Bangkok, Thailand-
The Center for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA), will be meeting tomorrow morning, March 19th, to discuss several major items that will have a significant impact on many people.
The CCSA, which is chaired by Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan O’Cha, will be having an “all hands on deck” meeting to discuss prominent issues that smaller agencies and groups have been going back and forth on for several weeks. It is expected (but not guaranteed, as always, especially in regards to quarantines) that several prominent decisions will finally be made tomorrow.
Issues on the agenda, among others, include:
-What will be the final guidelines for Songkran 2021? Will water splashing be banned as some have suggested this week or will the panel allow limited “fun activities” perhaps based on zone and province. It currently appears that the CCSA is leaning towards a traditional only Songkran with activities such as worship of religious objects and cleaning the family home. The CCSA, however, understands that the lack of parties, water fights, concerts, foam parties, drinking, and other items will have a large economic hit.
-Will quarantine be reduced to seven days or ten days? Or not at all? A proposal from the Ministry of Public Health may be taken under consideration tomorrow, although some early rumors have stated this decision may be further delayed…which won’t surprise many of our readers.
-The CCSA is set to review province zone colors, a system that decides what level of easing of restrictions can be applied. Many Chonburi residents are hoping to be dropped to a “Green Zone”, or low surveillance, which would hopefully mean an end to strict Midnight closings for Pattaya. This is hardly guaranteed, however, as the emergency decree currently overrides Pattaya’s special administrative zone status that grants late closings. Midnight is the technical legal national closing time and it is possible this may stick around for a while as difficult as it is for nightlife and entertainment venue owners. Bangkok business owners hoping to be dropped from orange to yellow however is unlikely, according to early CCSA statements, after recent clusters of Covid-19 were discovered at local markets.
-Speaking of the Emergency Decree, some more information on possibly replacing the decree with the Communicable Disease Act, which was recently strengthened, may also come tomorrow.
Many of these items were originally supposed to be decided earlier this week but as there has been (as always) a lot of internal debate on the matters at hand, the final decisions were pushed back some.
Stay tuned, we will cover all of the announcements after the CCSA press conference, likely around lunchtime tomorrow.
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