Temporarily locking down the country is vital if the government is still entertaining any hopes of containing the coronavirus outbreak here.
But the cabinet yesterday continued to reject this policy. Instead, some social distancing measures were introduced such as postponing the Songkran holidays, recommending provincial authorities to ban large public gatherings, and proposing that government offices consider adopting flexible work hours and telecommuting.
The cabinet also ordered the 14-day closure of clubs, pubs, bars, traditional massage parlours and cinemas in greater Bangkok, starting today.
The Covid-19 outbreak has arguably become the most formidable challenge the administration has had to cope with to date. But the government seems to have fallen well short of public expectations.
The country needs to adopt more aggressive measures to curb the Covid-19 outbreak.
While the government did the right thing in implementing social distancing, the closure of entertainment venues in Greater Bangkok could have been extended to other areas of the country with Covid-19 cases. Strict monitoring of suspected cases also needs to be carried out in all provinces.
The spike in confirmed cases among clusters of local people and continued infections associated with people entering the country provide more than enough evidence that what the government has done so far has simply not been enough.
While there is no tried and tested method for combating the novel coronavirus, shutting down borders, restricting people's movements and social distancing have all been proven to slow down the spread.
China's total lockdown on its virus epicentre province of Wuhan until the peak of the spread was over also provides an example of success.
In a study on the spread and fatality rates of Covid-19 by a team from the University of Oxford and Nuffield College in the United Kingdom, the province of Lodi in Italy where the outbreak in that country started recorded fewer cases (1,133) than the province of Bergamo (2,368), which became most affected as of March 13, because Lodi invoked social distancing measures much earlier than Bergamo.
Meanwhile, more countries including France, Canada, the United States and neighbouring Malaysia have imposed total or partial closures of their borders to buy time for them to cope with the contagion.
The Thai government has indeed already imposed certain travel restrictions. Travellers from high-risk countries and territories -- China, South Korea, Hong Kong, Macau, Italy and Iran -- must present a health certificate confirming a negative coronavirus test before boarding a flight here. They will also be subject to a 14-day quarantine period.
However, these 14 days may not be enough to guarantee a person is free of Covid-19. The decision yesterday to extend this travel restriction to countries where local transmission is ongoing has come too late.
According to the daily updates, it's evident that Thailand has not been protecting its borders well enough. Gen Prayut has often stressed the fact that his government has had to consider the impacts on different sectors should more drastic measures to control the outbreak be introduced.
Tourism, airlines as well as other downstream businesses will certainly suffer major impacts if the government chooses to lock down the country. But the rapid spread of the virus demands that this be done before Thailand is forced to a complete standstill.