Bangkok Metropolitan Administration has made the right decision, belatedly though.
The stringent preventive measure to close down retail businesses such as shopping malls, beauty salons, spas, public swimming pools and golf courses among others in Bangkok and its suburbs is meant to prevent the 10 million residents from contracting or spreading Covid-19 through their movements and interactions as the capital is now the epicentre of the outbreak.
This harsh measure coupled with the travel restrictions introduced by the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT), which simultaneously came into force yesterday has made Bangkok look like it's being locked down without the need to close the borders to all air travellers.
Which tourists, in their sound mind, will want to visit Thailand, knowing fully well that they will have to produce a health certificate issued three days before boarding a plane, a health insurance policy worth 100,000 US dollars and will be quarantined at a designated hotel upon arrival in Bangkok for 14 days before they can go sightseeing?
The same travel restrictions have also been applied in other airports such as Phuket, Chiang Mai, Krabi and Hat Yai -- all major tourist destinations.
But Bangkok's residents have to pay a price for the city administration's partial lockdown, which will disrupt their way of life.
For the next three weeks, they cannot lunch or dine outdoors in their favourite eateries and must be content with having lunch delivered to their offices by Grab or having dinner at home with families.
They can't even eat at their favourite street food stalls and will have to take home the food. Perfect looking working women will miss their hairdos at their favourite salons while the health-conscious will miss their fitness workouts. One positive effect is that Bangkokians will be given a respite from pollution, albeit temporary, with fewer emissions and cleaner fresh air. Environmentalists will love it.
The economic impacts on the small people who will lose their incomes during the three-week period is an area where the government must come to their rescue. The Kla (Dare) Party leader Korn Chatikavanich has proposed a 10% cut of the budgets of all ministries be used to support the ordinary people and small entrepreneurs affected by the virus and measures implemented to contain it. Forget about big businesses, which can take care of themselves.
The fight against the spread of Covid-19 is now led by the so-called Team Thailand, a grouping of Thailand's best medical brains mobilised by the government, with the government providing the support and acting on their recommendations. Critics who used to badmouth the government for everything which went wrong in the past should allow these dignified people to do their job and have trust in them without having to worry about nonsensical criticism.
We can still continue to debate the lockdown issue that many critics have proposed.
Personally, I agree with this stringent measure as it will relieve many officials who have been posted at airports and other border crossings to screen foreign arrivals. They can be transferred to other areas where there is a shortage of manpower.
But Team Thailand appears to prefer a step-by-step approach and, I believe, they have good reason for that. Besides, the latest measures adopted by City Hall and the CAAT seem likely to chase away foreign arrivals with the travel restrictions and discourage Bangkok's residents from venturing outdoors to spread or contract the contagion.
Officials can now concentrate on tracking those suspected disease carriers to be quarantined and treated if necessary, controlling the contagion from spreading and treating the infected. The rate of infections will spike if the tracking works well and this may look alarming. But the rate will stabilise and slow down gradually if all the carriers are tracked down and quarantined.
It is about time we set aside our political differences and extend full cooperation and support to Team Thailand, the medical professionals and other officials who are on the front line fighting to stop the progress of the disease. We must pray they succeed.
Veera Prateepchaikul is former editor, Bangkok Post.