Measures tightened in 5 areas

Food and Drug Administration and Royal Thai Police officers raid two warehouses in Nong Khaem district, Bangkok, on Wednesday after hearing they were being used to store used rubber gloves amid the coronavirus pandemic. (Photo: Pattarapong Chatpattarasill)
Food and Drug Administration and Royal Thai Police officers raid two warehouses in Nong Khaem district, Bangkok, on Wednesday after hearing they were being used to store used rubber gloves amid the coronavirus pandemic. (Photo: Pattarapong Chatpattarasill)

The government on Wednesday tightened Covid-19 control measures in the country's most at-risk provinces, with an emphasis on screening people leaving and entering them.

Samut Sakhon, Chon Buri, Rayong, Trat, and Chanthaburi, which had been among 28 provinces named as maximum control zones, have now been renamed "maximum and strict control zones."

Disease control measures will be stepped up in those zones and residents must have the Mor Chana and Thai Chana apps at all times.

Tougher travel restrictions will be imposed in the provinces. More checkpoints will be set up to screen people entering and leaving the zones and those trying to do so must show it is absolutely necessary.

The government also vowed to take action against state officials and anyone else involved in illegal labour smuggling, as well as officials who allowed illegal gambling dens to operate, which has been blamed for new clusters of Covid-19 infections.

The director of the Communicable Diseases Division said new infections were expected to rise over the next two weeks.

These were mostly linked to Samut Sakhon, the epicentre of the new outbreak, gambling dens in Rayong, cockfighting rings in Ang Thong and several entertainment venues in the Pin Klao area of Bangkok.

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Vocabulary

  • cluster: group of people, animals or things close together - กลุ่ม
  • cockfighting: when male fowl (chickens, roosters) fight - การชนไก่
  • control (noun): control and authority over a situation or a group of people - อำนาจบังคับบัญชา, ตำแหน่งบัญชาการ
  • epicentre (noun): the point on the earth's surface where the effects of an earthquake are felt most strongly; the central point of something - ศูนย์กลาง
  • gambling den (noun): an illegal gambling place, a place where people gamble illegally - บ่อนการพนัน
  • maximum: the most possible - ที่สูงสุด ที่มากที่สุด
  • measures (noun): actions taken to solve a particular problem - มาตรการ
  • necessary (adj.): essential, needful, something that you must do or have - จำเป็น, ซึ่งเลี่ยงไม่ได้, ซึ่งเป็นที่ต้องการ, สำคัญ
  • officials: people who have the power to make decisions or enforce the law - เจ้าหน้าที่ผู้มีอำนาจ
  • restriction: a rule, action or situation that limits or controls someone or something - การจำกัด, การควบคุม
  • smuggling: secretly and illegally taking goods or people into or out of a country or place - การลักลอบ
  • stepped up: increased - เพิ่ม
  • strict: demanding that rules are obeyed; very careful and exact - เข้มงวด
  • tighten (verb): to make something tighter, more fixed and secure or stricter - ทำให้แน่น, ทำให้เข้มงวดยิ่งขึ้น, ทำให้แน่นหรือตึงขึ้น, ผูกให้แน่น,
  • zone: an area that has an important or typical feature; an area where a particular activity is allowed or not allowed - พื้นที่, บริเวณ, เขต
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