Songkran holidays and celebrations will be postponed until further notice as the number of cases continued to rise by 33 to 147.

April 13-15 are no longer official holidays this year, Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam said during a briefing on Monday afternoon.

New dates will be announced later for the long holiday, he said.

Some public places and events will be temporarily closed, especially those that involve crowded gathering such as universities or schools, theatres or stadiums for some sports.

At the briefing, public health officials reported 33 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total to 147, compared to 114 on Sunday.

Of the total, 108 remained hospitalised, 36 were discharged and one died.

Sixteen of the new cases had come into contact with confirmed patients and 17 were new confirmed cases from abroad or those who worked closely with foreigners.

Officials insisted Thailand remains in the second stage since local transmissions can be traced back to the sources, making control manageable. The third stage means the infections spread locally from unknown sources.

Mr Wissanu said the government was preparing to cope with Stage 3.

In terms of medical care, more beds will be provided. Doctors and nurses as well as volunteers with medical knowledge will be contacted in case of emergency. Compensation for medical workers will be approved.

The local production of face masks is being increased, along with hand sanitiser production.

For preventive measures, the deputy prime minister said strictest measures had already been applied to risk places — China, South Korea, Iran, Italy, Hong Kong and Macau.

For countries not at risk, the situation will be evaluated daily, but overall measures will be strict including ticketing. Checkup certificates not less than three days old are required. A visitor must have health insurance and agree to install an application for monitoring purposes on their cell phones.

“The danger from Covid-19 is the nation’s priority,” Mr Wissanu said. “The economic damage is secondary. We need to make people’s lives the priority. We can try to cope with the damage to tourism and industries later when the situation eases.”