Bangkok, Thailand-
The Thai Cabinet approved a request from the Center for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) to extend the Emergency Decree in Thailand to the end of November.
You can read about the previous approval from the CCSA and more details about the Emergency Decree in our previous article below:
https://thepattayanews.com/2020/10/26/thailands-center-for-covid-19-situation-administration-agrees-to-extend-emergency-decree-nationwide-for-another-month/
The Thai Government said, through a spokesperson, that the extension of the decree was not political and had nothing to do with recent political based protests in the country.
The Government says the decree is needed to properly manage the quarantine process and because of the Covid-19 situation around the globe and what they call an ever-present threat of the virus potentially being able to get a foothold in Thailand. Thailand’s neighbor Myanmar has in particular had a major outbreak of the virus and caused significant concerns on the Northern borders.
Opponents of the decree, however, feel that it could be used to stop gatherings and political protests and claim that current health laws are enough to properly manage the Covid-19 coronavirus crisis. Thailand has recorded a total of 3,759 coronavirus infections and 59 deaths. The vast majority of recent cases since April are imported for overseas and caught during a mandatory fourteen day quarantine process. Most of the country has had no locally spread cases in six or seven months with a few exceptions that the government claims were traced either to Myanmar or quarantine.