Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has urged other Asean members to do as Thailand and start reopening to revive economies in the region.

Gen Prayut addressed the issue via teleconference on Tuesday at the ongoing 38th and 39th Asean Summits, which are taking place online under the chairmanship of Brunei.

He urged the bloc to allow for safe travel as part of an effective implementation of the group's Covid-19 response.

Gen Prayut told Asean leaders that the Covid-19 crisis has underlined the region's vulnerability to emerging threats.

He said the bloc must work to address the impact of the pandemic while also learning lessons from it so as to be more resilient in future.

"Asean should start reopening and allowing for safe travel to revive its economies," he said, adding that the Asean Travel Corridor Arrangement Framework should be put into practice, with mutual recognition of vaccines and vaccine certificates to facilitate business travel, and later tourism.

"In this context, Thailand has already opened up pilot areas under the Phuket Sandbox programme to welcome foreign tourists and will gradually open up more areas," he said.

The Thai prime minister also mentioned progress made in using the Covid-19 Asean Response Fund to procure vaccines, and hoped member states would receive these soon.