NAKHON RATCHASIMA: The Land Transport Department has issued an order to temporarily suspend all interprovincial buses travelling to and from Nakhon Ratchasima with immediate effect as provincial authorities are struggling to combat the spread of Covid-19.
Nakhon Ratchasima governor Wichian Chantharanothai, with the approval of the provincial communicable disease panel, asked the Land Transport Department to suspend all public transport services to and from the province to contain the worsening outbreak in the province.
Department chief Jirut Wisanjit signed the order on Friday, effective on Saturday, until further notice.
Mr Jirut said during an interview with state-run NBT TV the department had earlier suspended bus services in 14 provinces as request by local authorities, starting with those in the three southern border provinces.
It has asked the provinces with high numbers of Covid-19 cases whether they would like to put on hold passenger bus services to stop the movements of people to risk areas.
The department recently coordinated with Nakhon Ratchasima province about measures to ban travel during the Songkran festival. Although the government had sought cooperation from people to refrain from travelling, people still wanted to travel, he said.
He added Nakhon Ratchasima authorities agreed to stop the bus services.
Specifically, the suspended bus services are in category 2 — two routes plying Bangkok and Nakhon Ratchasima — and category 3 — 31 routes between Nakhon Ratchasima and other provinces, Mr Jirut said.
Bus services in categories 1 and 4, which operate within the province, can still run normally.