19 vaccine. If they were infected, the infection must have been at least one month ago but not more than three months, which is the period of effective immunity, he said.
Otherwise, they must test negative for Covid-19 via either antigen or RT-PCR tests, which must be conducted regularly.
The same conditions would apply to customers, who must have certificates of vaccination or Covid-19 test results. Those without the certification could only order takeaways, Dr Kiatiphum said.
Vaccinations or negative test results would also be required for airline passengers, he said.
He expected CCSA would give more details, including the timing, on Friday.
