AYUTTHAYA: Shops offering traditional massage and therapy have asked provincial authorities to relax anti-Covid measures.
Their businesses are among those considered at high-risk of passing on the virus.
About 50 people representating 33 traditional massage shops and massage therapists, led by Rattanaporn Sa-ngasaeng, on Tuesday submitted a petition to Ayutthaya governor Phanu Yaemsri through deputy governor Somsak Charoenpaithoon.
They sought mercy, asking authorities to relax closure measures mandated by Covid-19 containment orders.
They asked for financial help, pointing out that their businesses have been closed since the second wave of Covid-19 arrived in the province.
They wanted to reopen, but were told the province had to comply with orders from the central government.
The deputy governor promised to forward their petition to the provincial panel on communicable disease control, to consider ways to help them.
However, any easing must be within the framework set by the cabinet and the Public Health Ministry’s announcement on disease control measures, Mr Somsak said.
Chiefs of all 16 districts have been ordered to operate checkpoints on main roads around the clock until Jan 31, to screen the health of people travelling across district lines and prevent the spread of coronavirus disease.
Meanwhile, the provincial commitee on disease control has set up a rehabilitation centre for Covid-19 patients in the U-Thong 6 dormitory building at Ayutthaya Rajabhat University, and a field hospital at a conference hall of Rajamangala University of Technology Suvannabhumi in tambon Hantra of Ayutthaya’s Phra Nakhon Si Ayuttaya campus.
Ayutthaya had accumulated 39 cases of Covid-19 as of midnight, with 22 of the infected patients already recovered and 17 remaining in hospital.
