The Department of Health is going to issue electronic certificates to ensure public hygiene standards after the government allows businesses and shops to operate as normal.
The electronic certificate will be given to businesses that maintain high hygiene standards, such as having thermo scans, access to hand washing facilities, enough hand sanitiser for staff and customers, queues arranged with social distancing in mind, schedules for regular, thorough disinfection, and monitoring systems to track the health of their staff and customer records.
Dr Bancha Khakhong, the department's deputy chief, is inviting businesses to submit information on their measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19 so that they can qualify for the certificates. The names of shops with good practices will be listed in the department's database and their websites will be publicised. Businesses can register for "Thaistopcovid" at the department's website -- https://stopcovid.anamai.moph.go.th.
The scheme is is set to go live from 8am today.
"I would like to invite entrepreneurs to get the Covid-19 infection safety certificate to boost consumer confidence," Dr Bancha said.
The list of businesses that can register for the online certificates include restaurants, markets, food delivery services, department stores, hotels, public transport services, educational institutes, religious facilities, fitness centres/spas, offices, beauty salons and convenience stores.
The electronic certificate scheme is being readied as the government is set to discuss next week when and how to lift or lessen the lockdown measures as the number of Covid-19 cases in Thailand has decreased over the last two weeks. Over the last two days, the number of new daily infections was below 30, on the back of strong social distancing compliance and better personal hygiene.
"The disease has already set up a new norm for public hygiene habits in Thai society. We have also found a reduction in avian influenza, lung infections and diarrhoea," said Dr Bancha.
But the Public Health Department also has evidence the public is starting to let their guard down. In a personal hygiene survey conducted from April 2-8 among 47,144 respondents, only 76.7% of people regularly wore masks, while 85.2% frequently washed their hands. Both those figures were over 90% in the previous survey.
