Bangkok, 16 May, 2020, at 13.00 Hrs. – The Royal Thai Government has approved the second phase for easing restrictions, starting from 17 May, 2020.
Published in the Royal Thai Government Gazette on 15 May, 2020, the directives include:
The reduction of the night-time curfew from currently 22.00-04.00 Hrs. to 23.00-04.00 Hrs.
The relaxation for the utilisation of educational institutes to help orphans and needy children, but strictly no classes, exams or trainings.
The relaxation for more businesses and activities to reopen.
For economic and daily life activities: The sales of food and drinks are allowed to resume in restaurants, food courts, cafeterias and eateries, excluding pubs and bars and drinking of alcohol.
Shopping malls, department stories and community malls can resume operations until 20.00 Hrs. for consumer and service sections, including restaurants and beverage shops (but no drinking of alcohol), beauty salon, hairdressers, and manicure/pedicure shops. Sections that are to remain closed are cinemas, bowling alleys, game arcades, skating rinks, karaoke bars, amusement parks, water parks, zoos, snooker and billiard halls, game shops, fitness centres, health shops, Thai traditional massage, foot massage, tutorial schools, amulet trading shops and convention/meeting facilities. Tournaments, sale promotions and any activities that draw large crowds are also not allowed.
Also allowed to resume operations are retail and wholesale shops, nurseries and elderly care centres (overnight only), TV and movie productions of not more than 50 people at a time – no spectators, limited meeting services at meeting rooms in hotels or convention centres.
For health, fitness or leisure activities: Beauty clinics, cosmetic clinics and manicure shops, both inside and outside shopping malls, department stress or community malls, can resume operations for skin and body care, except facial treatments.
Fitness centres outside shopping malls, department stories or community malls can resume operations only for yoga or free weight sections. Other exercise equipment, treadmills, cycling machines or group exercises are not allowed.
Indoor sport complexes are allowed to operate for badminton, takraw, table tennis, squash, gymnastic, fencing and rock climbing only with no spectators.
All public swimming pools, botanical gardens, museums, learning centres, historical sites, public libraries and art galleries are allowed to reopen.
Business and venue operators must follow guidance issued by the Department of Health, Ministry of Public Health. Monitoring of businesses will be done randomly. Members of the public are encouraged to contribute to monitoring the adherence to guidance by business operators.
TAT would like to remind all to continue to adhere to health and safety routines to protect themselves as well as others from the COVID-19 infection. These include keeping social distance, wearing a mask or cloth mask, and frequently washing hands. Avoid close contact with other persons, no hugging, especially with vulnerable groups like the elderly, or those who have underlying conditions because it can increase the infection rate and potentially lead to severe disease more easily than in other groups.
People can greet via a Wai (Thai greeting) from a distance of 1 or 2 metres. When staying together, people must wear masks, use personal utensils or serving spoons, or eat a la carte servings to protect themselves and loved ones from getting the disease.
TAT is constantly providing updates on the tourism-related COVID-19 situation in Thailand at the TAT Newsroom (https://www.tatnews.org/). For additional information and assistance relating to Thailand’s tourism, contact the TAT Contact Centre 1672 or Tourist Police 1155.
For constant updates of Thailand’s COVID-19 control measures for travellers, please visit https://ddc.moph.go.th/viralpneumonia/eng/index.php.
This press release is published on 16 May, 2020, at 13.00 Hrs. All information is accurate at the current time but can be changed depending on the situation. The TAT Newsroom will not be updating this press release but will issue new updates as soon as further information becomes available.
