Bangkok closes schools for two weeks to stem COVID-19 spread

Bangkok announced all the city’s schools will close for two weeks beginning Monday in an effort to stem transmission of the coronavirus.

Thai officials reported 279 new cases of the virus Friday, most of them connected with migrant workers who work in the nation’s southern Samut Sakhon province. However, the clusters have made their way into the capital, they said, according to Reuters.

The city will shut down schools, daycare centers and facilities for the elderly from Jan. 4-17.

“We begin to detect new cases linked to students and other service businesses,” Pongsakorn Kwanmuang, a spokesman for the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, said Friday, according to the news service. “Therefore we decided to close more places.”

Pongsakorn added that public facilities like public baths, playgrounds and amusement parks will close beginning Saturday. The city may also restrict dine-in services at restaurants pending government discussions, he said.

Thailand has seen a total of 7,163 infections and 63 deaths from the virus since the beginning of the pandemic, including two new deaths recorded Friday. A government task force said most new cases were the result of local transmission but that six new cases were the result of people entering the country, according to Reuters.

The country announced a series of new restrictions at the national level earlier this week. Taweesilp Visanuyothin, a spokesperson for the coronavirus coordinating center, said that the country could have more than 10,000 cases in the month ahead without further action to contain it. However, strict containment regulations could keep the number under 1,000.