The Thai government today announced new restrictions in the capital Bangkok and nine provinces in order to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The measures include travel restrictions, the closure of shopping malls, night hours and a limit of up to five people in one place, Reuters reported.
Some of the measures will take effect tomorrow and others on Monday. Malls, beauty and massage salons, and spas will be closed in Bangkok and five neighboring provinces early next week. At the same time, the number of testing sites for COVID-19 and isolation centers for the infected will be increased.
Thailand announced today that 9,276 new cases had been registered in the country in the previous 24 hours and 72 people had been diagnosed with COVID-19, Reuters reported.
Anti-virus brands will also be tightened in and around the South Korean capital, Seoul, on Monday, the DPA reported.
Prime Minister Kim Bu-kiom announced that the rules from the highest level of the government’s four-step plan to fight the pandemic were being introduced in the region. This highest level does not provide for a full lockdown, but only a restriction to four people at gatherings until 6 pm and two after this hour. Bars and nightclubs will be closed, spectators will not be allowed in the stadiums, and worshipers will have to watch the services online. Only relatives can attend weddings and funerals, and from Wednesday students return to distance learning.
According to Prime Minister Kim, the restrictions will be in force for at least two weeks.
Yesterday, 1,316 people tested positive for coronavirus, a new record daily gain in South Korea since the start of the pandemic. Most of the new cases are in and around Seoul.
With more than 165,000 cases so far, South Korea has been relatively light in the pandemic. But only 30 percent of its 51.3 million population has been vaccinated, the DPA noted.
Vietnam imposed a full lockdown today for two weeks in the 9 million financial and economic center Ho Chi Minh. Residents of the city will have the right to leave their homes only to get food, medicine or other urgent reasons, the Associated Press reported.
In the first year of the pandemic, Vietnam registered only 2,800 cases of coronavirus and from February to the end of April this year. there were almost no new infections. After that, however, their number began to increase and in the last two months about 22 thousand positive samples were registered. A new record daily increase of 1,625 new cases was established in Vietnam today, three quarters of which in Ho Chi Minh City.
About 4 million of the 96 million people currently have at least one dose of the vaccine, although the Hanoi Ministry of Health plans to vaccinate 70 percent of people by the end of this year, the AP reported.
The agency concludes that several countries in the Asia-Pacific region, which have so far coped well with the pandemic, have experienced the first major waves of coronavirus spread in recent months. They are now imposing restrictive measures to prevent congestion on the hospital network. This is a development known in most of the world, where successive waves have overwhelmed hospitals and led to many deaths. Asian countries have avoided this cycle by imposing strict travel rules combined with tough measures at home. However, now in some Asian countries new records are being set in the growth of infected and deaths, which is partly due to the highly contagious Delta variant and the weak vaccination, the AP commented.
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