On Wednesday, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said the nighttime curfew, currently imposed in dark red zoned provinces, could be shortened or lifted if the Covid-19 situation improves.
Conversing to journalists about his arrival in parliament for the second day of the no-confidence debate against him and five other cabinet ministers, general Prayut spoke about current measures to control the surge in coronavirus cases.
He said the Center for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) expected all citizens to strictly comply with the disease control rules, which were relaxed since yesterday.
Restrictions could be further eased depending on the Covid-19 situation, he explained.
The prime minister also spoke about the current curfew, in effect from 09:00 p.m. to 04:00 a.m., which remained unchanged in dark red provinces, saying it could be lifted if the number of infections, deaths and other indications of the situation’s severity goes down.
General Prayut stated that he knew the curfew had affected some businesses, including entertainment venues.
But he urged associations of owners of bars, pubs and other nightspots to submit suggestions for consideration to the CCSA.
He said he could not make decisions on the matter without health personnel’s advice.
Reporters also asked the prime minister about the purchase of 8.5 million sets of antigen test kits (ATK).
Responding to their questions, General Prayut said the Food and Drug Administration was responsible for the ATK set’s procurement.
He stated that the FDA-approved drugs and medical products would surely be of good quality and would be sold at a reasonable price.
The prime minister also emphasized that authorities would distribute the 8.5 million ATK sets for free in the dark red zoned provinces.
He said that it would not be fair to consider the number of infections and death toll to judge the Thai healthcare system’s effectiveness, adding that he had confidence in it although it had been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic.
General Prayut urged people to take into account the number of Covid-19 patients who had recovered.
