Visitors to festive light displays were being screened for Covid-19 following a surge in cases in Thailand.

Footage shows locals visiting the illuminations in Khon Kaen province in the north of the country on Monday night (Dec 28).

Teerasak Teekayupan, mayor of Khon Kaen said there were extra health checks and New Year countdowns and parties had also been banned. He said: ”All events that were to be held by the municipal authority are now all cancelled after the spread of Covid-19.”

There are still strict measures to check on tourists who enter Khon Kaen as well as other Covid-19 preventive measures held in place to ensure the safety of everyone there.

The restrictions came after hundreds of Burmese migrant workers contracted the virus while working at one of the country’s largest seafood markets in Samut Sakhon province near Bangkok.

High-risk venues in Bangkok – such as nightclubs and massage shops along with horse racing and cockfighting arenas – have been ordered to close until January 5.

Cases have now spread to more than 44 provinces and infected more than 2,000 people, including several taxi drivers and hundreds of gamblers at an illegal casino.

Covid-19 task force spokesman Taweesilp Wisanuyothin warned that daily cases in Thailand could soar to 8,000 unless they act quickly to prevent a second wave from ravaging the country.

He said that the best-case scenario if ‘everybody works together’ is around 1,000 cases a day.

‘Unless we tighten measures there will be 8,000 cases per day,’ he added.