New Year's Holidays And Illegal Gambling Clusters Increase, Bangkok Shuts Schools For 2 Weeks

The handler and his elephant dressed as Santa Claus distribute face masks to a number of students ahead of the 2020 Christmas Day celebrations at a school in Ayutthaya, Thailand (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - Authorities in Thailand's capital, Bangkok, will close all schools for two weeks following the New Year holidays. This is in order to control the new wave of the new spread of COVID-19.

Thailand reported 279 new cases of COVID-19, on Friday, January 1, most of which were linked to a cluster of migrant workers in Samut Sakhon Province in the southern region of Bangkok. The government also found a spike in cases related to clusters at illegal gambling establishments in Rayong Province.

The clusters triggered the spread of the virus in Bangkok, so local authorities have tightened rules to prevent transmission.

"We are starting to see new cases in students and workers in the service sector," said Bangkok Metropolitan City Government spokesman Pongsakorn Kwanmuang.

"Therefore, we decided to close more places," Pongsakorn added.

All schools, child and senior care centers, children's playgrounds and tutoring centers will be closed January 4-17, while other public facilities including playgrounds, public baths and massage parlors will be closed from Saturday, January 2, call Pongsakorn.

He said the city government was also considering imposing a ban on eating at restaurants, but that the issue would still be discussed further by Thailand's COVID-19 task force team on Saturday.

Thailand reported two new fatalities from COVID-19 today. The total number of positive COVID-19 patients in Thailand since the COVID-19 outbreak in January has reached 7,163 people and 63 of them have died.

Most of the new positive cases in Thailand were the result of local transmission, while the other six were imported cases from abroad, said Thailand's COVID-19 task force.