BANGKOK — Schools, bars, and pubs may reopen by July if COVID-19 numbers stay low, the government announced Friday.
“If we are ready, then we can open them, but the committee will study and decide when ready is,” government pandemic response team spokesman Taweesin Visanuyothin said. “Soon, we might hear some good news.”
Phase 4 institutions include: schools and educational institutions, film production sets, sports training areas and stadiums, daycare and elderly care centers, national parks and botanical gardens, concerts, and musical performance events.
Science centers, specified beaches, pubs, bars, nighclubs, karaokes, conference halls, amusement parks, water parks, playgrounds, game arcades, and erotic massage parlours – a euphemism for commercial sex venues – are also included.
Read: Dark Night: Photos Capture Death of Bangkok’s Nightlife in Pandemic
“We are in the third phase now, but we have to evaluate ourselves leading up to the fourth phase,” foreign ministry deputy spokesman Natapanu Nopakun said. He said that this could be in mid-June or July.
Taweesin also announced one new COVID-19 case, of a 45-year-old man in state quarantine who had returned from Kuwait. He puts the total infected in Thailand at 3,102, while three people recovered, putting the total recovery at 2,971. No new deaths were reported.
The latest case puts the total number of infected returning from Kuwait at 32 from a total of 174 people, or around 18 percent – the highest ratio of infected returnees.
Coming in second place is Saudi Arabia, which has 12 infected out of 79 returnees, or around 15 percent, and Indonesia, which has 65 infected out of 451 returnees, or about 14 percent.
