BANGKOK (Xinhua) — Thai police on Friday released a report indicating that more than 40,000 people were arrested for defying the night curfew, which was intended to curb the spread of COVID-19.
Over the course of 72 days, which began on April 3 and ended on June 14, a total of 41,941 violators were apprehended nationwide, that is an average of 582 per day, according to Pol Lt Gen Piya Uthayo.
Piya said out of the 41,941 violators, 37,358 people were caught outside their homes during curfew hours without permission or good reason.
“The rests of the offenders said they were about to head home or that they had emergency business to deal with after curfew hours,” said Piya. “For example, one common excuses for breaching the curfew was that one of their family members fell ill during the curfew hours, and had to go out to see help.”
On June 15, the Thai government had completely lifted the night curfew as the number of new COVID-19 cases domestically had fallen flat since mid May.
