CCSA satisfied with mall reopening day

The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration on Monday thanked both shops and shoppers for their cooperation in observing social distancing measures on Sunday, the first day that shopping centres were allowed to reopen.

CCSA spokesman Taweesilp Visanuyothin said the reopening had proceeded smoothly in general, although he admitted there was room for improvement.

"Thank you to the shops and the people for their cooperation, although it was only Day 1," he told the press briefing.

Shopping centres reopened on Sunday after some had been shut down for more than one month as the government sought to stop social gatherings in the fight against Covid-19.

Mallgoers are required to download and register on the Thai Chana app when checking in and out of premises. Long queues were seen in front of some department stores. Smaller shops are encouraged to use it, too, although some deployed staff to count customers manually.

"We all are learning together (for adjustment) to make tomorrow better than today," Dr Taweesilp said.

Some 2.7 million people and almost 45,000 shops used the app on Sunday, but some 800,000 did not check out when they left the premises. "Do not forget to check out otherwise the information still shows you are there and others cannot go in," he said.

The centre encouraged more people to download and use the app to track the number of people in any store and enable contact tracing if any customers tested positive for Covid-19. 

"The database is controlled by the Disease Control Department. It is used only to track patients and the data will be kept for a period of time," the spokesman added.

Dr Taweesilp said if the reopening of shopping centres went smoothly, with no rise in the infection curve, more types of business will be allowed to reopen in coming weeks. 

Photo gallery: Shopping malls reopen with QR code entry