The cabinet on Tuesday extended the state of emergency nationwide for two months, until the end of September, to cope with the local Covid-19 situation.
Deputy government spokeswoman Traisuree Taisaranakul said extension was from Aug 1 to Sept 30, as proposed by the National Security Council. The NSC functions as the operations unit of the government's Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration.
The extension was necessary to facilitate the swift and integrated implementation of measures to control Covid-19 for the sake of public safety, she said.
The decision was a response to the thousands of new Covid-19 cases being recorded daily in Greater Bangkok, where easily transmissible and drug-resistant Covid-19 variants were spreading and being carried by workers returning to their home provinces, Ms Traisuree said.
The Public Health Ministry was predicting about 10,000 new Covid-19 cases and more than 100 fatalities a day, she said.