NAKHON SI THAMMARAT: Parts of Muang district in this southern province will be placed under lockdown from Saturday amid concern over a rise in local Covid-19 infections.
Provincial governor Kraisorn Wisitwong announced the lockdown on Friday with no mention of the reopening date. Checkpoints will be set up to screen people entering the areas, he said, adding that only those on essential trips would be allowed to enter the district.
The lockdown order came after the province on Friday reported 526 new coronavirus cases, a jump from 378 reported a day earlier. Muang district led the surge with 195 infections, according to figures from the provincial public health office.
Friday’s data will be included in the daily update by the national Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) on Saturday.
Mr Kraisorn said the lockdown measure was intended to keep the pandemic under control in the district.
A handful of southern provinces, along with the Greater Bangkok area, have seen the bulk of the Covid cases reported since the third and worst wave of the pandemic began in April.
But new cases in Bangkok and adjacent provinces have been dropping steadily, with Bangkok numbers down “significantly”, CCSA spokeswoman Apisamai Srirangson said on Friday.
She noted that 1,917 new infections had been recorded in the four southern border provinces in the previous 24 hours. That worked out to 17% of all new cases nationwide, up from 15% earlier.
