Thailand appears able to contain the spread of coronavirus at home as manifested by the absence of local infection for the past three weeks, thanks to the tireless efforts of the medical personnel and the public health volunteers as well as the cooperation of the majority of the public in observing the basic health requirements of wearing a face mask in public, social distancing and regular hand cleansing.
Covid-19 is easily communicable and deadly, particularly for the elderly. But its impacts on the global economy and society are unprecedented and devastating.
The World Bank said in its "Global Economic Prospect" report that the situation is the worst in 150 years and it will plunge 70-100 million people into extreme poverty.
The OECD, meanwhile, forecast the global economy will contract 6.1% this year, possibly even by 7.6% if there is a second wave of the pandemic.
Thailand is no exception and the next hurdle to test the ability and wisdom of the government of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha is whether it will be able to reboot an economy already hard hit by the pandemic and guide the ship of state through this crisis.
The prime minister himself has appealed to society to join the government in a collective effort to weather through this most challenging time. It remains to be seen whether his plea will receive a positive response.
The government itself must, at least, be seen to be trustworthy and be able to take the lead if it wants to mobilise public support as displayed in the collective cooperation to fight the Covid-19 pandemic. Sadly though, it is not.
Just a look at the in-fighting and power-grabbing in the ruling Palang Pacharath Party which is already discouraging many people to respond to the prime minister's appeal, especially given the almost certain prospect the prime minister's comrade in arms, Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon, will lead the PPRP.
I don't have to go into details about how trustworthy or untrustworthy Gen Prawit is. Or how smart he is in national affairs besides his trouble-shooting role as the de facto leader of the party.
Not to mention the conduct of the men in the ruling party who have been propping him up to assume the party leadership for their own ulterior motives -- Grade A ministerial portfolios for those already in the cabinet, but not content with their posts.
And also those who yearn for a shot at running just any ministry for any length of time for the sake of honour for their families.
For the past six years -- five as head of the junta-appointed government and now one year as the unelected prime minister of an elected government -- Prime Minister Prayut has failed to deliver his promises to get rid of corruption in bureaucracy and to narrow the income disparity between the rich and the poor among many other failures and blunders.
Even as it deals with its worst ever economic crisis, the government appears so rudderless, unprepared and out of ideas that it has to rely on the normally dysfunctional bureaucratic machine to come up with projects to rejuvenate the ailing economy with a 400 billion baht loan fund.
The result of this initiative is not surprising. More than 10,000 of the 34,000 projects proposed concern repairs to sports stadia and building of new stadia and futsal courts which reminds me of the massive corruption of futsal courts in the Northeast some years ago.
The main suspect in that scam is now a key figure in the ruling PPRP.
It is beyond my wildest imagination how these projects can reboot the economy, improve communities or create jobs for millions of jobless. The only thing I see from these useless projects is that they will fatten the wallets of contractors and local officials.
Apparently, the officials concerned were oblivious of the critical situation facing the country and lack any sense of urgency.
As the 400 billion baht fund may be just a one-time spend, so it must be exploited for the optimum benefit for the people and the economy. To begin with, priorities must be identified and set out. Obviously, this has not been done.
There is still time, although not much, to take a hard second look at the projects, with the participation of more stakeholders to help out in project planning, to make sure they meet the target groups and goals.
Veera Prateepchaikul is former editor, Bangkok Post.