Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has allowed some groups or sectors to be excluded from a nationwide curfew that keeps people at home to facilitate their work.
In a televised update on Friday, Gen Prayut said he had signed an order to allow people in selected sectors to work during the curfew from 10pm to 4am.
The order covers authorities and their assistants, including civil servants, on duty at the order of state agencies. Also exempt are all healthcare personnel who need to travel during those hours, along with emergency patients.
Transport services for public benefit such as medical supplies, consumer products, newspapers and goods for import and export are also allowed. Transport for people being quarantined is also exempted.
The order also allows people employed at petrol stations and public utilities to work during the curfew. Food delivery and garbage collection are exempted during the curfew hours, as are people who need to work at nighttime such as guards, fishermen and rubber tappers.
The curfew has been enforced since April 3 in a bid to end social gatherings as the country is under an Emergency Decree until the end of the month.
Gen Prayut heads the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration and has full authority to take any steps deemed necessary to control the spread of the virus.
Nationwide arrests for curfew violations have topped 1,000 for the past three nights, but authorities said on Friday they see no need to extend the curfew hours as long as the majority of the public complies.
