The Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) of Thailand chaired by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has extended a state of emergency until the end of March and allowed the easing of some COVID-19 containment measures.

Thailand extends state of emergency ahead of COVID-19 vaccine roll-out. - Illustrative image (Source: https://www.straitstimes.com/)

The state of emergency, which was issued in March 2020, has been renewed multiple times, allowing the government to enforce mandatory quarantine measures and coordinate disease control plans without approval by many different agencies.

Piyasakol Sakolsatayadorn, a member of the CCSA, said that the Thai cabinet is expected to back the extension at a meeting on 23 February.

It is expected that the easing of COVID-19 containment measures will be applied to all provinces except Samut Sakhon which was hit by the second COVID-19 outbreak.

PM Chan-o-cha said on 22 February that he would be the first Thai to be inoculated with the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine produced by  Sinovac Biotech of China.

The proposal came after the PM announced that only people under 60 years of age should be vaccinated.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of Thailand said that the registration for licensing the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine was about to be completed. As scheduled, the first shipment of 200,000 Sinovac vaccine doses will arrive in Bangkok on 24 February.

Thailand reported 89 more COVID-19 infections over the last 24 hours, lifting its national count to 25,504, including 83 fatalities.

Source: VNA